Oddsshark presents WINNERS
Alright baby, here we go again. We had a hell of a weekend down in San Antonio, destroying the Final Four and everything in it’s path, including the parlay we threw out on Friday night. Now that College Basketball has left us, we are left to turn our gaze towards the stretch runs of the NBA, NHL and the return of MLB. There’s still an enormous amount of action out there, brother. We are the warriors who will pave the winning path. We are the ones who will stop at nothing to succeed. We are the ones who will not be distracted or deterred. We are the ones who will stand atop the mountain and say “I. Am. A. Winner.”. That journey, that quest, that mission begins anew each day, and today is no different, friends. We go and search out, hunt, and capture the wins we need. Let’s use all the information at our disposal to succeed. Some of the best information we have comes from our teammates over at Oddsshark. They have up to the minute statistics, trends, injuries, matchup news, and predictions on every game on the board. There’s nothing better out there. Check out the matchup pages for each game below.
WINNERS:
Indiana Pacers at Toronto Raptors (TOR-7.5)–This game is a little tricky, because the standard thinking would be to take a rested Toronto team that clinch the first spot in the Eastern Conference with a win over a Pacers team on the second night of a back to back. But when we dig in a little deeper, the rationale falls apart. The Pacers played a depleted Warriors team last night and won easily, no starter played over 30 minutes. They weren’t taxed very heavily. Toronto can indeed clinch the first spot in the east with a win, however any win in their last four does the job, or any Celtics loss. The news of Kyrie Irving being out for the season, would seem to have taken a little weight off the Raptors. Also, let’s not forget that the Raptors have only covered the number twice in their last ten games. The Pacers are still battling for playoff positioning in the east and trying to catch Cleveland. There’s also reverse line movement on this one at this point, as the spread opened at 8, 69% of the money is on the Raptors and the number has fallen a half point. THE PICK: INDIANA +7.5
Miami Heat at New York Knicks (MIA-9)–This is another game with reverse line movement. Line opened at 9 and is trending to 8.5, you can still catch 9 if you shop it. Miami has accomplished its goal of securing a playoff spot and now come into a tough spot. The Heat are not a great road team on the season, going 18-22, meanwhile the Knicks are 20-18 at home ATS. Trey Burke of all people has been playing very well of late, and the Knicks are in a revenge spot after the Heat dominated them in Miami in late March. This game doesn’t feel like a spot where the Heat give max effort, I would suspect they get the job done, but not by double digits. THE PICK: NEW YORK +9/8.5
San Diego Padres at Houston Astros (HOU -290)–The Houston Astros are very simply, the best team in baseball. They can score runs with ease, they play excellent defense, and their pitching looks to be the best in baseball. The Padres at 1-6, and without Wil Myers, are pretty much the opposite of all of those things. In seven games the Astros have covered the Run Line in five of them. Today they send Lance McCullers to the mound against Luis Perdomo, who last year went 8-11 with a 4.67 ERA. I’d expect McCullers to be able to handle the flaccid Padres lineup and the Astros bats to be able to do work against Perdomo. THE PICK: ASTROS RUN LINE.
BONUS:
Sorry guys, but it’s not going to be a parlay today. I’ll look for one over the weekend, but the plays just aren’t there today, and we don’t force them. However, with Wrestlemania 34 this weekend, I figured, what the hell, let’s give some winners for the biggest spectacle of the wrestling year.
Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle -530
Alright guys, that’s it for this week, as always if you need anything you can follow me and get more picks on twitter @BlackJackFletch. Let’s have a spectacular weekend and get some damn wins.