Friday 12/25/15 service plays chatter/comps/requests & other stuff...

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The Best Spot Bets Over The Holidays
By: Ben Burns

Spot bets are classic handicapping practices that have proven profitable no matter what sport you're betting. Whether it's a team looking past this week's opponent, one coming off a hard-fought victory, or a rough patch of schedule, bettors can find value picking their spots. Ben Burns points out his favorites:

Letdown spot

The Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Golden State Warriors in the main event on NBA Christmas Day, a rematch of last year’s NBA Finals. The Warriors have been rolling through the competition since knocking off LeBron James and the Cavs in the finals and Cleveland has had this one circled on the calendar, looking to make a statement to open the second half of the season.

Win or loss on Dec. 25, Cleveland is wide open for a letdown spot the following night visiting the Portland Trail Blazers. The Cavaliers will also have two days off following the Portland game, in which the team will likely scatter and spend time with their families after missing the Christmas holiday on the road. That letdown – coupled with a possible unfocused Cleveland team – makes for a dangerous spot on Dec. 26.

Schedule spot

The Texas Southern Tigers see light at the end of the tunnel as it pertains to their road-heavy non-conference schedule. The Tigers have played five in a row away from home and have two more road games before a homecoming on New Year’s Eve. Most of Texas Southern’s games have gone unlined, outside of matchups with Washington State and Mississippi State in which it failed to cover as a double-digit dog.

The next stop on the Tigers’ whirlwind tour is the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York on Dec. 27. Mike Davis’ squad has had 10 days to prep for the Orange but have to make a more than 1,600-mile trip to upstate New York, just a couple days after Christmas. Two days later, Texas Southern is back in the Lone Star State playing Baylor in Waco.

 

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Preview: Crimson (5-6) at Sooners (10-0)

Date: December 25, 2015 8:30 PM EDT

Unbeaten Oklahoma is coming off its closest game yet, and another could be on the way with Harvard coming around after a tough start to the season.

The third-ranked Sooners meet the Crimson in the Diamond Head Classic title game Friday night in Honolulu hoping to extend their best start since 2008-09.

After an 84-81 semifinal win over Hawaii on Wednesday, the Sooners are 10-0 for the first time since winning their first 12 games seven seasons ago. It was their first game decided by single digits since opening with an 84-78 win at Memphis on Nov. 17.

"It was actually a really tough game," said Sooners forward Khadeem Lattin, who had a career-high 17 points with eight rebounds.

"Their guys were good, you've got to give it up to them. We just had to come out and really just play as hard as we could. They made shots and so we just had to always bounce back and it took us a while to become the aggressor."

Oklahoma's not really used to its opposition making too many shots, limiting teams to a 35.3 percent and 27.2 from 3-point range. Hawaii was the first team to score 80 points against Lon Kruger's team, and the 45.5 percent shooting mark was also a season high.

But no one has been able to put together a strong offensive game against the Sooners while also limiting their outside shooting. Oklahoma was 8 of 17 from 3-point range and is hitting 47.2 percent for the season, which ranks second in the nation and is 5.8 percent higher than the 1986-87 team's best mark in school history.

Top scorer Buddy Hield has led that with a 52.3 percent season mark and did it again in the semis, hitting 5 of 9 and finishing with 27 points. The senior has been especially impressive in the last four game with 28.8 points and a 17-of-30 mark from long range.

Harvard (5-6) reached the finals with Wednesday's 69-51 win over Auburn. The Crimson got off to a 2-6 start, but that sixth loss - a 75-69 defeat at then-No. 4 Kansas on Dec. 5 - seemed to wake them up. They're unbeaten since with a win at Boston before opening the tournament with an 85-82 overtime victory over BYU on Tuesday.

The win over Auburn came in large part because of an impressive defensive effort, limiting the Tigers to 30.2 percent and 6 of 25 from 3-point range.

"Our calling card has been our defense," said coach Tommy Amaker, whose team has held opponents to 38.3 percent and 27.3 from long range. "I'm so proud of our guys for how they've been able to embrace that and believe in that."

Harvard has also been consistent offensively on the winning streak, shooting 47.4 percent and an Oklahoma-like 46.8 from 3-point range. That's up from 36.5 percent in its first eight games.

Starters Zena Edosomwan (15.0), Corey Johnson (14.7), Agunwa Okolie (12.3) and Evan Cummins (10.3) have all been above their season scoring averages on the winning streak.

The Crimson got off to a fast start with a 17-4 lead, and Amaker seems to know how to get his team ready for a tournament environment. They're 8-0 in in-season tournament games under Amaker, who's also had them in the NCAA Tournament the past four seasons.

"We were ready to go and certainly in a tournament atmosphere like this, where you've playing games on consecutive days, that's critical to get off to a great start and I think our defense has been able to help us with that and we've been very confident as we've been in this tournament thus far," Amaker said.

Harvard has lost its last four against ranked opponents, but three have been single-digit defeats. Oklahoma has won 15 straight against unranked foes.

 

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Handicapped by The Walker Group at Camarero Race Track

Always check program numbers.
Odds shown are morning line odds.


Race 6 - Claiming - 8.0f on the Dirt. Purse: $5750 Class Rating: 75

FOR FILLIES AND MARES THREE YEARS OLD AND UPWARD WHICH HAVE NOT WON THREE RACES IN 2015 AND WHICH HAVE STARTED FOR A CLAIMING PRICE OF $5,000 OR LESS. THREE YEAR OLDS, 119 LBS.; OLDER, 121 LBS. NON-WINNERS OF A RACE SINCE DECEMBER 10 ALLOWED 1 LBS. A RACE SINCE NOVEMBER 25 ALLOWED 2 LBS. A RACE SINCE OCTOBER 25 ALLOWED 3 LBS. CLAIMING PRICE $3,500.


