CNOTES 2024-2025 NBA TRENDS, NEWS, BEST BETS AND OPINIONS THRU THE PLAYOFFS !

[CNOTES]

NBA BEST BETS FOR MAY !

05/29/2025....................0 - 2 - 0..............00.00%...........- 11.00
05/28/2025....................0 - 2 - 0..............00.00%...........- 11.00
05/27/2025....................1 - 1 - 0...............50.00%...........- 0.50
05/26/2025....................2 - 0 - 0.............100.00%...........+ 10.00
05/25/2025....................1 - 1 - 0..............50.00%............- 0.50
05/24/2025....................1 - 1 - 0..............50.00%............- 0.50
05/23/2025....................2 - 0 - 0.............100.00%............+ 10.00
05/22/2025....................1 - 1 - 0..............50.00%.............- 0.50
05/21/202......................2 - 0 - 0.............100.00%............+ 10.00
05/20/2025....................0 - 2 - 0..............00.00%.............- 11.00
05/18/2025....................1 - 1 - 0..............50.00%.............- 0.50
05/16/2025....................0 - 2 - 0..............00.00%............- 11.00
05/15/2025....................2 - 0 - 0.............100.00%.............+ 10.00
05/13/2025....................3 - 1 - 0...............75.00%.............+ 9.50
05/11/2025....................1 - 3 - 0...............25.00%.............- 11.50
05/10/2025....................2 - 2 - 0...............50.00%..............- 1.00
05/09/2025....................4 - 0 - 0.............100.00%..............+ 20.00
05/08/2025....................1 - 1 - 0..............50.00%...............- 0.50
05/07/2025....................2 - 2 - 0..............50.00%...............- 1.00
05/06/2025....................3 - 1 - 0..............75.00%...............+ 9.50
05/05/2025....................2 - 1 - 1..............66.66%...............+ 4.50
05/04/2025....................0 - 4 - 0..............00.00%...............- 22.00
05/03/2025....................1 - 1 - 0...............50.00%...............- 0.50
05/02/2025....................0 - 2 - 0...............00.00%...............- 11.00
05/01/2025....................3 - 1 - 0...............75.00%...............+ 9.50

TOTALS.......................33 -32 - 0...............50.76%...............- 11.00

**********************************
NBA PLAYOFF BEST BETS !

TOTALS.....................40 - 34 - 0...............54.05%.............. + 13.00

 

[CNOTES]

Friday’s 6-pack:
— Knicks 111, Pacers 94- Knicks were +26 with Towns on the floor.
— Nationals 9, Mariners 3 (10)- Washington scored 7 runs in the 10th.
— Phillies 5-3, Braves 4-9; Chris Sale threw six shutout IP in nightcap.
— Blue Jays 12, A’s 0- Toronto scored eight runs in second inning.
— Rays 13, Astros 3- Game was 3-3 after six innings.
— Edmonton 6, Dallas 3- Florida-Edmonton are in Stanley Cup final.

Quote of the Day
“Anyone who’s ever been in my situation would agree that it sucks.”
Titans’ QB Will Levis; Tennessee drafted QB Cam Ward this past spring

Friday’s quiz
Since the 2009-10 NBA season, which team has won the most playoff games?

Thursday’s quiz
In the football movie The Replacements, Gene Hackman coached/Keanu Reeves played QB for the fictional Washington Sentinels.

Wednesday’s quiz
In the history of the New York Mets, John Franco has the most saves.

**********************************************

Friday’s Den: 13 of my favorite TV shows…….​

13 of my favorite TV shows (in alphabetical order):

— Batman— When you’re six years old, and in the opening credits every week, they show “WHAP!!! POW!!! BIFF!!!” and your name is Biff, this quickly becomes a favorite show.
The villains were some pretty big stars back then (Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero, Milton Berle, Vincent Price, Liberace, Ethel Merman)
I haven’t seen much of the Batman movies that have been made over the years, but the TV show had some humor; one week there was a 3-foot Martian on the loose in Gotham City, and Robin blurts out “Holy interplanetary yardstick, Batman!!!” Good stuff.

— Billions— Showtime series about a hedge fund manager who pushes the boundaries of the law while his marriage falls apart. His arch-enemy is a prosecutor in NYC who is into S&M and his wife is his dominatrix— the wife is also the psychiatrist for the hedge fund manager’s company.
Trivia: Paul Giamatti plays the prosecutor; he is the son of former baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti. I suggested a cameo role for Pete Rose, but that never happened.

— CSI— I spent a good chunk of my work career searching fingerprints and working for the NY State Division of Criminal Justice, so I enjoyed all the CSI shows, but especially the one set in Las Vegas— the actors seemed to have a chemistry working together.
One of my weirder ideas (a teacher friend of mine scoffed at this) is that CSI should be taught to all high school kids, so they realize how difficult it is to get away with crimes, so maybe there would be fewer crimes. What could it hurt?

— Green Acres— As a kid, I spent lot of hours watching Green Acres re-runs; my dad would walk into the room, say “Why the hell are you watching that?”, but within five minutes, he’d be sitting there laughing harder than me and would leave the room before my mother came in and saw the both of us laughing. She wasn’t a big fan of Hank Kimball or Arnold Ziffel.

— Law and Order— 20 years, 456 episodes, a great launching point for lot of acting careers, not to mention the spinoff shows that branched off this original show.
Take Billions; there are 32 actors who have appeared in 12+ episodes of Billons; 14 of those 32 actors appeared in at least one episode of Law and Order, and two others were in Law and Order SVU, and that doesn’t count Eric Bogosian, who was in Law and Order: Criminal Intent for 61 episodes, but was only in 11 episodes of Billions.

— Magnum PI— I’ve never been to Hawai’i, but if I ever went, would like to visit Robin Masters’ estate; I’m told you can visit there, it is kind of a museum or something.
One of the best episodes was when Frank Sinatra played a retired New York City cop whose granddaughter was murdered— this was near the end of both the series and Sinatra’s career.
The overriding themes of the show were that great friends will do all kinds of stuff for each other, and if you’re really good looking and drive a Ferrari, women will like you

Famous birthdays, May 30th:
Mike LaCoss, 69
Billy Donovan, 60
Manny Ramirez, 53
Jordan Palmer, 41
Zack Wheeler, 35
Harrison Barnes, 33
Jeremy Lamb, 33
Shaedon Sharpe, 22

— M*A*S*H— Years later, after watching re-runs of this show on our local channel 10 and the Boston channel for hours at a time, it dawned on me that this was actually a very sad show, with humor/jokes masking the grotesque sadness of wartime Korea.
The McLean Stevenson episodes were the best; he was Colonel Henry Blake for the first 75 episodes, and a lot of them were classics, just funny as hell.

