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2012 Preakness Stakes Odds

 Betting Odds, Horse Racing  No Responses »
May 172012
 

This Saturday, the 2012 Preakness Stakes Odds will get underway, as 11 horses go out in search of the second leg of the Triple Crown. Post positions have been drawn, and the horses are getting prepped to go to the gate at Pimlico Racetrack, and here at Cappers Mall, we are taking a look at the odds to win the 2012 Preakness Stakes, courtesy of Bookmaker Sportsbook!

 

On the inside, we don’t have a heck of a lot of good to say about #1 Tiger Walk (33/1) or #2 Teeth of the Dog (15/1). Tiger Walk is likely to end up getting jammed on the inside very quickly and be knocked out of this race essentially before it really even starts. The only thing to like about Teeth of the Dog is that he has a great run in the Wood Memorial to fall back on. The bad news is that Gemologist and Alpha, the two horses that he beat that day at Aqueduct, both ran relatively poorly at the Kentucky Derby, and neither has come with Teeth of the Dog to Pimlico.

 

#3 Pretension (33/1) is the only horse in the field that has won here at Pimlico. He did so on Kentucky Derby Saturday, beating a relatively weak field with a solid time of 1:45.70 at 1 1/16 miles. This is a horse that might be able to get out of the gate in the lead as he did in the relatively small field in the race at Pimlico two weeks ago. If he does, Pretension might be able to hold on the board, though we just aren’t all that sure. Further to his outside, we don’t have a lot to say about #4 Zetterholm (22/1), knowing that he has never really competed against horses at this level before.

 

The next few horses are all ones that we think have a legitimate shot to win the Preakness Stakes. #5 Went the Day Well (6/1) probably had the third best run of any horse in the Kentucky Derby. He was mired right in the middle of the track with a ton of horses to get around, but in the end, jockey John Velazquez was able to get him all the way up to fourth, just two lengths off of the pace. He is one of the few big closing horses in the field, and with less traffic and a lot better post draw, we think the world of this colt.

 

#6 Creative Cause (7/1) is just to his outside, and this is a great spot for this horse to be in. There isn’t much talent to his inside, save for Went the Day Well, and we know that the horse directly to his outside is going to be way out in front of him. This is the perfect stalking horse, and it is going to be a colt that is there at the gun. Creative Cause always has his nose in on the final say of the action, and this is a horse that has a heck of a lot of heart to match his speed down the stretch.

 

The horse that we think should be the odds on favorite though, is #7 Bodemeister (7/4). Bodemeister probably ran one of the best Kentucky Derbies that we have ever seen out of a losing horse, and he is going to be back with vengeance here at Pimlico. Unlike at the Derby, there isn’t all that much speed lining up near Bodemeister, and he should be able to run the pace that he wants instead of being run out of gas by a rabbit. We have seen impressive runs out of this horse at a comparable distance before, and the truth of the matter is if the Kentucky Derby was just 1 3/16 miles and not 1 ¼ miles, we might be talking about a horse going for the second leg of the Triple Crown right here. We would also be talking about a horse that would be something like 1 to 2, and not 8 to 5 on the Preakness Stakes morning lines.

 

Once we go further outside, there are more horses that we really don’t think much of. It seemed to us as if #8 Daddy Nose Best (14/1) was outclassed at the Kentucky Derby by a ton of horses that were just better than he was. He also has the dubious task of lining up right in between the two Preakness Stakes favorites, and that might come back to put Julien Leparoux in a bad spot to try to manage this horse.

 

All eyes are going to be on #9 I’ll Have Another (5/2), who is going to look for another strong running at the Preakness Stakes to head to Belmont with a shot at a Triple Crown. We just don’t see it happening, though. I’ll Have Another never really showed those flashes of being a big time closer before the Kentucky Derby, and we don’t know if his close was a product of a true burst from a great horse, or because Bodemeister was just worn out. We will probably see on Saturday though, especially if I’ll Have Another gets back up towards the front of the pack and duels eye to eye with Bodemeister once again.

