MARC LAWRENCE
Warriors vs. Spurs
Play: Spurs -13
Edges - Spurs: 6-1 SU and 5-2 ATS versus unrested foes this season; and 6-1 ATS in this series when Golden state is unrested… Warriors: 11-24-2 ATS versus foe off a loss this season, including 1-8-1 ATS the last ten. With the Spurs off a SU favorite loss and the Warriors 0-7 ATS without rest adjacent foes off a double-digit loss, we recommend a 1* play on San Antonio.
SPORTS WAGERS
Washington -108 over LOS ANGELES
OT included. We’ve said it all year and we’ll say it again that the Los Angeles Kings are extremely beatable and extremely overvalued. Here’s a team with perhaps the least talent in the NHL when you break it done man by man. That includes Colorado. If Coach Darryl Sutter had MacKinnon, Landeskog, Rantanen, Duchene and Tyson Barrie all on the same team, that team would have twice as many victories as they do now. Instead, Sutter has a bunch of aging players, low draft picks and castoffs. The Kings have 17 players with eight goals or fewer. Scoring once is a challenge. Indeed, L.A. is a top possession team because that’s how Sutter has them structured. He is very aware that the other team cannot score if they don’t have the puck so he employs a keep away style and waits for the opposition to make a mistake. Most teams make a bunch of mistakes and from time to time the Kings will capitalize. More often than not, they won’t score and then they’ll wait for another opportunity. Even though the Kings are a top possession team, they are nowhere near the top and closer to the bottom in high quality scoring chances. The Kings don’t create, they play keep-away.
Enter the Capitals off back-to-back losses. The Caps are a top possession team also but they don’t play keep-away. The Caps create, create and create some more. Washington has lost three games in a row only one time this entire season and only one time all of last season. Based on that alone, the Caps chances of losing three straight here are very low but it’s more than that. The Caps are superior in every way. They have outstanding goaltending while Jonathan Quick has played very few games since late last year and he’s not very good anyway. The Caps offense is vastly superior and so is their defense. Washington gets a rare chance to play at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It’s a great venue that every player looks forward to playing in. Again, the Caps have lost two in a row but not because of poor play. They lost 4-2 to Dallas but outshot the Stars, 44-22 and then lost in San Jose on Thursday despite holding the Sharks to just 24 shots on net. The Caps are a true power that will be hungry here while the Kings are going to need to get extremely lucky to pull this one out. Extremely lucky.
Bruce Marshall
Colorado St. / Nevada Over 142.5
Big second half on Friday night for Nevada against Fresno displayed why the Wolf Pack are the class of the MW. Down 32-21 at the break, the Pack exploded for 62 points in the second half to win going away. Matchups were tougher for Nevada vs. Fresno than they will be vs. CSU, which doesn't have the versatility on its frontline to deal with Cam Oliver as does Fresno. These teams played yo 157 points last week in Reno in the Pack's 85-72 win, one of six straight games for Nevada scoring 83 points or more. The low 140s "total" also looks very reachable at the Thomas & Mack Center.