— Mr Ed— This show ran on network TV from 1961-66, so I never saw it until the re-runs came on at 4:30 weekdays on a local channel in the early 70’s. Mr Ed was a talking horse, but he only talked to Wilbur Post, an architect who worked at home but never actually seemed to work.
Mr Ed was a big Dodger fan; his favorite player was OF Willie Davis. In one episode, the horse takes batting practice against Sandy Koufax, and hits a ball off the wall at Dodger Stadium, with the bat held in his mouth. A fun show, not necessarily a realistic one.

— Odd Couple— As a kid, Oscar Madison was one of my heroes; a sportswriter who always spilled food on his clothes but was a good natured guy who somehow dated a doctor or one of the Pidgeon sisters.
To this day when I see my cousin’s husband, we recite lines from Odd Couple episodes; when they owned a greyhound racing dog , or appeared on Password (a game show), or when Oscar dated a princess from some obscure European country “You bought her a salty pretzel; oh, boy!!!” Great stuff.

— Ray Donovan— The most violent program on this list; just about everybody on this Showtime series that isn’t related to the Donovans eventually winds up dead.
Ray Donovan is a fixer for rich people, but he can’t fix his own family; his wife passes away from cancer, and the last time we saw him, he was still struggling with that.
Live Schreber plays Ray, Jon Voight plays his father (a genuine creep); they’ve had guest stars like Susan Sarandon, James Woods, Wendell Pierce, Hank Azaria. Alan Alda, C Thomas Howell.
Very good show but also very violent.

— Suits— This show was about a law firm that hired a young guy with a photographic memory who had one small problem— he is a college dropout who never went to law school, but he gets paid to take bar exams for other people.
The show had to change directions because one of the actresses (Meghan Markle) moved to England after she married Prince Harry in real life. Her character was married to Mike (the fraudulent lawyer) so they got written out of the last couple years of the show.
They introduced Suits LA this year, which is similar; Harvey Spector (Gabriel Macht) made a couple appearances, as did Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman). Pretty good show.

— West Wing— Martin Sheen plays the President in this show; his cabinet included Rob Lowe, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer— great cast.
Actor Duke Hill was in both West Wing and Suits; Mary Louise Parker was in this and is also in Billions. Alan Alda was in this, Ray Donovan and of course, M*A*S*H
Jimmy Smits, Mary MacCormack, Tim Matheson, Gary Cole, just a ton of excellent actors.
In one episode, President Bartlet has to throw out the first pitch at an Orioles’ game, but he never played ball, so one of his aides has to teach him how to throw a baseball in a hallway in the White House, where an errant toss breaks an expensive vase.

— White Shadow— Ken Howard plays a washed-up NBA player who becomes a high school basketball coach in Los Angeles. Show only lasted three years, because well, high school kids graduate so they would’ve had to turn most of the cast over every other year.
The basketball scenes were really well-done; Gwyneth Paltrow’s father was the creator of the show. Lot of the issues they tackled in this show were issues that real high school in the inner city had to deal with. Ken Howard was great as Coach Reeves; he wasn’t some all-knowing guy; he had flaws but he fought for his kids and they respected him for it (most of the time).

 

[Udog]

No games today. Eastern conference finals game 6 is tomorrow.

 

[CNOTES]

Saturday’s 6-pack:
Week 1 NFL spreads:
— Cowboys @ Philadelphia (-7)
— Chiefs (-2.5) vs Chargers (@ Brazil)
— Steelers (-3) @ Jets
— Dolphins @ Indianapolis (-1.5)
— Panthers @ Jacksonville (-3.5)
— Giants (+6.5) @ Washington

Quote of the Day
“A mind is like a parachute; it doesn’t work if it isn’t open.”
Frank Zappa

Saturday’s quiz
In the history of the Houston Astros, who has the most hits?

Friday’s quiz
Since the 2009-10 NBA season, Boston Celtics (118) have won the most playoff games; Golden State is next, with 113.

Thursday’s quiz
In the football movie The Replacements, Gene Hackman coached/Keanu Reeves played QB for the fictional Washington Sentinels.

****************************************

Saturday’s Den: Wrapping up a busy Friday night……..​

— Dodgers 8, New York 5
Judge, Ohtani both homered in first inning.
Ohtani added a second homer in the 6th inning.
Dodgers improve to 20-8 at home.

— Astros 2, Rays 1
Yainer Diaz hit a walk-off home run for Houston.
Tampa Bay led 1-0 after seven innings.
Framber Valdez threw an 83-pitch complete game.

— Nationals 9, Diamondbacks 7
Game was 6-6 after the third inning.
Washington won 10 of its last 13 games.

— Twins 12, Mariners 6 (10)
Minnesota tied game with three runs in 9th inning.
Seattle led 4-2 after the sixth inning.
Mariners lost seven of their last ten games.

— Padres 3, Pirates 2
San Diego beat the Pirates for the 10th time in a row.
Pittsburgh left the bases loaded in top of the 8th.
Nick Pivetta is 6-2, 2.74 for San Diego this year.

— Brewers 6, Phillies 2
Christian Yelich homered twice, had four RBI
Milwaukee won its fifth game in a row.
Quinn Priester pitched six innings in relief for the win.

— Mets 4, Rockies 2
Francisco Lindor homered from both sides of the plate.
Mets won the last 25 games that Lindor homered in.
Colorado has lost six in a row, is 9-48 this season.

Famous birthdays, May 31st:
Clint Eastwood, 95
Joe Namath, 82
Sharon Gless, 82
Tom Berenger, 76
Susie Essman, 70
Chris Elliott, 65
Lea Thompson, 64
Brooke Shields, 60
Kenny Lofton, 58
Duane Causwell, 57
Dave Roberts, 53
Matt Harpring, 49
Jake Peavy, 44
Nate Robinson, 41
Spencer Schwellenbach, 25

— Stanley Cup Finals don’t start until Wednesday in Edmonton; pretty long layoff for the two teams.
Edmonton Oilers are -115 favorites against the Florida Panthers. It has been 32 years since a Canadian franchise won the Stanley Cup.

— Indiana Pacers lead the Knicks 3-2 in the NBA’s Eastern Conference final; Knicks are 0-14 in playoff series when they trailed 2-0. They need a road win Saturday to force a Game 7 in Madison Square Garden.

