Lock, Fade And Stay Away (8/9/20)
If you want to see the rest of my locks, as well as Fiesta’s locks for today make sure you are following us on twitter (@thechasers617).
Lock(s):
Portland -170
Portland is coming off a horrid loss yesterday to the Kawhi less Clippers. Tonight they play the Philadelphia 76ers who look to have lost Ben Simmons for the rest of the season. The 76ers looked like a completely different team without Simmons on Friday against the Magic. They looked like a worse version of themselves in their 108-101 win against the Magic in their last game.
If they expect to compete with Portland today, they need to have a better game. I don’t see that happening unfortunately for two reasons. First reason is I don’t know how healthy Embiid is right now. He looked sluggish on Friday, and didn’t look like the Embiid we are use to seeing. The second reason is that I see Damian Lillard looking like a man on a mission today. After missing two big free throws down the stretch, as well as the banter on instagram between him and Paul George. I see Lillard locking in today and putting up big time numbers. Lock in the Trailblazers on the money line today.
St. Louis Blues -140
The St. Louis Blues have had a rough start to the bubble so far. Losing in the last second in their first game against Colorado, and then their collapse in the third period against Vegas has to have you think they are in a rough place. Well today they are playing a Dallas Stars team that hasn’t won a game since February 25th. Favors the Blues in this matchup, and also with the third seed on the line and a potential matchup against Calgary gives the Blues big time motivation. St. Louis is 7-2-1 in their last ten meetings with Dallas so this is best case scenario for them today.
They are playing a team that they have played really well, and when they win they’ll start a series against a team that they are 3-0 against this season. Lock in the Blues as they will be ready to go against the struggling Dallas Stars.
Fade:
New Orleans Pelicans -3.5
The New Orleans Pelicans have been all over the place since entering the bubble. As they were looking to try and steal their way into the post season, the bubble hasn’t been too kind to them so far. 2-3 record in the bubble and they have had a few games where they did not look good. Today they are 3.5 point favorites against the Spurs who have gotten the best of them in recent games. In their last three matchups the Spurs are 2-1 against the spread and 3-0 straight up. Zion is going to be a problem today for the Spurs to guard, but I think the Spurs can easily cover the 3.5 spread.
San Antonio has covered four out of their six games in the bubble, and today should be no different. Fade away from the Pelicans due to their inconsistencies on the offensive side of the basketball.
Stay Away:
Over 10 (Toronto vs Boston)
The Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Redsox have played two games this series, and the under has hit in both of those games. Today’s pitching matchup of Matt Shoemaker going up against Nathan Eovaldi has people debating whether or not to take the over in this one. I am here to tell you to stay far away from it and here is why. The under has hit in seven out of the last eight games for the Redsox, while for Toronto the under has hit in four out of their last five.
Also in their last five matchups between the two the under has hit in four out of their last five games. This over is too high, as the under is the play in this one. Stay far far away from the over in this low scoring affair.
-Chris Jones (@cjoneswho1212/@thechasers617 on twitter)