Thursday’s Betting Tips
By Covers.com
Weather to watch
St. Louis Cardinals at San Francisco Giants – 17 mph winds are expected to blow out to centerfield.
Who’s hot
NBA: The under is 6-2 in Pacers last eight overall.
NBA: The Spurs are now 13-1-1 ATS in their last 15.
NHL: The Kings are 10-3 in their last 13 home games.
MLB: The Marlins were 11-3 in their last 14 overall ahead of Wednesday's action.
Who’s not
NBA: The Heat are 1-4 ATS in their last five road games.
NBA: The Clippers are 3-7-2 ATS in their last 12 games overall.
NHL: Coyotes are 3-8 in their last 11 meetings with Los Angeles.
MLB: The Rockies are 2-9 in their last 11 overall ahead of Wednesday's action.
Key stat
13 – The San Antonio Spurs hit 13 3-pointers in Game 1’s win over the Clippers, draining 52 percent of their attempts from outside. The Spurs were the top outside shooting team in the regular season (39.3 percent) and are tops in the playoffs at 43.4 percent.
Injury that shouldn’t be overlooked
Austin Jackson, Detroit Tigers - Jackson left Wednesday's game in the fifth inning with an abdominal strain and is expected to sit out for at least a game or two. He's hitting .323 with three homers, 16 RBI and six stolen bases.
Game of the day
Miami Heat at Indiana Pacers (1, 182)
Notable quotable
“They scored a lot, but we stopped everyone else. We never felt like we were the underdogs, you know. This is business as usual.” – Indiana’s Danny Granger on shutting down Miami’s role players in Game 2’s win. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined for 52 points but no other Heat player had more than five. The Pacers are still set as +300 underdogs to win this series with Miami.
Notes and tips
The Miami Heat opened as 1-point underdogs for Game 3 in Indiana after dropping Game 2 78-75, but the line didn’t hold for very long. By Wednesday evening, the Heat were pegged as 1-point favorites. Miami has covered in four of its last five trips to Indiana.
Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan and defenseman Derek Morris avoided further discipline after throwing questionable hits in Game 2’s loss to the Los Angeles Kings. Forward Martin Hanzal wasn’t so lucky. He was suspended one game for hitting Kings captain Dustin Brown from behind. The Coyotes are pegged as +175 underdogs on the road.
Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie was suspended by Major League Baseball for four games Wednesday following a run-in with umpire Bill Miller. Lawrie also was fined an undisclosed amount of money for what was termed “aggressive actions” towards Miller, including throwing a helmet near Miller during the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s game at Rogers Centre against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays. The Blue Jays are appealing the suspension and Lawrie was in the lineup Wednesday night.