— Denver Nuggets hired interim coach David Adelman as their new full-time coach, but this week he fired four assistants, all of whom were with the Nuggets two years ago, when they won the NBA title.
Nuggets made headlines when they fired their coach/GM three games before the end of this year’s regular season, highly unusual for a team with a winning record.

— On a typical game night, the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder use around 500 towels; that’s a lot of freakin’ towels. Lot of laundry to do after every game.

— Los Angeles Dodgers have $102M in payroll on the injured list; Mookie Betts missed Friday’s game after he injured the 2nd toe on his left foot during an off-the-field incident Wednesday. He was supposed to have x-rays before Friday’s game.

— The other night in Anaheim, Angels walked Aaron Judge intentionally in both the first/second innings, which almost never happens. Angels lost the game 1-0.

— Was reading some stuff about the Red Sox, and their 2024 budget, which aired on a Netflix series about the team:
In 2024, the Red Sox……..
Spent $150,000 to buy 120 bats for each player.
Spent $19,000 on custom batting helmets.
Spent nearly $500,000, just on baseballs. Thats a lot of baseballs.
They also spent $500 on mud from the Delaware River in New Jersey, which is what they use to rub up the baseballs before each game.

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Saturday, May 31

NBA

Saturday, May 31

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New York VS Indiana
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New York's last 6 games.
New York is 7-2 ATS in its last 9 games on the road.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of New York's last 5 games when playing on the road against Indiana.
New York is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games played on a Saturday.
Indiana is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Indiana's last 6 games.
Indiana is 15-5 SU in its last 20 games.
Indiana is 16-4 SU in its last 20 games at home.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[CNOTES]

Saturday, May 31​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
NY at IND	08:00 PM	NY +4.0 O 221.0	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

NBA BEST BETS FOR MAY !

05/31/2025....................1 - 1 - 0..............50.00%...........- 0.50
05/29/2025....................0 - 2 - 0..............00.00%...........- 11.00
05/28/2025....................0 - 2 - 0..............00.00%...........- 11.00
05/27/2025....................1 - 1 - 0...............50.00%...........- 0.50
05/26/2025....................2 - 0 - 0.............100.00%...........+ 10.00
05/25/2025....................1 - 1 - 0..............50.00%............- 0.50
05/24/2025....................1 - 1 - 0..............50.00%............- 0.50
05/23/2025....................2 - 0 - 0.............100.00%............+ 10.00
05/22/2025....................1 - 1 - 0..............50.00%.............- 0.50
05/21/202......................2 - 0 - 0.............100.00%............+ 10.00
05/20/2025....................0 - 2 - 0..............00.00%.............- 11.00
05/18/2025....................1 - 1 - 0..............50.00%.............- 0.50
05/16/2025....................0 - 2 - 0..............00.00%............- 11.00
05/15/2025....................2 - 0 - 0.............100.00%.............+ 10.00
05/13/2025....................3 - 1 - 0...............75.00%.............+ 9.50
05/11/2025....................1 - 3 - 0...............25.00%.............- 11.50
05/10/2025....................2 - 2 - 0...............50.00%..............- 1.00
05/09/2025....................4 - 0 - 0.............100.00%..............+ 20.00
05/08/2025....................1 - 1 - 0..............50.00%...............- 0.50
05/07/2025....................2 - 2 - 0..............50.00%...............- 1.00
05/06/2025....................3 - 1 - 0..............75.00%...............+ 9.50
05/05/2025....................2 - 1 - 1..............66.66%...............+ 4.50
05/04/2025....................0 - 4 - 0..............00.00%...............- 22.00
05/03/2025....................1 - 1 - 0...............50.00%...............- 0.50
05/02/2025....................0 - 2 - 0...............00.00%...............- 11.00
05/01/2025....................3 - 1 - 0...............75.00%...............+ 9.50

TOTALS.......................34 -33 - 0...............50.74%...............- 11.50

**********************************
NBA PLAYOFF BEST BETS !

TOTALS.....................40 - 34 - 0...............54.05%.............. + 13.00

 

[CNOTES]

Sunday’s 6-pack:
Week 1 NFL spreads:
— Bengals (-5.5) @ Cleveland
— Raiders @ New England (-3)
— Cardinals (-5) @ New Orleans
— Buccaneers (-2.5) @ Atlanta
— Titans @ Denver (-7.5)
— 49ers (-1.5) @ Seattle

Quote of the Day
“The way to success is they way of the craftsman, where you work really hard for years. You show up every day, you do the work. You put your heart and soul into the work as you strive for excellence. You strive to create perfection, knowing you’ll never truly achieve it but hoping to get close to it.”
Unknown

Sunday’s quiz
Last time the Indiana Pacers made it to the NBA Finals, who did they play?

Saturday’s quiz
In the history of the Houston Astros, Craig Biggio has the most hits (3,060).

Friday’s quiz
Since the 2009-10 NBA season, Boston Celtics (118) have won the most playoff games; Golden State is next, with 113.

*****************************************

Sunday’s Den: NL teams’ records, by starting pitcher…….​

Teams’ records by starting pitcher:
(thru Saturday’s games)
Diamondbacks (27-31)
Gallen 4-8 (under 4-2 last six)
Kelly 6-6
Burnes 5-5 (under 4-1 last five)
Pfaadt 7-5 (over 3-1 last four)
Rodriguez 4-5 (over 6-0 last six)
Nelson 1-2 (under 3-0)

— Braves (27-30)
Sale 6-6 (under 6-2 last eight)
Schwellenbach 7-5 (over 6-2 last eight)
Smith-Shawver 5-4 (under 7-2)
Holmes 5-6 (under 5-1 last six)
Elder 4-4 (under 6-1 last seven)
Lopez 0-1
Strider 0-3 (under 3-0)
Blewett 0-1

— Cubs (36-22)
Imanaga 5-3 (under 6-2)
Steele 3-1 (over 4-0)
Taillon 5-6 (under last seven)
Boyd 6-5 (home team 10-1)
Brown 6-4 (over 9-1)
Rea 6-3 (over 4-2 last six)
Horton 4-0
Pomeranz 1-0 (opener)
Keller 1-0 (opener)

— Reds (29-30)
Greene 5-5 (under 7-2 last nine)
Lodolo 5-7 (over 6-3 last nine)
Martinez 3-8 (under 7-1 last eight)
Singer 7-4
Spiers 0-2
Abbott 7-2 (under 4-1 last five)
Petty 0-2
Suter 2-0 (opener)