 

Rounding out the field are #10 Optimizer (33/1) and #11 Cozzetti (33/1). Neither of these horses really have a shot at winning the Preakness Stakes in our eyes. Optimizer just wasn’t good enough to do anything significant at the Derby, and he has finished outside of the money in all but one of his last seven races. Cozzetti might be a bit of a closing surprise if he gets a cleanrun at it, but we see a lot more negatives than positives out of a colt that has never won as a three-year old.

Join DraftDay Online Championship Of Fantasy Sports!

 Betting Odds, Fantasy Sports  No Responses »
May 162012
 

Gambling on fantasy sports has become a huge phenomenon over the course of the last two years or so, as it is considered a safe and legal way to bet on the outcome of sporting events. The action is potentially even more thrilling, knowing that every single play and every single player could be the difference between winning and losing your pools! This year, The DraftDay is putting up a guaranteed prize pool of $40,000 for its Online Championship of Fantasy Sports!

 

This contest will be held between May 21st and 25th and will be a five-day fantasy baseball spectacular. This isn’t just one event, either. There are a total of nine different contests that you can enter to take on the best fantasy baseball players in the world. Satellite tournaments are going on right now that you can enter for as little as $1, and that could ultimately end up winning you the grand prize in the main event, $20,000!

 

If you don’t want a satellite event though, don’t fret! It only costs $10 to enter the very first challenge, an event that is referred to as the $10 Warm-Up. There is a guaranteed prize pool of $10,000 for this event alone, so you aren’t going to want to miss out on it for sure. On May 22nd, there are a pair of $10 games with $2,000 prize pools, one both for National League players only and American League players only.

 

The afternoon of May 23rd features a turbo contest with a $50 entry fee that has $4,000 worth of cash prizes, while that night, there is a salary cap event available with a $2,000 guaranteed prize for just $10.

 

May 24th is when the action gets series, though. There are two tournaments that are going to happen that don’t offer up cash prizes, but for just $10 or $50, you can win a seat into the main event on the 25th. The entry fee for the big one? $200. However, if you’d prefer to play for cash during the second to last day of the Online Championship of Fantasy Sports, you can do that as well on May 24th with the $25 Double Up, with $2,000 guaranteed in prizes.

 

The individual tournaments all have different rules to abide by, all of which can be checked out over at DraftDay.

 

You’re not just competing for cash, though! Players who play in multiple events are eligible for the chance for the Player of the Series. The winner of each individual event gets 100 points, and everyone gets at least five points just for entering! The player with the most points at the end of the series, regardless of whether he or she wins any money or not, will win a Heads-Up game against Kay Adams from Sirius XM Radio in which the winner gets $2,000. Those who finish from 2nd through 11th will get to play against each other for $1,000 in cash prizes as well.

 

There are just a ton of ways to win at fantasy sports, but this is the biggest prize that we have seen on the internet yet! Join us at DraftDay for the 2012 Online Championship of Fantasy Sports from May 21st-25th!

NBA Betting Notebook: San Antonio Spurs Hope To Make Short Work Of Los Angeles Clippers

 Betting Odds, NBA Betting  No Responses »
May 152012
 

Normally speaking, about the only sports teams that are being talked about in Tinseltown this time of year are the Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Los Angeles Lakers. This time though, the Los Angeles Kings are on the verge of the Stanley Cup, and the Los Angeles Clippers – yes, you read that correctly – the Los Angeles Clippers are amongst the last eight teams standing in the NBA playoffs. The Clips are set to begin what figures to be a brutally tough series against the top team in the Western Conference though, the San Antonio Spurs.

 

The Spurs have been off for quite some time, as they finished off the Utah Jazz in a sweep in the first round of the playoffs. Game 1 will be the first game that San Antonio has played since May 7th, giving it a full week off before having to get back on the hardwood. Meanwhile, the Clippers only just finished up their series with the Memphis Grizzlies on the road on Mother’s Day, and are right back at it.

