Dr Bob
Dallas (+13½) over OKLAHOMA CITY
Dallas was horrible in game 1, losing 70-108 while shooting just 29.8% from the field. The Mavericks will certainly be better and the Thunder apply to a negative 64-139-4 ATS big home favorite letdown situation that is 6-18 ATS when applying to a playoff game. My ratings favor OKC by 13 points (assuming Deron Williams and J.J. Barea are out for Dallas) so the line is more than fair, but I still don’t trust Dallas on road against a good team (5-18 ATS as a road dog of more than 1 against a greater than .600 team). The general situation is good enough for me to lean with Dallas plus the points.
OC Dooley
Angels +115
This is one of those wagers where I feel the oddsmakers have made a loud statement by not casting the host White Sox as a larger favorite even though their starter Carlos Rodon spanning the most recent 10 mound assignments has posted a SUB-TWO ERA (1.73) along the way. Tonight he faces a struggling Angels offense whose top hitters Mike Trout (.233) and Albert Pujols (.196) has extremely poor averages. Los Angeles also just got swept during the weekend against an opponent (Minnesota) who had entered the set with a disastrous 0-9 overall record. What makes this a “percentage” move is that dating all the way back to the 1997 campaign when the team is off 3 consecutive CLOSE losses the Angels (19-4 overall record) have been almost unbeatable