— Rockies (9-49)
Freeland 1-11 (under 8-4)
Senzatela 2-10
Feltner 1-5 (under 4-0 last four)
Marquez 2-9 (over 7-3 last ten)
Dollander 2-6 (under 4-1 last five)
Blalock 0-3
Gordon 1-2
Palmquist 0-3

— Dodgers (36-22)
Yamamoto 8-3 (under 8-3)
Snell 2-0 (over 2-0)
Glasnow 3-2
Sasaki 6-2 (over 6-2)
May 5-5 (under 4-1 last five)
Knack 4-2 (over 4-2)
Gonsolin 3-3
Wrobleski 0-1
Miller 1-0
Kershaw 1-2 (over 3-0)
Casparius 0-1 (opener)
Dreyer 2-1 (opener)
Sauer 1-0 (opener)

— Marlins (23-33)
Alcantara 4-7 (over 7-4)
Gillispie 1-5 (over 5-1)
Bellozo 1-4
Meyer 5-6 (over 6-1 last seven)
Quantrill 6-5 (under 5-0 last five)
Cabrera 5-4 (under 4-1 last five)
Weathers 1-2

— Famous birthdays, June 1st:
Brian Cox, 79
Tim Daly, 69
Teri Polo, 56
Shane Matthews, 55
Paula Malcomson, 55
Alanis Morissette, 51
Santana Moss, 46
Nick Young, 40
Andrew Abbott, 26

— Brewers (31-28)
Peralta 6-5 (under 8-3)
Cortes 1-1
Civale 2-1
Patrick 5-7 (under 9-3)
Priester 1-6 (under 5-2)
Myers 2-3
Rodriguez 0-2 (over 2-0)
Alexander 2-2 (over 3-1)
Quintana 4-2 (under 5-1)
Henderson 3-1 (over 3-1)
Hall 1-0
Zastryzny 1-0 (opener)

— Mets (36-22)
Holmes 8-3 (under 3-0 last three)
Megill 5-6 (over 6-2 last eight)
Senga 7-4 (under 10-1)
Canning 8-3 (under 7-4)
Peterson 8-4
Tidwell 0-1
Brazoban 0-2 (opener)

— Phillies (36-22)
Wheeler 8-4 (under 3-1 last four)
Luzardo 8-4
Nola 3-6 (under 6-3)
Sanchez 9-2 (over 3-0 last three)
Walker 4-4 (under 3-1 last four)
Suarez 4-1 (under 3-1 last four)
Abel 1-0

— Pirates (21-37)
Skenes 4-7 (under 5-2 last seven)
Keller 3-9 (under 4-1 last five)
Falter 6-6 (under 7-2 last nine)
Heaney 4-7 (under 8-3)
Mlodzinski 3-6 (under 4-1 last five)
Harrington 0-1
Burrows 0-1

— Cardinals (33-25)
Gray 10-2 (over 9-3)
Fedde 3-8
Mikolas 6-5 (won last six) (under 5-2 last seven)
Liberatore 5-6
Pallante 7-4
Matz 2-0

— Padres (32-24)
King 5-5 (1-5 last six) (over 3-0-1 last four)
Cease 7-5
Vasquez 6-5 (under 8-3)
Pivetta 8-3 (under 6-2 last eight)
Hart 3-3 (over 4-2)
Kolek 3-2 (over 3-1 last four)

— Giants (32-26)
Ray 10-2 (under 7-1 last eight)
Hicks 4-5 (over 7-2)
Webb 6-6 (over 4-2 last six)
Verlander 4-6 (under 4-1 last five)
Roupp 6-5 (under 3-0 last three)
Birdsong 1-1 (under 2-0)
Harrison 1-1 (under 2-0)

— Nationals (28-30)
Gore 4-7 (under 5-1 last six)
Irvin 7-5 (over 4-2 last six)
Parker 7-4 (under 7-4)
Williams 5-6 (over 4-2 last six)
Lord 2-4
Soroka 2-4

 

[Udog]

No games today. The NBA Finals begin Thursday.

 

[CNOTES]

Monday’s 6-pack:
Last six Stanley Cup champs:
2024— Florida over Edmonton
2023— Florida over Vegas
2022— Colorado over Tampa Bay
2021— Tampa Bay over Montreal
2020— Tampa Bay over Dallas
2019— St Louis over Boston

Quote of the Day
“I love mankind……it’s people I can’t stand!!”
Linus, from the Peanuts comic strip

Monday’s quiz
Hall of Fame baseball player Dave Winfield was drafted by four teams in three different sports; which NBA team drafted him in the 5th round in 1973?

Sunday’s quiz
Last time the Indiana Pacers made it to the NBA Finals, they played the Lakers, and lost in six games. Shaquille O’Neal scored 38 ppg in the series, was named MVP.

Saturday’s quiz
In the history of the Houston Astros, Craig Biggio has the most hits (3,060).

*****************************************

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Sunday……​

— Odds for the NBA Finals, which start Thursday:

Oklahoma City -700…….Indiana +500
Thunder are heavy favorites; they haven’t won an NBA title since 1979, when the franchise was the Seattle SuperSonics.
Pacers have never won an NBA title; they won three ABA titles back in the day, but are in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000.

— There are 27 American TV markets in the NBA; Indiana is the 21st biggest market, Oklahoma City is the 25th biggest market. Should be really good basketball, with two small market teams.

— Oklahoma City/Indianapolis are 688 miles apart, the closest the two NBA Finals cities have been to each other since 1971, when the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Baltimore Bullets- those cities are 642 miles apart.

— Oklahoma City figures to be really good for a long time; over the next seven years, Thunder owns 12 first round draft picks, and 17 more second rounds picks. They can’t package those picks and acquire some big stars.

— Famous birthdays, June 2nd:
Stacy Keach, 84
Jerry Mathers, 77
Lawrence McCutcheon, 75
Joanna Gleason, 75
Dennis Haysbert, 71
Al Wood, 67
Earl Boykins, 49
Nikki Cox, 47
Bobby Simmons, 45
Tim Stauffer, 43
Austin Davis, 36
Ryan Lindley, 36

— Mets drafted Darryl Strawberry with the first pick in the 1980 amateur draft; he was a great player, led the Mets to their last World Series title, in 1986.
Mets had another first round pick in 1980; they drafted OF Billy Beane, who later became famous as GM of the Oakland A’s (Brad Pitt played him in Moneyball).
201st pick that year was Eric Davis, who led Cincinnati to a World Series title in 1990.
Billy Beane was the 23rd player drafted that year; the pick before him was Terry Francona, the current Reds’ manager who was taken by the Montreal Expos.
Three other future managers were also drafted that year: John Farrell, John Gibbons and Lloyd McClendon.