 

Head Coach Vinny Del Negro deserves a ton of credit for getting his team to fight back in Game 7 at the FedEx Forum. The Clips had every single excuse to lay down. Blake Griffin was hurting. Chris Paul was hurting. The game was on the road in a horrible environment for a road team. LA had also lost two straight games in this series, including one at Staples Center, and it just didn’t feel anything like the better team in the series.

 

But yet, the mighty Clippers got the job done to get into the second round of the playoffs, and Del Negro has gone from scapegoat to hero. Even getting swept in this series should keep him safe, as the much beleaguered head coach of the team has done enough in our eyes to warrant keeping his job.

 

Of course, it all comes down to CP3 and Griffin for the Clips. If they aren’t combining for at least 40 points, the rest of the offense is going to find some troubles taking care of business. That’s why Los Angeles might be in so much trouble in this series. The Spurs can count on a plethora of different players to get the job done, as Head Coach Gregg Popovich uses all 13 men that he has at his disposal virtually every single night.

 

Only Patrick Mills and Tiago Splitter didn’t get into all four games of the first series against the Jazz. Tony Parker led the way with 21.0 points and 6.5 assists per game, while Tim Duncan averaged 14.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Aside from that, no one did better than the 10.0 points per game of Stephen Jackson, but he was one of the six players aside from Duncan and Parker that averaged at least 7.0 points per game.

 

This series figures to be a brutal one for the Clippers, especially with the back-to-back games that are going to take place at Staples Center over the course of the weekend. Still, at 26-10 this year at home, the Clips are tough to beat at that venue, though matters are going to be even harder against a San Antonio team that is 30-5 thus far at the AT&T Center this year.

 

In the regular season, the Spurs took two out of three games. The Clippers have to feel like they have a bit of an advantage, knowing that they won by a dozen the last time these two teams played at the AT&T Center, though we know that it is going to be tough to get another win on the road.

 

5Dimes Sportsbook understandably has the Spurs as tremendous -2200 favorites on the NBA playoff series lines. The Clippers are lined at +1350 to pull off the upset, though few are expecting to see them win more than maybe a game or two in this series.

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Series Preview

 Betting Odds, NBA Betting  No Responses »
May 142012
 

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Series Preview

The last time that we saw the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder square off on the hardwood, Metta World Peace was busy throwing his elbow into the side of the head of James Harden. Fortunately for Harden, he is just fine and is back and ready for this series, and the suspension for World Peace is said and done with. Both teams will be flying high coming into this highly anticipated second round matchup, and our NBA preview for this series is one that you don’t want to miss out on!

 

The Thunder are legit for sure. They were able to take the defending NBA champs, the Dallas Mavericks out of the playoffs in just four games, and now, they have been resting on the sidelines for nine days waiting for this series to begin. It should be no surprise that Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant were really able to get the job done in the first round. Durant averaged 26.5 points per game, while Westbrook was at 22.2 points per game. Harden, as always, is one of the key men off of the bench at 18.2 points, 5.5 boards, and 4.2 assists per game.

 

Serge Ibaka was once again a force defensively, and he was good for 11.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks per game. He could have an even more important role in this series with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum on the other side of the court.

 

This is also going to be an important series for Derek Fisher, who spent years and years with the Lakers before essentially getting released at the trade deadline. Fisher averaged 8.2 points per game in the first round, and though he really wasn’t  a bit time passer, he was able to get those shots to fall when he took them, and he could come back to bite his old team.

 

It was Kobe Bryant and the idiots essentially for the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. Sure, Andrew Bynum averaged 16.7 points and 12.3 boards per game, but he was one of the many that underachieved in the seven-game series against the Denver Nuggets. Gasol had 12.9 points and 9.1 boards per game. Ramon Sessions was probably the best player outside of Kobe Bryant in the first round. He averaged 11.7 points per game.

