NBA...Home-court advantage is huge in the NBA playoffs, and the San Antonio Spurs-Memphis Grizzlies first-round Western Conference series has been a great example of that. With action switching back to Tennessee, Grizzlies backers will be hoping that trend continues in Game 6 tonight. Sportsbooks opened the Spurs as 4-point road chalk with a total of 189.5.
The total has gone OVER in the Spurs' last five games on the road.
The Grizzlies are 2-5 ATS in their last seven games.
The visiting team is 0-9 SU in its last nine games in this matchup.
The Spurs breezed to double-digit victories in each of their three home games but are 0-4 SU in Memphis including the regular season and suffered a 110-108 overtime heartbreaker in their last visit in Game 4.
The Grizzlies did a much better job of clamping down on defense in Games 3 and 4 but that went out the window in Game 5, as the Spurs shot 52.5 percent from the floor and an impressive 14-for-28 from 3-point range. Mike Conley is doing his part for the Grizzlies by averaging 27.3 points on 53.5 percent shooting over the last four contests.
The OVER continues to be a fantastic bet in this series, as the teams combined for 219 points in the last tilt, which went above the closing total by 30.5 points. Four of the five games in the series have now gone OVER the total.
NHL...Ottawa is the only remaining Atlantic Division team and bookmakers are not yet sold on the Senators, opening them as +140 series underdogs in their best-of-seven with the Rangers. The Sens are also underdogs for Game 1 in Ottawa tonight and considering how well moneyline dogs have performed this postseason, they could be worth a look.
Ottawa took two of three from New York during the regular season, including beating the Blueshirts, 3-1, in the clubs' only meeting at Canadian Tire Centre.
The Senators were 4-1 as moneyline underdogs in the 1st round.
The Rangers are 1-3 SU and 0-4 on the puckline in their last 4 games against the Senators.
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of the Rangers' last 7 games against the Senators.
Henrik Lundqvist was the Rangers’ saving grace in the first round and he’ll likely have to be again vs the Sens. Ottawa plays an effective trap and doesn’t give up very many scoring chances. When they do, however, Craig Anderson is usually there to bail them out. Despite having a tumultuous season personally, Anderson’s .939 even-strength save percentage was tops in the league for starting goalies who were on a team that made the playoffs.Craig Anderson backstopped Ottawa to an opening-series win, recording a 1.94 GAA and .921 save percentage in those contests. Anderson was in net for all seven games in these clubs' 2012 series, posting a 2.01 GAA and .933 save percentage in those tilts.
Additionally, Ottawa was outshot by Boston in just one game in the opening round and the Senators should be able to get the better of one of the weakest defense corps in the NHL in this one. Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh, their best d-man, will have to be the Rangers’ best player behind Lundqvist if the Blueshirts are to get back home to New York without having to dig themselves out of a hole,Henrik Lundqvist record a 1.70 GAA and .947 save percentage in the First Round against the Habs, racking up career postseason victory No. 59 in Game 6 -- most of any active netminder. Lundqvist, who was in net for all seven playoff games vs. Ottawa in 2012, is just 19-21-3 all-time against the Sens -- the only Eastern Conference club he has a losing record against in his career (regular and postseason combined). Ottawa ML
NHL...The matchup everyone’s been waiting for all season is finally here. We haven’t necessarily been waiting for the Caps and Pens to meet in the second round, we just figured it would probably happen. Pittsburgh has beaten Washington in six straight playoff series and most are of the belief that if Alex Ovechkin wants to ever beat Sidney Crosby in the playoffs, this is the year he has to do it.
The road team is 0-8 SU in the last 8 games in this matchup.
Marc-Andre Fleury had an .884 save percentage and 4.02 GAA against the Caps in the regular season.
The Capitals are 22-4 SU in their last 26 games as home favorites.
Pittsburgh is averaging an NHL-high 4.2 goals per game in the 2017 postseason.
Bookmakers opened the Capitals as significant home faves in Game 1 and considering the trends, that makes sense. The home team has dominated this matchup of late and Washington was the premier home club in the NHL in the regular season, going 32-9 SU at the Verizon Center.
Some may look at Marc-Andre Fleury’s .933 save percentage in the first round and think that he’s back to being a reliable goaltender but that’s simply not the case. The Flower gave up too many goals on low-danger scoring chances against the Jackets and when you go from facing the likes of Brandon Dubinsky and Brandon Saad to Alexander Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie, the chances of conceding goals quickly escalates.
If the Pens are going to stick around in this series while Matt Murray heals up, they’ll have to score a ton of goals to make up for what they lack at the back end. I anticipate a high-scoring affair in Game 1 and I’ll be looking at an OVER 5.5.