It is starting to look like the much anticipated matchup in the NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors will take place given the early results in each team’s current best-of-seven conference finals series.
The Ottawa Senators hold a 2-1 series edge over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL’s Eastern Conference Finals heading into Friday’s Game 4 at home which is scheduled for an 8 p.m. (ET) start on NBC Sports Network. Over in the conference finals out West, Nashville holds a 2-1 series lead against Anaheim heading into Thursday night’s Game 4 clash at 8 p.m. on NBC Sports Network as a -145 home favorite.
The featured matchup among a number of great MLB series this weekend pits the Texas Rangers on the road against the Detroit Tigers. Game 1 on Friday night gets underway at 7:10 p.m. at Comerica Park and the series finale highlight’s ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball in an 8 p.m. start.
Golf bettors at America’s Bookie can turn their attention to the TPC Four Seasons in Irving, Texas for this year’s AT&T Byron Nelson and both the ATP and WTA tours in tennis are in Rome for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Charlotte Motor Speedway will play host to NASCAR’s Monster Energy Cup Series for the next two weekends and the betting action gets underway this Saturday night with the annual All-Star Race.
One of the biggest betting events at America’s Bookie this weekend is Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore as the second leg in this year’s Triple Crown horse racing series for the top three-year old thoroughbreds. Always Dreaming went into the Kentucky Derby as a 9/2 favorite along with Irish War Cry and went on to win by 2 ¾ lengths. Following Wednesday’s post-position draw, he will start this Saturday’s Preakness from the No. 4 post as a 4/5 favorite on the morning line odds. Classic Empire has been opened as a 3/1 second-favorite and he will break from the No. 5 post in what could end up being a thrilling head-to-head matchup all the way down the stretch to the finish line.
The NBA’s top two teams have already made a pretty strong statement in their bid to meet for the third-straight time in the NBA Championship with their early play in the conference finals. Starting in the East, Cleveland had to wait 10 days for its chance to take on the No. 1 seeded Boston Celtics in that conference finals showdown and it showed no signs of rust with a 117-104 victory in Wednesday’s Game 1 as a four-point road favorite on America’s Bookie’s closing line. The Cavaliers are now a perfect 9-0 straight-up in the postseason with a 5-2-2 record against the spread. The total went OVER 218.5 points in that series opening win and it has now gone OVER in seven of Cleveland’s first nine playoff games.
Game 2 is set for Friday night in an 8:30 p.m. start at TD Garden on TNT and America’s Bookie has opened the Cavaliers as 5.5-point favorites on the road with the betting line for the total set at 219.5 points. This series shifts to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Sunday with Game 3 slated to get underway on TNT in another 8:30 p.m. start.
The Warriors were able to erase a 25-point deficit in Game 1 of their Western Conference Finals showdown against San Antonio with a tight 113-110 win, but they failed to cover as 10-point road favorites. With Kawhi Leonard on the bench for the Spurs in Tuesday’s Game 2 due to an ankle injury, Golden State cruised to a 36-point victory to easily cover America’s Bookie’s closing 13.5-point spread.
Heading in to Saturday’s Game 3 in San Antonio, the Warriors are listed as six-point road favorites with the total set at 212 for this 9 p.m. tip on ESPN. Golden State is a perfect 10-0 SU in the playoffs with a 6-4 record ATS. Counting the first two games of this series, the total has gone OVER in six of its last eight outings.