 

And then there was Kobe, who put up 29.1 points, 5.0 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game. We would like to see him shoot the ball a bit better than the 44.8 percent that he managed in the first round, but hopefully he is fully over the flu bug that nearly cost him Game 6 and might have hampered him a bit in Game 7 as well.

 

This is the second time that these two teams have met in the playoffs. In the first ever playoff series, the Thunder made a name for themselves as the No. 8 seed in the West. After Games 1 and 2, they competed and won Games 3 and 4 against the then-No. 1 Lakers. LA did finish the series off in six games, but that was a real sign of things to come, showing that this Oklahoma City squad was up and coming.

 

This time around though, the Thunder are the team favored by a comfortable margin. They are -430 favorites on the NBA playoff betting series lines, while the Lakers are considered to be nearly 4 to 1 underdogs at 5Dimes Sportsbook.

Eastern Conference Finals: New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers Series Preview

 Betting Odds, NHL Betting  No Responses »
May 142012
 

Eastern Conference Finals: New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers Series Preview

The Atlantic Division was one of the best divisions in hockey all season long, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that two teams from this division are the two left standing in the Eastern Conference Finals. The New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers are going to duke it out in NHL betting action in the postseason, starting with Game 1 on Monday night.

 

The argument could be made that both of these teams have had relatively easy roads to get into the Eastern Conference Finals. Neither had to contend with the Stanley Cup champs from last year, the Boston Bruins, and the end result is that the rest of the East just wasn’t all that good. New Jersey had arguably the easiest first round series against the Florida Panthers, and then it had to face the Philadelphia Flyers, who had the worst goalie in the playoffs in Ilya Bryzgalov. New York is going to try to become the first team in the history of the NHL to beat the No. 6, No. 7, and No. 8 seeds en route to the Stanley Cup Finals.

 

The Rangers have to be a tired bunch for sure after these first two rounds of the postseason. They have already had to play in three do-or-die games in this playoffs and have had to go a full seven games against both the Ottawa Senators and the Washington Capitals.

 

The key for these two teams is going to be goaltending. This is going to be one of the top goalie matchups that we have seen in the entire postseason. The now 40 year old Martin Brodeur, arguably the best goalie in the history of hockey, is going to be taking on Henrik Lundqvist, arguably the best goalie in the sport today. Lundqvist has a 1.68 GAA and a .941 save percentage, some of the best stats in the playoffs for a net minder. Brodeur has a 2.05 GAA and a .926 save percentage, and he even has three assists thus far in the second season.

 

Offensively, there are definitely some stars on both sides of the ice. New Jersey is going to be flying on Travis Zajac and Ilya Kovalchuk, its two MVPs of the second round against the Flyers. For the playoffs, both have five goals to lead the team, while Kovalchuk has seven assists against the five for Zajac.

 

Brad Richards scored the goal that won Game 7 against the Capitals for the Rangers, and he now has a team-best six goals and 11 points. Marian Gaborik isn’t far behind with 10 points, but the rest of the team has been out of sorts.

 

If you like fighting, this is the series for you. These two teams dropped the gloves in the first few seconds of two games this year, and there are routinely over 50 penalty minutes when they face off with one another. Don’t be shocked if there are plenty of fisticuffs over the course of the next two weeks of hockey.

 

It shouldn’t be considered that much of a surprise that, in spite of the fact that Jersey is the No. 6 seed and New York is the No. 1 seed, that this series is expected to be so close. New York is favored, but just by a -145 margin, while the Devils are +125. Both teams are playing great hockey at the moment, and we would be shocked if this series didn’t last at least six games as well. New York might have to play yet another seven game soiree to get into the Stanley Cup Finals.

Philadelphia 76ers & Boston Celtics Start Second Round NBA Playoff Betting

 Betting Odds, NBA Betting  No Responses »
May 122012
 

Philadelphia 76ers & Boston Celtics Start Second Round NBA Playoff Betting

Last season, the No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies were able to shock the world and beat the No. 1 San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. This year, another No. 8 has struck in the form of the Philadelphia 76ers, who are now in the second round of the postseason after taking down the No. 1 Chicago Bulls. Next up for the Sixers is a date with the Boston Celtics, a series which gets started on Saturday night at the TD Garden.

