by AAA Sports
Monday, Jun 05, 2023The Miami Heat have made it a habit to erase the chalk throughout the entire NBA playoffs, and Sunday night’s victory in Denver has done nothing to alter things in what is shaping up as a weird Finals.
If the Heat go on to win the title, the league might have to retire the Coach of the Year Award and just give it to Erik Spoelstra before the season even starts. Spoelstra’s Heat are three wins away from a championship despite starting three undrafted players and being without starter Tyler Herro and rotation sub-Victor Oladipo.
Denver started the Finals at a solid -480 win the title, with the number soaring to -800 after a convincing win in Game 1 at home. Miami opened at +330, with the number climbing to +550 after the loss. Entering Game 3, the odds have tightened considerably, with Denver at -275 and the Heat (who now owns home court) at +220.
Miami, BTW, is 15-5 ATS in the post-season (including two play-in games).
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Rory McIlroy is the favorite (or co-favorite) in most books to win the British Open next month, with numbers in the +800 to +900 range. McIlroy faded late at the Memorial, dropping from a tie for the lead midway through the final round and into a T7 with three others, including Jordan Spieth.
McIlroy has four major titles on his resume but hasn’t won any of the biggies since taking the PGA in 2014. He hasn’t seemed comfortable of late, though his T7 at the recent PGA should be somewhat encouraging. The back-and-forth spitball fight with Phil Mickelson over the relationship between the PGA and LIV can’t be helping too much.
Speaking of LIV, Masters champ Brooks Koepka is at +1200 for Open punters, and Cameron Smith is at +2000.
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Kansas City remains a healthy +600 to win the Super Bowl eight months from now, but the other recent Super Bowl winners have all fallen on hard times.
The Rams (+6500), who won in 2022, have fallen off the radar and last season had more losses than any team in NFL history trying to defend its title (5-12). The key to getting back in the mix is somehow steering clear of injuries. Last year Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp all spent significant time off the field.
In the kingdom the blind, the one-eyed man is king. That seemed to be the Bucs’ season as they went 8-9 while everyone else in the NFC South clocked in at 7-10. Tom Brady was out, then he was in, and after the year he was out again. So now they regroup and pay the price for going all in and winning a few years ago. TB is at +7500.
And then there are the New England Patriots, Super Bowl champs in 2019 but who have fallen to the middle of the pack in the AFC and probably to the bottom in the QB-rich AFC East. No one was happy with Mac Jones’s 2022 backslide, least of all Mac Jones. NE is +6500 to re-capture some magic, but the roster is pretty much the same one that produced an 8-9 record a year ago.
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The Stanley Cup Finals are a tough swallow in Boston, where the Bruins are still licking their wounds after laying waste to the NHL in the regular season before getting bounced by the Panthers in Game 7 – at home no less. Either way, they turn, the Bruins will take another arrow to the chest. If Florida wins the Cup, the Bruins will have to live down losing to the 8th-seeded Panthers at home in a Game 7. OTOH, if the Cup heads to the Vegas desert, the Bruin front office will have to take shots for firing current Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy after his reportedly being too tough on the players. After its victory in Game 1, Las Vegas was a solid -225 favorite to win the Cup, with Florida at +175 heading into Game 2.
If the Heat go on to win the title, the league might have to retire the Coach of the Year Award and just give it to Erik Spoelstra before the season even starts. Spoelstra’s Heat are three wins away from a championship despite starting three undrafted players and being without starter Tyler Herro and rotation sub-Victor Oladipo.
Denver started the Finals at a solid -480 win the title, with the number soaring to -800 after a convincing win in Game 1 at home. Miami opened at +330, with the number climbing to +550 after the loss. Entering Game 3, the odds have tightened considerably, with Denver at -275 and the Heat (who now owns home court) at +220.
Miami, BTW, is 15-5 ATS in the post-season (including two play-in games).
--
Rory McIlroy is the favorite (or co-favorite) in most books to win the British Open next month, with numbers in the +800 to +900 range. McIlroy faded late at the Memorial, dropping from a tie for the lead midway through the final round and into a T7 with three others, including Jordan Spieth.
McIlroy has four major titles on his resume but hasn’t won any of the biggies since taking the PGA in 2014. He hasn’t seemed comfortable of late, though his T7 at the recent PGA should be somewhat encouraging. The back-and-forth spitball fight with Phil Mickelson over the relationship between the PGA and LIV can’t be helping too much.
Speaking of LIV, Masters champ Brooks Koepka is at +1200 for Open punters, and Cameron Smith is at +2000.
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Kansas City remains a healthy +600 to win the Super Bowl eight months from now, but the other recent Super Bowl winners have all fallen on hard times.
The Rams (+6500), who won in 2022, have fallen off the radar and last season had more losses than any team in NFL history trying to defend its title (5-12). The key to getting back in the mix is somehow steering clear of injuries. Last year Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp all spent significant time off the field.
In the kingdom the blind, the one-eyed man is king. That seemed to be the Bucs’ season as they went 8-9 while everyone else in the NFC South clocked in at 7-10. Tom Brady was out, then he was in, and after the year he was out again. So now they regroup and pay the price for going all in and winning a few years ago. TB is at +7500.
And then there are the New England Patriots, Super Bowl champs in 2019 but who have fallen to the middle of the pack in the AFC and probably to the bottom in the QB-rich AFC East. No one was happy with Mac Jones’s 2022 backslide, least of all Mac Jones. NE is +6500 to re-capture some magic, but the roster is pretty much the same one that produced an 8-9 record a year ago.
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The Stanley Cup Finals are a tough swallow in Boston, where the Bruins are still licking their wounds after laying waste to the NHL in the regular season before getting bounced by the Panthers in Game 7 – at home no less. Either way, they turn, the Bruins will take another arrow to the chest. If Florida wins the Cup, the Bruins will have to live down losing to the 8th-seeded Panthers at home in a Game 7. OTOH, if the Cup heads to the Vegas desert, the Bruin front office will have to take shots for firing current Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy after his reportedly being too tough on the players. After its victory in Game 1, Las Vegas was a solid -225 favorite to win the Cup, with Florida at +175 heading into Game 2.