— Mets have won the last 26 games that Francisco Lindor has homered in; 11 of his 13 home runs this season have come in home games.

— Arizona scored three runs in the first inning Sunday, the fifth time this season Diamondbacks scored 3+ runs in the first inning. Sunday was the first time Arizona won one of those games.
Diamondbacks are 13-10 this season when they score 6+ runs; no other team has lost more than five such games.

— Colorado Rockies have now lost 22 series in a row, dating back to last year; they’re 9-50 this year, on track to becoming the worst team ever.

— Dodgers star Mookie Betts broke the second toe on his foot walking around his house late at night last week; he missed the Dodgers-New York series this weekend.

— Movie of the Day: Begin Again (2013)- A chance encounter in Manhattan between a down-and-out music executive, and a young singer-songwriter turns into a promising collaboration between the two people.
Keira Knightley plays the singer, Mark Ruffalo the executive; James Corden is very good as her old friend from back home in England. Hailee Steinfeld plays Ruffalo’s daughter; in real life, she married Buffalo Bills’ QB Josh Allen this weekend.
This is a very good movie, a nice movie. We need more nice in the world.

— Astros 1, Rays 0
Hunter Brown is the first 8-game winner in the majors.
There were a total of only six hits in this game.
Teams split a 4-game series; Astros scored total of only nine runs in the games.

— Tigers 1, Royals 0
Only run scored on a wild pitch in the third inning.
Royals beat Detroit 1-0 in Saturday’s game.
Royals called up their big OF prospect Jac Caglianone Sunday night.

— Mariners 2, Twins 1
Cal Raleigh hit his 23rd home run for Seattle.
Twins tied the game on a sac fly in top of the 9th.
Randy Arozarena had a walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th.

— Mets 5, Rockies 3
Pete Alonso hit a 3-run homer for New York.
This was only the sixth game this season a starting pitcher for the Mets threw a pitch in the 7th inning.

— Padres 6, Pirates 4
San Diego rallied for four runs in the 7th inning.
Robert Suarez got his MLB-best 19th save in this game.
Andrew McCutchen hit his 324th home run, 240 of them with Pittsburgh.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, StL/SF
AL: New York, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Guardians, Astros, Twins

 

[Udog]

No games today. The finals start Thursday.

 

[CNOTES]

Tuesday’s 6-pack:
NFL regular season wins, since 2000:
270— New England
255— Pittsburgh
251— Green Bay
244— Baltimore
242— Philadelphia
238— Indianapolis

Quote of the Day
“My swing, my timing was good. There was a lot of trust in my swing. That’s kind of why things like tonight happen.”
Tigers’ OF Kerry Carpenter, who hit three homers Monday

Tuesday’s quiz
Who is the only player in the College Football Hall of Fame who played college football at Utah?
(Hint: He played in the NFL in the last ten years)

Monday’s quiz
Hall of Fame baseball player Dave Winfield was drafted by four teams in three different sports; NBA’s Atlanta Hawks drafted him in the 5th round in 1973.

Sunday’s quiz
Last time the Indiana Pacers made it to the NBA Finals, they played the Lakers, and lost in six games. Shaquille O’Neal scored 38 ppg in the series, was named MVP.

*****************************************************

Tuesday’s Den: Trends for every major league team…….​

— Arizona (28-31)
Arizona lost 10 of its last 12 games.
Diamondbacks are 8-11 in one-run games.
Arizona is 2-10 in last 12 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Braves (27-31)
Atlanta lost eight of its last 11 games.
Braves are 17-11 at home, 10-20 on the road.
Under is 15-3 in their last 18 home games.

— Cubs (37-22)
Chicago won nine of its last eleven games.
Under is 5-1 in their last six games.
Cubs are 8-1 vs American League teams.

— Reds (29-32)
Cincinnati lost four of its last five games.
Under is 4-1 in their last five games.
Last 9 series, Reds are 0-6 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Rockies (10-50)
Colorado is 3-15 since they changed managers.
Under is 14-4 in Rockies’ last 18 road games.
Rockies are 1-17 vs lefty starters, 9-33 vs righties.

— Dodgers (36-24)
Dodgers won eight of their last 12 games,
Dodgers are 21-10 at home, 15-14 on the road.
Dodgers are 28-13 vs righty starters, 8-11 vs lefties.
Over is 14-4 in their last 18 home games.

— Marlins (23-35) )
Marlins are 8-9 in their last seventeen games.
Miami is 14-18 at home, 9-17 on the road.
Marlins are 1-8 in road series openers.

— Brewers (33-28)
Brewers have won eight games in a row.
Brewers are 18-10 at home, 15-18 on the road.
Under is 10-4 in their last 14 home games.

— Mets (38-22)
Mets won nine of their last eleven games.
Mets are 24-7 at home, 14-15 on the road.
Under is 15-5 in their last 20 games.

— Phillies (36-23)
Phillies lost their last four games.
Phillies are 28-13 vs righty starters, 8-10 vs lefties.
Under is 9-6 in their last fifteen games.

— Pirates (22-38)
Pirates are 5-3 in their last eight games.
Pittsburgh is 13-16 at home, 9-22 on the road.
Under is 10-4 in their last 14 road games.

— St Louis (33-26)
St Louis won 19 of its last 26 games.
Cardinals are 10-2 when Sonny Gray starts.
St Louis is 19-8 at home, 14-18 on the road.

— Padres (34-24)
Padres won six of their last eight games.
Under is 7-3 in their last ten home games.
Padres are 8-1 against their NL West rivals.

— Giants (33-27)
Giants are 4-7 in their last eleven games.
Giants are 27-15 vs rightly pitchers, 6-12 vs lefties.
SF scored total of 14 runs in their last nine games.
Under is 14-1 in Giants’ last fifteen games.

— Washington (28-31)
Nationals won ten of their last 14 games.
Over is 5-1 in their last six games.
Washington is 10-3 last 13 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Famous birthdays, June 3rd:
Billy Cunningham, 82
Emmitt Thomas, 81
Az-Zahir Hakim, 48
Travis Hafner, 48
Al Horford, 39
Imogen Poots, 36
Harrison Bader, 31
Eric Lauer, 30
Luis Urias, 28
Ryan Jeffers, 28
Tuesday would’ve been the 100th birthday for Tony Curtis, the 88th birthday for Edward Winter (Colonel Flagg on M*A*S*H)

— Orioles (22-36)
Baltimore is 6-2 in its last eight games.
Orioles are 8-8 vs AL East foes, 14-28 vs everyone else.
Under is 6-2 in their last eight games.

