Welcome to another wonderful Wednesday of sports, Pickswise Nation. We have playoff action in the NBA again tonight, plus a packed MLB slate and Champions League soccer, so let’s get straight to making your next bet better!
About Last Night
Jokic inspires Nuggets to 1-0 lead
The Nuggets won the first game of their Western Conference Finals series 132-126 over the Lakers with Nikola Jokic posting 34 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists. That made the Lakers +6 spread a push, while the total went easily over the line of 222.5. The Nuggets are now -280 odds to advance at FanDuel Sportsbook, with the Lakers available at +240 and Jokic is +190 to be the MVP of the NBA Finals, behind only Jayson Tatum (+130).
Fired-up Judge lifts Yankees over Blue Jays
Aaron Judge hit his fifth home run in his last 4 games as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays 6-3. In a hostile atmosphere, after Judge was accused of stealing signals in Monday’s 7-4 win, there was further drama as Domingo German was ejected following an inspection for sticky substances.
Soccer Best Bet cashes
Our 3-star play of Inter Milan ML cashed at +105 odds as the Nerazzurri won 1-0 over AC Milan to reach the Champions League final. We are now on an incredible 9-2 run with our soccer Best Bets.
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Today’s Slate
Eastern Conference Finals get started
The Heat visit the Celtics for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at 8:30 pm ET on TNT, with Boston -525 odds at DraftKings to reach the NBA Finals and Miami having +400 odds. You can read our NBA predictions for the game.
Another 15 MLB games today
There are 15 MLB games coming our way today, including some afternoon action that starts with Pirates vs Tigers at 1:10 pm ET on MLB Network. Check out all of today’s MLB picks.
Manchester City takes on Real Madrid
There is another huge game in the Champions League today and we have soccer picks for Manchester City vs Real Madrid in their semifinal second leg at 3:00 pm ET on CBS and Paramount+.
Best Bet of the Day
MLB: Under 7.5 runs in Atlanta Braves vs Texas Rangers (-105)
8:05 pm ET
The best pitching matchup of the day takes place in Arlington, Texas, as Spencer Strider takes the mound for the Braves and Nathan Eovaldi toes the rubber for the Rangers. Strider has become a rising superstar in baseball as well as a fan favorite due to his fabulous mustache and high-velocity fastball. The Braves star has a 2.51 ERA paired with a 2.40 xERA after 8 starts and has somehow topped his incredible 2022 campaign. Eovaldi threw a complete game shutout and allowed just 3 hits against New York at the end of April and since then he has thrown 8 scoreless innings against the Angels and 8.2 scoreless innings against the Athletics, which means he’s on a 28.2-inning scoreless streak entering Wednesday’s start. Read our full Braves vs Rangers predictions.
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Must-read
Today’s NBA coverage includes our Heat vs Celtics Same Game Parlay and first-basket scorer best bet. We also have our MLB mega parlay and today’s top MLB player prop. In addition, our expert golf analyst Diane Knox Balas has this week’s golf predictions for the PGA Championship and PGA Championship prop bets, and we have Champions League best bets for Manchester City vs Real Madrid.
Head over to the Analysis tab for even more great sports betting content as it arrives throughout the day.
Stat of the Day
The Heat are a league-best 8-3 against the spread in the NBA playoffs this season.
Quote of the Day
“We’ve got to understand that we’ve got to start from the tip-off. They punched us in the mouth to start.”
LeBron James wants the Lakers to make a faster start in Game 2.
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