Thursday’s Betting Tips
By Covers.com
Who’s hot
NBA: The 76ers are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
NBA: The Hawks are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games as an underdog.
NBA: The Nuggets are 7-2 ATS in their last nine games overall.
MLB: The Blue Jays are 13-3 in the last 16 meetings in Minnesota.
Who’s not
NBA: The Bulls are 0-4 ATS in their last four playoff games as an underdog.
NBA: The over is 4-10 in Boston's last 14 games playing on one day of rest.
NBA: The Lakers are 9-19 ATS in their last 28 games overall.
MLB: The Indians are 5-12 in the last 17 meetings in Boston.
Key stat
1 – Umpire Jerry Meals, who is scheduled to work Thursday’s Texas-Baltimore matchup, has seen just one home team win in his last 11 trips behind the plate.
Injury that shouldn’t be overlooked
Zaza Pachulia, Atlanta Hawks – The 6-foot-11 forward has been out of the lineup since April 13 with a sprained left foot but is now at least questionable for Game 6 against the Boston Celtics. Pachulia put up 7.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in the regular season. The Hawks are set as 6.5-point underdogs Thursday.
Game of the day
Los Angeles Lakers at Denver Nuggets (-1.5, 199)
Notable quotable
"It was do or die. Nobody wants to get eliminated at home. You battle until you can't battle no more. I'll do everything in my power to play," he said. "I have all summer to lay back if we lose, so I'm going to lay it on the line." – Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson about leaving Game 5 with a sprained ankle only to return in the fourth quarter. Gibson battled hard with Elton Brand and finished with eight points seven rebounds and four blocks in Chicago’s 77-69 victory.
Notes and tips
So much for the Blue Jays' new and improved bullpen. The Blue Jays did not do much during the offseason, but they sure did rearrange their relievers. After all, last year's bullpen blew 25 saves. Some were in the same game and some in games the Blue Jays won. But they were only 33-for-58 in save opportunities. A little more than a month into this season, the new, improved bullpen has seven blown saves already. After Francisco Cordero, who has 329 career saves, coughed up his third save opportunity in five chances on Tuesday, the Blue Jays are now 4-for-11 in save opportunities. That has forced the team to move Casey Janssen into the closing role for now.
Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles says that his left knee is “80 percent” recovered from ACL surgery. "I feel I can do the same thing my teammates do," he said. "I do it without the coaches around. I catch the ball, I cut, I do a lot of drills and I've been doing this for two months." The Chiefs are set around +450 to win the AFC West.