Sunday was a pretty exciting day in the Tuley’s Takes home office as we were following a wide variety of sports all day long with the usual mix this time of year of college and pro basketball and the NHL, plus golf (I’m in 3 golf pools where you pick just one golfer a week and can’t use them again) and NASCAR.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a profitable day for yours truly as I lost by best bet (dropping our record to 17-4-1 ATS the past 22 days) on the Blues-Devils First Period Over 1.5. I’m not going to call it a Bad Beat, but anyone who followed us on this bet knows how close we were to cashing and how thrilling it was. There was actually a second goal scored, but it came less than a second after the buzzer to end the opening period.
It was even more unfortunate that I didn’t just stick with college basketball as you’ll see below that underdogs went 4-0 ATS in the games involving Top 25 teams (and which I wrote yesterday that I didn’t like any of the dogs. Ouch! But at least it was encouraging that they’re still barking and expect many more CBB plays later in the week as the major conferences have their tournaments with NCAA bids (and seedings) on the line.
I also didn’t have Alex Bowman in my pile of tickets (actually the “pile” was all on mobile apps) on the Las Vegas 400. Yes, I know it’s the Pennzoil 400, but locals still refer to it as the as Vegas 400 (or “the NASCAR Cup race”) as it’s corporate sponsorship seems to change every couple of years from the CarsDirect.com 400, UAW DaimlerChryler 400, UAW-Dodge 400, Shelby 427, Shelby American 400, Kobalt Tools 400, Kobalt 400 and now the Pennzoil 400 (presented by Jiffy Lube)
Let’s get to the rest of the major sports betting recaps from Sunday, and then try to get back on the winning track on Sunday.
Sunday’s recaps
NBA: Faves went 6-2 SU but only 4-3-1 ATS. The upsets were by the Rockets (+ 10.5 in 123-112 win vs. Grizzlies to snap a 12-game losing streak) and Knicks (+ 5.5 in 116-93 rout of Clippers to snap a 7-game skid). Thunder (+ 14) covered in 116-103 loss vs. the Jazz. Celtics (-6) pushed in 126-120 win vs. Nets. Over/Unders split 4-4.
CBB: No. 20 Illinois beat No. 24 Iowa 74-72, but did NOT cover as 4-point home fave. Nebraska (+ 12.5) upset No. 10 Wisconsin 74-73, Memphis (+ 2.5) upset No. 14 Houston 75-61 and Michigan (+ 6) upset No. 23 Ohio State as dogs went 4-0 ATS in games involving Top 25 teams.
NHL: Faves went 5-3 with the upsets by the Stars (+ 130 in 6-3 win at Wild), Devils (+ 115 in 3-2 OT win vs. Blues) and Rangers (-105 in 4-1 win at Jets). Unders went 6-2.
NASCAR: Alex Bowman won the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (though locals still call it the Las Vegas 400 as the corporate sponsor changes every couple of years LOL); the ViewFromVegas is Bowman was around 16-1 to 20-1 and around the 8th or 9th betting choice
Monday’s Take
Knicks + 3.5 at Kings: We’ve had a lack of “swagger” plays the past week as the Rockets and Knicks kept extending their losing streaks, but they both won Sunday and we have 2 to bet on this Monday. I’m making the Knicks my top best bet of the night as they snapped their 7-game losing streak at the Clippers Sunday night and it wasn’t even close. They looked like a team getting some swagger back, and now are getting points against a team that isn’t any better than them; in fact, the Knicks won the prior meeting by 20 points at the Garden. My second best-bet is on the Rockets + 16 at the Heat. The Rockets snapped their 12-game losing streak with a hard-fought win over the Grizzlies and now face the Heat, who have the top record in the Eastern Conference. I don’t expect an outright upset, but 16 points is too many to give a team in this spot.
Parlay of NHL First-Period Over 1.5s: For those who are enjoying playing these each day (or addicted to NHL 1P Crack like I am), we have 3 plays for Monday. I’m not sure yet if I’ll play ‘em straight and just count on winning at least 2 of 3 to make a profit or if I’ll round-robin them (oh, who am I kidding? I’m going to round-robin them!!!). Anyway, the 3 games are Panthers-Sabres, Maple Leafs-Blue Jackets and Oilers-Flames. The Panthers are on a 20-5 run with 1P Overs (all betting stats from @PSUOtto on Twitter) and have the best record on the season at 38-17 (69.1 percent), the Maple Leafs are on a 23-7 run and the Oilers are on a 14-4 run with the Flames on a 19-6 run of their own.
Good luck today (and every day!).