 

The key to this series is going to be quite simple on both sides. Whichever team plays better defense is going to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

 

Boston has now held eight straight opponents to 87 points or fewer, and that is one of the most impressive stats that we have seen in quite some time. Sure, the big names like Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett are getting their points, rebounds, and assists, but in the end, it is this defense, especially in the clutch that makes the boys in green and white just so dangerous.

 

The 76ers are going to really have to control their emotions in this series. They really put everything that they had into taking down the Bulls, and the postgame celebration after finishing that series off looked like a team winning the NBA Finals, not just clinching a spot in the second round of the playoffs. Philly got the job done with a defense that truly stifled the Chicago frontcourt, and it cut off all sorts of entry lanes into the paint for Carlos Boozer and the sorts. Chicago failed to score more than 82 points in a game in the final four games of that series.

 

The problem though, comes on the other end of the floor. Yes, Jrue Holiday had a series to remember, averaging 18.2 points per game and knocking down well over 40 percent of his three-point baskets. However, aside from that, the consistency just wasn’t there for any of these players, and the end result was a bunch of very ugly offensive games, especially in Game 5 when the boys from the City of Brotherly Love scored just 69 points.

 

The good news for the 76ers is that they did take two out of three in the regular season when these teams locked horns. The bad news is that they don’t have home court advantage, and the home team romped to a 3-0 SU and ATS edge. The one game that was played here on the Parquet Court at the TD Garden resulted in a 103-79 beat down by Boston, and that game occurred just over a month ago. The home team has also won six in a row in this series.

 

This is the first time in the last nine years that the Sixers have been in the second round of the playoffs. That being said, the oddsmakers are giving them a good shot in this series. 5Dimes Sportsbook is featuring Philadelphia as just a +175 underdog. Boston is -210, but this series will very quickly be a de facto pick ‘em if the 76ers can take one of these first two games that are to be played in Boston.

Western Conference Finals Preview

 Betting Odds, NHL Betting  No Responses »
May 102012
 

Western Conference Finals Preview: #8 Los Angeles Kings vs. #3 Phoenix Coyotes

When you think of how tight the Western Conference was this year in the regular season, it probably shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise that the No. 3 and No. 8 seeds are the two that are left standing to fight it out for a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. However, these two Pacific Division foes, the Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes, were probably two of the last teams that anyone would have figured would be here at the precipice of the Stanley Cup Finals. Phoenix is making its first ever appearance in the third round of the playoffs, while the Kings are trying to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in their franchise’s history.

 

Mike Smith was very close to being out of hockey two years ago, but he latched on with the Coyotes this year and became of the most unheralded goalies in the league. Smith was the man at the end of the year, coming up with three shutouts in a row at one point to ensure that the club would be in the playoffs. Thus far in the postseason, he has a 1.77 GAA and a pair of shutouts, and he really hasn’t had a bad game. The question marks have come in the third period of games, especially in the first round against the Chicago Blackhawks when the Yotes blew five third period leads.

 

Ray Whitney was the team’s leading scorer in the regular season, and he has been relatively quiet with just two goals and four assists here in the playoffs. Antoine Vermette already has five goals and four assists, and that includes some big time overtime winners. He also has three of the team’s five goals on the power play thus far in the postseason as well.

 

Raffi Torres is still serving his 25-game suspension for a hit in Game 4 of the first round against the Blackhawks, and he will not be eligible to play in this series. Aside from that, the Coyotes are a healthy team and should be ready to go in the Western Conference Finals.

 

Meanwhile, the Kings have found the right formula to succeed, and it came just at the right time of year. When the team made the trade for Dustin Brown at the deadline, Los Angeles was outside of the playoff picture, where it stayed for a long time until the final two weeks of the season. Remember that the Kings just barely got into the postseason, and now, they are just four games away from the Stanley Cup Finals.

