Swinging Johnson keeps us busy this Saturday with a pair of MLB picks, and he has even tossed us a NBA pick on his beloved Celtics. Can his boys hold off the Pacers? Doesn't look like he thinks so.
Season Record:
NBA: 1-1-1 (+0.8 units)
MLB: 0-0-0
2011 NFL: 48-33-7 (+34.75 units)
2011-2012 NCAA: 18-15-1 (-6.8 units)
All bets are weighted between 1 and 5
units.
Last Week:
The Final
Four seems like so long ago and the longer the better as far as I'm
concerned. This year's tournament was one of the most frustrating
for me in recent memory. There were two
losses that still leave me shaking my head. The Florida Gators led from box to wire, well they didn't quite get the
wire part down as Louisville stormed back to push the Gators and their backers
over the edge and into the abyss.
I
thought to myself, ok that was your bad beat story and it's out of your system. Well little did I know the same thing would
happen all over again last week with Ohio State as the Jayhawks came storming
back and left me looking for a sharp corner of my desk on which to bang my
head.
Yes, the
Buckeyes done me wrong and evidently John "Crazy Legs" Ryan was
experiencing the same emotions as I rode his coattails on a 20 * Titan play
(his max bet) on the Kentucky Wildcats. I was ambivalent about this matchup as I believed the 'Cats would win
but just wasn't sure if they could dominate. The spread was 8 ½ and that seemed to be a sharp number but I consider
my boy Crazy Legs to be sharper than the oddsmakers. Well, if I had gotten a slightly better number
this would have been a push but then again if the Queen had balls she'd be King. Not having my own opinion on the game, I
tempered my unit size to only two but it was two too many as we lost 2.4 units
by hitching our wagon to Johnny's star.
Our only
winner was Under 136 ½ in the Kentucky Wildcats game as I predicted that would be a low
scoring affair and we cashed for 3 units on that. So over all, what could have been a 3-0 kind
of day turned out to be 1-2 and down 5 units. NCAA basketball is done for another year and I am shedding no tears
though we did have an 18-15-1 record.
NBA:
7:05 PM ET Celtics at Pacers
The Pacers
are coming off a huge win as 3.5 point
home dogs to the Oklahoma City Thunder and must now play the second of back to
back games against the Celtics of Boston, Mass. Any
veteran of the NBA betting wars will tell you this looks like a letdown game
for the Pacers and a good opportunity to back the Green.
Well, I must
play the role of contrarian every now and again. The Pacers are playing very good basketball
right now and the Celtics are returning to Earth after a stellar run while Ray
Allen was injured and Avery Bradley took over...and I mean took over. The kid was dynamite but Allen is back and
has ostensibly bought into the super sub role that Doc Rivers has created for
him. The Celtics are good but not great
as evidenced by their two most recent losses to San Antonio and Chicago. They cannot consistently play with the big
boys while Indiana is currently playing like
one of the big boys, winning and covering their last four.
Both teams
are 7-3 straight up over their last ten games but Indiana is in the middle of
that roll while the Celtics have dropped their last two and are 1-2 overall and
against the number in the series with Indiana this season. Indiana is 18-7 straight up at home and
averaging over 106 points in their last 5 games while Boston is 11-15 on the
highway and averaging only 90 points per game when away from home. Let's go against conventional wisdom and look
for Indy to keep up their winning ways against the aging Celtics. Play
the Pacers -1 ½ for 3 units.
MLB:
4:05 PM ET Royals at Angels
I've been
beating the drum for Dangerous Dan Haren since the beginning of spring
training. The guy will have a Cy Young
season and he's been a killer this spring. I have emphatically stated on the What
are the Odds podcast (right here at
SBR with Peter Loshak and Geno Bisconte) that I will be tailing this guy until
his arm falls off.
That being said, he's
going to be very costly to back as evidenced by the 2-1 MLB odds on him at the time
of this writing. But how about avoiding
all the costly juice and adding a play run line to you MLB picks? With Sir Albert waiting to destroy opposing
pitchers and all the middle of the order firepower these Angels have, why not
lay it? I say Luke Hochevar of the
Royals is a good pitcher but in his final spring outing he gave up 4 runs on 8
hits and that's just not going to be good enough to keep it close against Dan
the Man and his choir of Angels. Play LA - 1 ½ runs (+110) for my max unit
play of 5 units.
9:05 PM ET Mariners at Athletics
The Mariners
looked good last night as they took a 7-3 victory over their hosts last
night. Why can't they do it all over
again? King Felix is on the hill tonight
with already a win under his belt as he defeated these Athletics across the
world in Japan on the 28th of March. He allowed only 5 hits and one earned run over eight innings pitched en
route to a 3-1 victory.
It seems
Felix Hernandez has been in the league forever but in fact he is only 25 years old
with the best is yet to come. Sure the
Mariners don't have a lot of pop in their lineup but that won't stop me from
backing one of the finest pitchers in the game today at a price that won't bust
my bankroll. Yes, this is all about the
pitcher in this one, both handicapper Bob Harvey and I bow to the king. Play
Hernandez (listed) -115 for 3 units.