— Red Sox (29-33)
Boston is 6-16 in one-run games.
Under is 10-4 in their last fourteen games.
Red Sox are 16-15 at home, 13-18 on the road.

— White Sox (18-42)
Chicago lost seven of its last eight games.
White Sox are 6-26 on the road.
White Sox are 12-33 vs righty starters, 6-9 vs lefties.

— Cleveland (32-26)
Cleveland is 14-5 against its AL Central rivals.
Guardians are 29-18 vs righty starters, 3-8 vs lefties.
Over is 4-2 in their last six games.

— Detroit (40-21)
Detroit is 12-6 vs its AL Central rivals.
Tigers won seven of their last eight games.
Under is 9-3 in their last 12 games.

— Houston (32-27)
Astros are 22-12 at home, 10-15 on the road.
Houston is 2-6 in road series openers.
Under is 13-6 in their last nineteen games.
Astros scored total of nine runs in their last four games.

— Royals (31-29)
Royals are 6-11 in their last seventeen games.
Kansas City is 19-13 at home, 12-16 on the road.
Under is 18-10 in Royals’ last 28 games.
Kansas City is 12-8 in one-run games.

— Angels (27-32)
Angels lost seven of their last nine games.
Over is 11-5 in their last 16 road games.
Under is 5-0 in their last five home games.
Halos are 13-6 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Twins (32-27)
Twins lost five of their last eight games.
Minnesota is 18-8 at home, 14-19 on the road.
Over is 4-1 in their last five games.

— New York (36-22)
New York won 17 of its last 23 games.
Under is 6-1 in their last seven home games.
New York is 28-17 vs righty starters, 8-5 vs lefties.

— A’s (23-38)
A’s lost 18 of their last 19 games.
A’s are 9-20 in Sacramento, 14-18 on the road.
Over is 9-3 in their last 12 home games.

— Seattle (32-26)
Mariners are 9-12 in their last 21 games.
Seattle is 4-8 in its last 12 home games.
Under is 7-2 in Seattle’s last nine road games.
Over is 5-1 in Mariners’ last six home games.

— Tampa Bay (30-29)
Tampa Bay won nine of its last 12 games.
Under is 16-7 in their last 23 home games.
Rays are 9-3 in last 12 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Texas (29-31)
Rangers lost nine of their last 13 games.
Texas is 5-13 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Rangers are 20-13 at home, 9-18 on road.
Under is 13-4 in their last 17 road games.

— Toronto (31-28)
Blue Jays won their last five games, scoring 41 runs.
Under is 5-1 in their last six road games.
Toronto is 9-10 in series openers.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Cardinals
AL: New York, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Guardians, Astros, Twins

 

[Udog]

No games today. The finals begin Thursday.

 

[CNOTES]

Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Fewest NFL regular season wins, since 2000:
139— Cleveland
153— Jacksonville
158— Detroit
161— Las Vegas
162— Houston
170— Washington

Quote of the Day
“Is that a real question right now? You just asked me if I believe he’s (Tom Thibodeau) the right guy? Yes. Come on.”
Knicks’ star Jalen Brunson, after last week’s Game 6 loss to Indiana

Wednesday’s quiz
Who managed the Pittsburgh Pirates, last time they made the playoffs?

Tuesday’s quiz
QB Alex Smith is the only player in the College Football Hall of Fame who played college football at Utah.

Monday’s quiz
Hall of Fame baseball player Dave Winfield was drafted by four teams in three different sports; NBA’s Atlanta Hawks drafted him in the 5th round in 1973.

**************************************************

Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….​

— Disappointed to hear this week that the ball-strike challenge system probably won’t happen in the major leagues until 2027; sounds like the players’ union is going to use the challenge system as a negotiating chip in the labor negotiations that will happen after the 2026 season.
Too bad; everyone seems to like the ball-strike challenge system, but the union/owners can’t agree on what day it is, so this is likely to be delayed.

— New York Knicks made the NBA’s Final Four this year for the first time since 2000, losing in six games to Indiana, so of course they fired their coach Tuesday. Oy.
You have your best season in 25 years, then fire the coach. Why????
Tom Thibodeau was 250-197 in five years with the Knicks, 24-23 in playoff games. He signed a three-year extension with the Knicks last summer, so he’s still going to get paid. Who exactly will the Knicks hire who is a better coach than Thibodeau?

— NFL teams with most games in domed stadiums this year:
13- Cardinals
12- Texans, Raiders
11- Falcons, Colts, Vikings
10- Rams, Cowboys, Lions, Chargers, Saints

— NFL teams with fewest games in domed stadiums this year:
1- Ravens, Bengals, Patriots, Jets
2- Bills, Browns, Chiefs, Dolphins, Steelers

— Jalen Hurts’ offensive coordinators, since 2016:
2016- Lane Kiffin (Alabama)
2017- Brian Daboll/Mike Locksley (Alabama)
2018- Josh Gattis/Mike Locksley (Alabama)
2019- Cale Gundy/Bill Bedenbaugh (Oklahoma- Lincoln Riley called plays)
2020- Doug Pederson (Eagles’ HC who called plays)
2021-22- Shane Steichen (Eagles)
2023- Brian Johnson (Eagles)
2024- Kellen Moore (Eagles)
2025- Kevin Patullo (Eagles)

— In the NFL, dead money is salary cap space that teams can’t use, the penalty for releasing or trading expensive veterans.
Here are the teams with the most dead money for 2025:
$92,651,013- 49ers
$67,445,001- Seahawks
$67,435,825- Eagles
$64,643,468- Jaguars
$62,720,670- Jets

Famous birthdays, June 4th:
Bruce Dern, 89
Michelle Phillips, 81
Mike Barber, 72
Terry Kennedy, 69
Tony Peña, 68
Jim Lachey, 62
Xavier McDaniel, 62
Scott Servais, 58
Noah Wyle, 54
Darin Erstad, 51
Angelina Jolie, 50
Greg Monroe, 35
Aaron Nola, 32
Freddy Peralta, 29

— Monday night there were seven baseball games; the road team won all seven, the first time since 2013 that there were 5+ games on the same day, with the road team winning all of them.

