This Week's Best Spot Bet Opportunities
By Ben Burns
Covers.com
Letdown spot
Remember the NBA conference finals? It's been so long since we’ve seen playoff betting action, it isn’t just the Cavaliers and Warriors shaking off the rust for Game 1 Thursday. With basketball bettors returning to the book, you can’t help but wonder how much that seven-day hiatus will impact these teams? The one thing we do know is that Finals teams do suffer a bit of a letdown in the opening quarter of the series. Call it jitters or just a feeling-out process, but over the past eight seasons there has been an average of just 43.6 combined points scored in the first quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Oddsmakers have set the first quarter total at 51.5 points for Game 1 between Cleveland and Golden State. The Cavs scored 27.2 points per first quarter this season while allowing 24.6 points against. The Warriors averaged 27.8 points in first quarters while giving up 25.6 points in the opening frames. Only one time in that eight-season span have the finals teams scored close to that expected first quarter total, with the Heat and Thunder putting up 51 first-quarter points in Game 1 of the 2012 NBA Finals.
Lookahead spot
You knew it wouldn’t take long for another NFL team to scoop up Rex Ryan when the New York Jets canned the head coach at the end of last season. And in classic Ryan fashion, he stayed within the division - just to stick it to his rivals - and took over the big job with the Buffalo Bills, putting a circle around his return to the Meadowlands in Week 10 of the NFL season.
The Jets will undoubtedly have plenty of media hype and locker room hoopla as that matchup draws near, which could get them into trouble. New York, which is an early 1-point home underdog hosting Buffalo in Week 10, runs the risk of a letdown spot the week prior hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars. Books are giving the improving Jags five points in that game – just enough to make them dangerous.
Schedule spot
The St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers clash this weekend in a possible NLCS preview in La-La Land, headlined by a Sunday Night Baseball finale. The Cardinals and Dodgers are currently No. 1 and No. 3 in the National League and you can expect some intense battles by the time this three-game set wraps late Sunday. But following that high-profile, primetime showdown, St. Louis makes the trip up the mountain to play the Colorado Rockies Monday.
Not only will a depleted Cardinals squad have to battle the thin air and fatigue that comes with Coors Field but their pitching staff, which currently sits tops in the big leagues with a 2.70 ERA, hasn’t been that sharp in recent trips to Colorado. St. Louis has allowed an average of 5.6 runs per game to the Rockies in their last 10 meetings in Coors Field. Luckily, the Cards have fired back with an average of 6.7 runs for in that 10-game span.