Case of the Mondays: Cavaliers Go Home Trailing Warriors 2-0

by Ricky Dimon - 6/4/2018

If there is any good news for the Cavaliers, it's that they are going home. Unfortunately for them, that's where they might stay. Cleveland will have to win at least one of the next two games to take the NBA Finals back to Golden State. As for the Stanley Cup Finals, Vegas and Washington are already three games in, and it is the Capitals who currently in charge. On the links, meanwhile, Tiger Woods turned in another performance that saw him contend briefly before faltering.

Odds provided by Bovada Sportsbook unless otherwise indicated .

J.R. Smith . The Cavs could have taken Game 1 last Thursday, and perhaps would have if Smith's last-second blunder in which he failed to put back an offensive rebound because he thought his team was winning instead of tied. Cleveland never had a chance in Game 2 on Sunday; in fact, the visitors led for a grand total of zero seconds. Golden State followed up its 124-114 overtime escape with a much more convincing performance, dominating 122-103 for a commanding 2-0 series lead. Smith showed no signs of recovering from his Game 1 disaster, finishing with five points on 2-for-9 shooting. The Cavaliers are +4.5 home underdogs on Wednesday .

Vegas Golden Knights . Are all those people with potentially lucrative betting tickets getting nervous? The expansion Golden Knights, who were saddled with the longest Stanley Cup-winning odds prior to the season, are three wins away from lifting the most famous trophy in American sports. But they are also two losses away from seeing the dream deferred. Since taking an early 1-0 lead in the finals, Vegas has dropped two in a row against the Capitals-by a 3-2 margin at home in Game 2 and 3-1 in Washington this past Saturday. In the most recent contest, the Golden Knights lost the faceoff battle 39 to 23, committed four penalties to Washington's two, and blocked nine shots while the Capitals blocked 26. The Caps are -130 home favorites in Game 3 on Monday .

Clayton Kershaw . Kershaw returned from the disabled list for a grand total of one day. The he went back on it. The Dodgers' ace returned from left biceps tendinitis and pitched five innings of one-run baseball against Philadelphia last Thursday. Although the numbers were solid, according to ESPN Kershaw did not exceed 90.0 MPH with any of his 20 four-seam fastballs. In 2017, the southpaw did not throw a single one of his 1,142 four-seam fastballs slower than 90.1 MPH. Los Angeles promptly sent him to an all-too-familiar spot on the 10-day DL due to a lower-back strain. "(I) don't think it's too serious; that's a positive," manager Dave Roberts said this past Friday. "But obviously, any time that he's going to miss because of the back is disappointing." Kershaw is +8000 to win the National League Cy Young Award. Washington's Max Scherzer is a +125 favorite.

Johnny Manziel . Manziel played in an official football game for the first time since 2015 when he laced them up for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats during Canadian Football League preseason action last Friday. The former Heisman Trophy winning completed a decent 9 of 11 passes for 80 yards, but Hamilton did not score any points during five drives for which he was on the field as the Toronto Argonauts prevailed 36-18. Manziel also said he was berated with out-of-bounds trash talk by Toronto players and referred to an intentional grounding call against him as the "worst call of the century." Hamilton head coach June Jones has indicated that Jeremiah Masoli is the regular-season starter ahead of Manziel. The Tiger-Cats are +550 to win the Grey Cup.

Philadelphia Union . Going up against Atlanta United is tough enough even playing 11-on-11. When you're doing it 9-on-11 for almost the entire match, that's just about curtains. Philadelphia actually played relatively well down two men, but the visitors lost 3-1 in last Saturday's Major League Soccer showdown. Alejandro Bedoya and Haris Medunjanin of the Union went batshit crazy while arguing a call in the 19^th minute and both were sent off with red cards. Philly is now seventh place in the Eastern Conference, 11 points back of the first-place United. Atlanta is a +245 road underdog to beat New York City FC in regulation on Saturday.

Pliskova sisters . The Pliskova sisters did not last long at the French Open, in part because of some bad luck. Kristyna had to go up against none other than Serena Williams in the first round and lost 7-6(4), 6-4. Karolina, who was much more of a title contender, faced Maria Sharapova in the third round this past Saturday. That blockbuster matchup did not live up to its billing, as Sharapova clobbered the sixth-ranked Czech 6-2, 6-1 in a mere 59 minutes. Serena is a +650 third choice at BookMaker to capture the title at Roland Garros. On the men's side, Rafael Nadal is a -330 favorite.

Tiger Woods . If Tiger is still in the business of moral victories, last week's Memorial was another one. Of course, even this new (well, old?) Tiger is not in such a business. So he had to go home from Dublin, Ohio with some disappointment after shrinking off the leaderboard late on Saturday and throughout Sunday. The 14-time major champion briefly tied for lead at 11-under during third-round action, but he stumbled with two bogeys down the stretch and then carded a lackluster even-par 72 to finish in a tie for 23^rd-six shots behind winner Bryson DeChambeau. "I had some chances to shoot some good rounds this week,'' Tiger reflected. "Overall my game is where it needs to be heading into the U.S. Open, and that's something that's very positive. I just need to hit better putts." Tiger is among the +1400 fourth choices to win the U.S. Open later this month. Jordan Spieth is a +900 favorite.

Start:	November 23, 2024 @ 2:30 PM
Expert:	Tony George
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Case of the Mondays: Cavaliers Go Home Trailing Warriors 2-0

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