— Interleague play so far this season:
National League 139 wins, American League 137.
Teams’ records in series:
(away/home….total)
(thru Sunday’s games)
NL East
Braves 3-7/5-3-1…..8-10-1
Marlins 1-7-1/4-6…..5-13-1
Mets 3-5-1/9-1…..12-6-1
Phillies 5-4/7-2-1…..12-6-1
Nationals 5-5/4-4-1…..9-9-1

NL Central
Cubs 6-3-1/8-2…..12-5-1
Reds 4-6/2-6-1…..6-12-1
Brewers 3-6-1/7-2…..10-8-1
Pirates 2-8/4-4-1…..6-12-1
Cardinals 4-5-1/7-2…..11-7-1

NL West
Arizona 4-5/3-5-2…..7-10-2
Rockies 0-10/0-9…..0-19 (they won a series this week)
Dodgers 5-3-2/8-2…..13-5-2
Padres 4-5/8-2…..12-7
Giants 6-4-1/5-3…..11-7-1

AL East
Orioles 1-6-2/3-6-1…..4-12-3
Red Sox 5-5/4-4-1…..9-9-1
New York 6-4/6-3…..12-7
Rays 4-2-1/7-5…..11-7-1
Blue Jays 4-4-1/5-4-1…..9-8-2

AL Central
White Sox 1-9/4-5…..5-14
Guardians 5-4-1/6-3…..11-7-1
Tigers 7-3/7-2…..14-5
Royals 3-6/5-5…..8-11
Twins 4-6/6-2-1…..10-8-1

AL West
Astros 1-6-1/9-1-1…..10-7-2
Angels 5-6/3-5…..8-11
A’s 4-5-1/2-7…..6-12-1
Mariners 7-2/5-4-1…..12-6-1
Rangers 3-6/5-3-2…..8-9-2

— Rockies 3, Marlins 2
Colorado wins, snaps their 22-series losing streak.
Hunter Goodman homered for third time in the last two games.
Marlins were -200 last night, -180 tonite. Yikes.

— Astros 3, Pirates 0
McCullers threw six shutout IP, allowed two hits.
Paredes snapped a 1-25 skid with a 9th inning homer.
Pirates scored total of 16 runs in Skenes’ last eight starts.

— Royals 10, Cardinals 7
St Louis led 7-2 after the fourth inning.
Six Royal relievers threw 6.1 scoreless innings.
Bobby Witt Jr went 2-4 with a homer, four RBI.

— Phillies 8, Blue Jays 3
Bryce Harper homered in his first AB, after missing five games.
Phillies scored six runs in the top of the first.
Loss snaps Toronto’s five-game winning streak.

— Padres 3, Giants 2 (10)
San Diego tied game with two runs in 9th inning.
Giants scored total of 16 runs in their last 10 games.
Under is 14-1 in San Francisco’s last fifteen games.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Cardinals
AL: New York, Astros, Tigers, Wild Cards: Guardians, Twins, Mariners.

 

[Udog]

No games today. The finals begin tomorrow.

 

[CNOTES]

Thursday’s 6-pack:
Morning routine for all-day energy:
— drink 16 ounces of water right after you wake up.
— get 10 minutes of sunlight outdoors.
— Do five minutes of stretching/yoga
— Write three gratitude journal entries.
— Avoid checking e-mails first thing.
— Pick your top three tasks for the day.

Quote of the Day
“I’ve been fired three times.
I’ve learned more in failure than in success.
Keep showing up.“
Clint Hurdle

Thursday’s quiz
What year did the Seattle SuperSonics move to Oklahoma and become the Thunder?

Wednesday’s quiz
Clint Hurdle managed the Pittsburgh Pirates the last time they made the playoffs, in 2015.

Tuesday’s quiz
QB Alex Smith is the only player in the College Football Hall of Fame who played college football at Utah.

******************************************

Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud…….​

— Allow me to vent a little bit today.
2025 has been a cruddy sports year so far. Had some high hopes for the A’s this season- they actually spent some $$$ this winter, brought in Severino and Springs to bolster a rotation that was decent last year. From July 1st on last year, the A’s were over .500. There was hope.
Few weeks ago, the A’s were 22-20, playing home games in Sacramento, but the bottom has fallen out, in a big way. They’ve now lost 20 of their last 21 games. No bueno.

Their pitching is freakin’ terrible; bad pitching is like having a bad offensive line in football, you have no chance to win with bad pitching. None. Zero. Bupkis.

I’ve been an A’s fan since 1965, when I was five years old; I lived thru the 54-108 disaster in 1979, the 110-214 debacle in 2022-23, when the front office was blatantly not trying- that was really upsetting. In 1979 I was a college kid, had lot of other stuff to distract me, plus Rickey Henderson was a rookie that year.

A’s are supposed to move to Las Vegas in 2028; hopefully they’ll break ground on the new stadium sometime this summer. There is a nucleus of good position players to build around; Mark Kotsay seems like a good manager, but dammit, they need to start winning some games, just for their own mental health.

— Understood that no one will care about this, but my fantasy team sucks this year too, at least so far; after three good years in a row, my hitters have either been hurt or terrible. Haven’t won a game in a month; lot of close games, need Alex Bregman to get healthy.
So with the A’s in the trash can and the fantasy team bumbling, it hasn’t been a good month.
On to happier things………

— NBA commish Adam Silver announced that next winter, the NBA All-Star Game will be a new format, USA against the World. This is going to work.
My one concern is this: IT MIGHT WORK TOO WELL!!!!! Do you want a freakin’ All-Star Game to be highly competitive, where players bust their butts to win, and one of them might get hurt, which would be a disaster.
But give them credit for this: it’ll be a real basketball game, a competitive event.

— We mentioned yesterday how people were saying that the ball/strike challenge system might become a bargaining chip in the upcoming labor negotiations- yesterday there were thoughts that the system might not happen until 2027.
Wednesday, Commissioner Manfred said that he intends to submit a proposal to the league’s competition committee this offseason that would implement the automated ball-strike challenge system for Opening Day 2026, which is an excellent thing.
The challenge system worked very well in spring training this year; it’ll make the game a lot more interesting, in several ways.

— Wednesday night, Orioles’ play-by-play guy (not Kevin Brown, not sure who it was) was openly promoting fans to “stuff the ballot box” for Oriole players to play in the All-Star Game.
He sounded like a 10-year old; the Orioles are having a cruddy year, they don’t deserve to have multiple guys in the All-Star Game.
Here’s a novel idea; vote for the best players.

— Best teams in one-run games:
Padres 13-6
Angels 10-4
Phillies 11-5
Tigers 12-6
Cubs 9-4
Royals 12-8
Mariners 12-8

— Worst teams in one-run games:
White Sox 3-16
Red Sox 6-17
Braves 9-15
Reds 5-10
Rockies 6-11

— Famous birthdays, June 5th:
Jeff Garlin, 63
Bill Spiers, 59
Mark Wahlberg, 54
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 50
Torry Holt, 49
Ryan Mallett, 37
Andrew Heaney, 34
Royce O’Neale, 32
Joe Ryan, 29
Sam Darnold, 28

— Mets 6, Dodgers 1
Pete Alonso homered twice, knocked in five runs.
Griffin Canning is very quietly 6-2, 2.90 this season.