 

No team has made shorter work out of their foes here in the playoffs than have the Kings. They had never gone up 3-0 in a series before in their franchise’s history, and they have now done it twice in a row, once against the Vancouver Canucks, and once against the St. Louis Blues. The Kings swept the series with St. Louis and took the other series against Vancouver in five games. They are a whopping 5-0 on the road this year in the postseason, and that is something that hardly any team, regardless of seeding, is able to say.

 

Brown has six goals to lead the team in that category, and he is up a point on the team lead in points from Anze Kopitar, who has 10 points. Mike Richards has eight, while Dustin Penne and Justin Williams both have seven. But of course, the man of the hour is Jonathan Quick, who has just the one loss on the postseason to his credit to go with eight wins. He only has one shutout, but Quick also has a 1.55 GAA and a whopping .951 save percentage. He would likely be the Conn Smythe Award winner if the playoffs were to end right now.

 

These two teams, in spite of the fact that they are division rivals, haven’t faced off since February 21st. These two teams split the season series three games apiece, and three of the six went into overtime. Expect to see another tight series for sure, which has become the norm here in the playoffs.

 

The Kings and Coyotes have never met in the postseason before this year.

 

Phoenix is the better seed as the Pacific Division winner, and that means that it will host Games 1, 2, 5, and 7, while the Kings will get Games 3, 4, and 6 at Staples Center. In spite of the home ice disadvantage though, Los Angeles is the -165 favorite at Bookmaker Sportsbook to move on to the Stanley Cup Finals.

NBA Finals Odds Update: Los Angeles Clippers Lose Griffin, Paul

 Betting Odds, NBA Betting  No Responses »
May 102012
 

NBA Finals Odds Update: Los Angeles Clippers Lose Griffin, Paul

The Los Angeles Clippers had a 3-1 series lead over the Memphis Grizzlies coming into Game 5 on Wednesday night. It wasn’t all that surprising that they were beaten at the FedEx Forum by a dozen points, knowing that they were underdogs by 6.5-points in the clash. That being said, they also were dealt a bigger blow than the loss in the fifth game of this series, as both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, the stars and cornerstones of the franchise, were nursing injuries.

 

Griffin hurt his left knee in the third quarter of the game on Wednesday night, and he just never looked the same after that. His status for Game 6 on Friday is still up in the air, but in the end, we do expect to see him playing. The question though, is whether Griffin will be at the top of his game or not, knowing that he has to sit on an airplane to get back to Tinseltown with just one day of rest on a knee that locked up just by sitting for a few minutes on the bench.

 

Meanwhile, Paul has a strained hip flexor. He says that he is going to be just fine, but as we have seen with his teams before in the playoffs, when CP3 isn’t at his best, his teams just have no shot to win games. Paul was nowhere really to be found in Game 1 of this series until late on when he led the Clips on a huge comeback, the biggest in the history of the NBA playoffs.

 

It was only a few days ago that the Clippers were right around 20 to 1 on the odds to win the NBA Finals. It wasn’t just the one game that saw their odds go up to 40 to 1 at 5Dimes Sportsbook; the oddsmakers clearly know that these injuries are the types of injuries that don’t just get better over the course of a day or two. And now, with Game 6 being played at the Staples Center on Friday night and a potential Game 7 coming back at the FedEx Forum, it really feels as though this is a game that has to be won for LA, or its season will ultimately come to an end.

 

The Grizzlies are now the favorites to win this series in spite of the fact that they are down 3-2. They are +3300 on the NBA Finals odds at 5Dimes Sportsbook.

I’ll Have Another Preakness Stakes Odds

 Betting Odds, Horse Racing  No Responses »
May 072012
 

I’ll Have Another Preakness Stakes Odds

The Preakness Stakes is still a week and a half away, but here at Cappers Mall, we are already asking the questions whether he can become the first colt in over three decades to win the Triple Crown.