RECOMMENDED CHOICES

The Walker Group Picks

# 5 DOUBLEDOWN DIVA 5/2


# 3 ZARYNA 8/5


# 4 GLASS BOTTLE 4/1


DOUBLEDOWN DIVA is tough to overlook as the bet in here. Looks solid for the conditions of this contest today, showing solid figures in dirt route races lately. Lately Rodriguez has been sizzling which may give the edge to this mare. Will probably compete solidly in the early pace battle which bodes well with this group of horses in this race. ZARYNA - She has been racing solidly lately while recording solid Speed Figures. Earnings per start at the distance/surface is a very good angle. This one ranks at the top in this field. GLASS BOTTLE - Is a solid choice - given the 65 Equibase Speed Fig from her most recent race.

 

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Jim Feist

Jim Feist's Bonus Play for Friday, Dec. 25, 2015 2:35 PM

(503) CHICAGO BULLS VS (504) OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER

Take: Over the total

Reason: Your Bonus Play for Friday, December 25, 2015 is in the NBA scheduled contest between the Chicago Bulls and the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Chicago's defense has been thinking about the Christmas holiday all week, allowing 147, 107 and 105 points the last three games, all over the total. They also lost all three despite topping 101 points twice. They face a run-and-gun Oklahoma City squad that is second in the NBA in scoring (107.4 ppg), just behind Golden State. The Thunder rank No. 3 in field goal shooting and No. 9 in three-point shooting. Play Chicago/Oklahoma City Over the total.

 

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Arthur Ralph Sports

Bonus Play: FRI: Oklahoma -13

 

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Jimmy Boyd

Spurs vs Rockets

Free Pick on Rockets +

**12-3-2 L17 Free Picks** The Spurs come into this game having won and covered 8 straight games and as a result we are finding some great value with the Rockets as decently priced home dog on Christmas Day. Houston is a team that almost everyone was high on coming into the season, but that hype has faded with the Rockets coming into this game at 15-15.

While Houston isn't playing up to the level that we expect to see, given the talent on their roster, they have been playing much better of late. The Rockets are 10-5 over their last 15 games and have been playing extremely well at home, where they have won 6 straight and covered each of their last 5. That includes impressive back-to-back wins over the Clippers (107-97) and Hornets (102-95) in their last 2 home games.

Some teams just matchup well with others and that's been the case for the Rockets against the Spurs. Houston has actually won 5 of the last 8 in the series with a 6-2 ATS record in these games. When you just look at their home games against San Antonio during this stretch, the Rockets have won 3 of 4 and are a perfect 4-0 ATS.

The fact that Houston comes into this game off back-to-back games against the Eastern Conference is worth noting, as the Rockets are 21-9 ATS over the last 3 seasons after playing 2 straight non-conference games and 16-5 ATS over the last 2 seasons when playing at home after playing their last game against a team from the eastern conference. Take Houston!

 

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Scott Spreitzer

Cavs vs Warriors

Bonus Play Cavs

I'm recommending a play on the Cavaliers plus the points on Friday. We all know about the rematch of the most recent NBA Finals, won by the Golden State Warriors. But this matchup is a bit different, and not just because there isn't as much on the line. It's different because the Cavs will have a healthy Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving on the floor. Cleveland is also rounding into form, winners of six straight games, while playing an incredibly stingy brand of defense. The Cavs have held their last six opponents to 87.2 ppg. We don't doubt Golden State is one of the two best teams in the league, along with San Antonio, but this will be their first game of the season against the Spurs, Thunder, or Cavaliers, the three teams who're likely to present the Warriors with their toughest obstacles in an attempt to win two straight titles. The Cavs own the depth to challenge Steph Curry when the Warriors are on the offensive end and I believe they'll keep the contest close to the very end. I'm recommending a play on the Cleveland Cavaliers plus the points. Best of luck and Merry Christmas! Scott Spreitzer.

 

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Art Aronson

Cavs vs Warriors

1* Bonus Play Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers will look to exact a little revenge on Christmas day after getting ousted by the Golden State Warriors in the Finals last season. While we wouldn't be shocked by an outright upset, we will in the end recommend a second look at the visitors and the points as we think the Cavaliers can keep this one closer than what the oddsmakers are leading us to believe. The last time Cleveland was an underdog it lost 99-84 at Miami on December 5th, but since then it's won six straight, going 4-2 ATS in the process. So not only do the Cavaliers play with revenge, but they also play with a much healthier overall lineup than when Golden State last faced them, with point guard Kyrie Irving finally back into the mix, as well as big man Kevin Love in the paint. The Warriors have had their way with every team in the league so far this season, but they're going to be in for a battle and we think the aggressiveness that the visitors play with on the defensive side of the ball will prove to be a big difference maker. We're not expecting either side to run away with this one, it is going to be a war and in a contest which we feel will come down to the wire, all signs do indeed point to the points as the savvy move.

AAA Sports

 

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Ricky Tran

Cavs vs Warriors

1* Bonus Play On Cleveland

The Cavs will be at Golden State on Christmas Day, looking to avenge last year's loss in the NBA Finals. Not everybody will remember that the first two games at Golden State each went to overtime, and Cleveland went back home with the series tied 1-1. The Cavs lost Kyrie Irving to a season ending injury in Game 1, and you have to wonder what might have happened had he stayed healthy. Irving has scored 17 points with eight assists in 37 minutes in two games since his return. This is a huge game between the top two teams from each conference, and I expect it to be a battle. I'll take the Cavs getting a bunch of points.

GO CAVS!

 

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hey ranger

 

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superpimp73