— Giants 6, Padres 5
San Diego led 5-0 in the fifth inning.
Giants scored three runs in the bottom of the 7th.
This was first time in 17 games that San Francisco scored more than four runs.

— Tigers 5, White Sox 4- Chicago used an opener in this game; the first four Detroit hitters reached base, but the White Sox left their starter in to face NINE BATTERS, by which time they were down 4-0. Are we trying here?
Openers only have to face three hitters; this was managing malpractice.

— Nationals 2, Cubs 0
Gore/Boyd had an old fashioned pitchers’ duel; game was 0-0 after six.
Amed Rosario broke the tie with a 7th inning home run.

— Diamondbacks 2, Braves 1
Merrill Kelly allowed one hit, no runs in seven IP.
Atlanta is 27-33, six games out of a Wild Card spot.

— Rockies 3, Marlins 2
Colorado swept the 3-game series, their first series win 23 tries.
Kyle Freeland threw 6.1 IP, allowed two unearned runs.

— Red Sox 11, Angels 9
Ceddanne Rafaela hit a walk-off homer for Boston.
Angels led 7-5 in the second inning.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Cardinals
AL: New York, Astros, Tigers, Wild Cards: Guardians, Twins, Mariners.

 

[Udog]

NBA
Dunkel

Thursday, June 5

NBA

Thursday, June 5

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indiana Pacers
Indiana is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games.
Indiana is 10-3 SU in its last 13 games.
Indiana is 8-4 SU in its last 12 games against Oklahoma City.
Indiana is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games on the road.
Indiana is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Oklahoma City.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Indiana's last 5 games against an opponent in the Western Conference conference.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Indiana's last 5 games against an opponent in the Northwest Division division.
Indiana is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games played in June.
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Oklahoma City's last 7 games.
Oklahoma City is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Oklahoma City's last 10 games against Indiana.
Oklahoma City is 6-0 SU in its last 6 games at home.
Oklahoma City is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing at home against Indiana.
Oklahoma City is 9-0 ATS in its last 9 games against an opponent in the Eastern Conference conference.
Oklahoma City is 7-0 SU in its last 7 games against an opponent in the Central Division division.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Oklahoma City's last 8 games played in June.
The total has gone OVER in 11 of Oklahoma City's last 14 games played on a Thursday when at home.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[CNOTES]

Thursday, June 5​

Game	Time(ET)	Pick	Units
IND at OKC	08:30 PM	OKC -9.5 O 230.0	+500 +500

 

[CNOTES]

NBA FINALS BEST BETS !

06/05/2025................0 - 2 - 0................00.00%..............- 11.00

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Friday’s 6-pack:
All-time stolen bases leaders for the New York Mets:

408— Jose Reyes
281— Mookie Wilson
202— Howard Johnson
196— David Wright
191— Darryl Strawberry
152— Lee Mazzilli

Quote of the Day
“Absolutely not.“
St John’s coach Rick Pitino, when asked if he would be interested in the Knicks’ vacant head coaching job

Friday’s quiz
What year did the Dodgers leave Brooklyn and move to Los Angeles?

Thursday’s quiz
Seattle SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City and become the Thunder in 2008.

Wednesday’s quiz
Clint Hurdle managed the Pittsburgh Pirates the last time they made the playoffs, in 2015.

******************************************************************

Friday’s Den: Wrapping up a busy Thursday……..

— Pacers 111, Thunder 110
Tyrese Haliburton hit a 21-foot jumper with 0:00.3 left for the win.
Pacers turned ball over 18 times in first half, trailed 57-45 at the break.
Thunder led by 15 in the fourth quarter.
Indiana’s starters were +34, their subs minus-29
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points for Oklahoma City.

— This season, Indiana is 4-0 SU/ATS in the first game of playoff series, only the third team in the last 40 years to do that:

1986 Celtics
2021 Suns
2025 Pacers

— Pittsburgh Steelers/Aaron Rodgers announced the QB has signed a one-year deal, which probably wasn’t surprise in the NFL offices. Jets-Steelers play in Week 1. Steelers also play Green Bay in Week 8.

— Since Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season, the Steelers have gone 29-24, 0-2 in playoff games, while starting five QBs:

Russell Wilson
Justin Fields
Kenny Pickett
Mitch Trubisky
Mason Rudolph

Now they have a 41-year old QB who tore his achilles couple of years ago.

— Rodgers will be only the second QB to start for a head coach he previously beat in a Super Bowl; Phil Simms played for Dan Reeves with the Giants in 1993, after the Giants beat Reeves’ Bronco team in the Super Bowl after the 1986 season.

— This coming season, New England will have its third head coach in three years, its fourth offensive coordinator in four years.

— Thursday was the 40th anniversary of Ferris Bueller’s day off; the Cubs won, but they were in Washington, not Wrigley Field.

— Famous birthdays, June 6th:
Bjorn Borg, 69
Max Venable, 68
Paul Giamatti, 58

Olindo Mare, 52
Mark Ellis, 48
Rodger Saffold, 37

Anthony Rendon, 35
DeAndre Hopkins, 33
Kenny Pickett, 27

— Diamondbacks 11, Braves 10
Arizona scored seven runs in the top of the ninth.
Braves have lost 11 of their last 14 games.

— Dodgers 6, Mets 5
Dodgers scored three runs in bottom of the 8th, all unearned.
LA started the season 23-10; they’re 15-15 since then.

— A’s 14, Twins 3
Tyler Soderstrom homered twice, knocked in six runs.
A’s led 11-1 in the fourth inning.

— Giants 3, Padres 2
Giants are 11-2 in Robbie Ray’s starts this season.
Manny Machado hit his 350th career home run.

— Rays 4, Rangers 3
Tampa Bay scored three runs in bottom of the ninth.
Marcus Semien homered twice for Texas.

— Orioles 4, Mariners 3
Rutschman/Henderson hit back/back home runs.
Baltimore has won six games in a row.

— Cardinals 6-5, Royals 5-7
Kansas City lost opener, after leading 3-0 in 7th inning.
Maikel Garcia homered, scored three runs in the nightcap.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Giants
AL: New York, Astros, Tigers, Wild Cards: Guardians, Twins, TB/Tor