Yesterday was a rather frustrating day in the sense that I had weather postpone the Cubs/Reds game that I had two plays on and two of my other bets pushed on the number. Indiana had no chance of covering their spread and thanks to Patrick Roy’s tactics of pulling his goalie with plenty of time left, Minnesota’s empty-netters put me in the loss column.

It’s on to tonight’s board though and with only one game in the NHL, it’s baseball and basketball that I’ve devoted my attention too.

All lines taken from Carbon Sports with bet amounts “to win” on favorites and flat on underdogs

Play of the Day in Bold

NHL YTD: 2-3-1 (-$14)

MLB YTD: 3-5-1 (-$336)

NBA YTD: 4-4-1 (+78)

NBA Plays: 

Pick #1: Washington/Chicago Under 183.5 (-110) $330 to win $300

– All four games of this series have gone over the number so far, but with the Bulls in the surprising spot of facing elimination tonight I believe they turn up their defense to yet another level and make this game a race to 80 points. Washington has proved that they’ve got the better scorers throughout the first four games and with more scoring options to go to, Washington’s chances to win increase the higher scoring this game becomes. Chicago won’t go down without a fight and likely aren’t going to lose all three at home in this series, so for them to force a Game 6 they’ll have to rely on that top ranked defense from the regular season to get the job done.

Pick #2: Golden State/LA Clippers Under 210 (-110) $220 to win $200

– This game is going to have a very eerily feel to it for both teams with the whole Sterling situation going on and with so many distractions in the Staples Center tonight I believe it will take some time for both teams to find their footing offensively. In a pivotal swing game like Game 5’s always are, it will be the team that gets the critical stops that will head to Oakland with a 3-2 series lead later this week as this one should barely creep over 200 points.

MLB Plays: 

Pick #3: Chicago Cubs ML (+124) $200 to win $248

– For all the same reasons I mentioned in yesterday’s piece about the Reds first game back at home after a long road trip and the Cubs looking for revenge, I’m on the Northsiders again tonight.

Pick #4: Detroit/Chicago Over 8 (-115) $230 to win $200

– You would think that if you had a team ERA just under 5.00 it would be hard for you to have a winning record, but thanks to Chicago’s offense being near the top of the league in numerous categories the White Sox come into tonight’s action one-game over .500. They lost 8-6 to Verlander and the Tigers last week so they know they’ll be able to score against the hard throwing ace and they’ll have to if they want to beat a team as good as Detroit. The Tigers have struck out the fewest times in the majors (by a wide margin) and when you are simply making contact against a poor pitching staff like Chicago’s, good things are bound to happen.