Beating the Preakness Stakes odds certainly isn’t going to be easy for I’ll Have Another, especially if colts like Bodemeister end up racing against him for the second jewel of the Triple Crown. 5Dimes Sportsbook though, has I’ll Have Another lined at +325 to win the Preakness Stakes, which may or may not ultimately make him the favorite to head to the Belmont Stakes in search of a Triple Crown.

We have to give jockey Mario Gutierrez all of the credit in the world for the way that he rode his colt at the Derby. I’ll Have Another started in the No. 19 post, and he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to get to the rail by the time the first turn came around. Instead, Gutierrez, who had never won a race of this magnitude before in his life, kept I’ll Have Another in a stalking position.

Heading into the backstretch, I’ll Have Another was on the pace, but not quite setting it, and as the 20-horse field turned for home, this looked like it was going to be a day for Bodemeister, as he opened up a two-length lead with just a couple hundred yards left to run.

Had this been the Preakness Stakes, run at just a mile and an eighth, Bodemeister would have been in the winner’s circle in impressive fashion. Instead, in that last furlong or so, I’ll Have Another stormed out of nowhere to draw level with Bodemeister, and when the two looked each other in the eye for a stride or two, it was the horse on the outside that pulled away and ended up winning by 1 ½ lengths.

The big question about I’ll Have Another at Pimlico is whether he is going to be in a better post position. At the Preakness Stakes, sitting on the rail is crucial, and we have seen this horse be able to get out of the blocks in a hurry in his previous races. Another start on the outside though, and in the end, it is going to be incredibly difficult for I’ll Have Another to become a back-to-back race champ in the Triple Crown.

Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Lakers Series Odds Update

 Betting Odds, NBA Betting  No Responses »
May 052012
 

Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Lakers Series Odds Update

The Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers are involved in a heck of a battle on the NBA betting lines. The Nuggs cut the LA lead in half on Friday night, and neither team has lost a game yet at home. The Lakers are still -420 favorites, while Denver is +335 at 5Dimes Sportsbook, but this series is definitely far from being over.

If Los Angeles is going to win this series, it is going to need more out of some of its depth positions. It shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise that Kobe Bryant is averaging 30.3 points per game here in the postseason, knowing that he is a regular at putting up just humongous numbers here in the second season. That being said, he is going to need a heck of a lot of help.

Andrew Bynum has been good for a double-double at 18.3 points and 11.3 boards per game, and he is also helping out defensively with a total of 14 rejections in three games. Pau Gasol is only averaging 14.0 points per game though, and that isn’t going to cut it. We do like the 14.3 points per game out of Ramon Sessions, but he isn’t proving to be the best distributing point guard in the world with just 15 total assists in the series.

But of course, the problem that the Lakers have beyond those four is a lack of help. No one averaged more than 6.7 points per game for the rest of this series, and it is clear that missing Metta World Peace is hurting quite a bit.

The Nuggets are still in this series because they are using their depth well to try to keep the Lakers off guard. Eight players are averaging at least 20 minutes per game in this series, and no one is averaging more than the 35 minutes per game for Ty Lawson.

Lawson has had back to back huge games, coming up with 25 points and seven assists in both, more than making up for a shoddy Game 1. Danilo Gallinari still isn’t shooting the ball all that well at just 34.9 percent, but he is averaging 15.0 points per game. Kenneth Faried is doing well, averaging a double-double with 12.0 points and 11.0 boards per game. Arron Afflalo is averaging 10.0 points per game, while Al Harrington is good for 9.3 points per game, but both are shooting under 33 percent from the floor.

If the Lakers are going to get back in total control of this series, they are going to have to stop a bad stretch in which they are just 2-5 in their last seven games at the United Center. Denver has now covered back to back games in this series after failing to cover the last two meetings of the regular season and the first here in the playoffs. Two of the three games have stayed ‘under’ the ‘total’ as well.

In Game 4, the Nuggets are slender two-point favorites, while the ‘total’ has dipped as low as it has been all season long at just 200.5. The tip is set for Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. (ET) at Pepsi Arena.

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