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This Week in Sports Betting A-Z


by - 2/14/2018

Kristaps Porzingis New York Knicks

A. ACL . Knicks' forward Kristaps Porzingis underwent surgery on his torn left ACL on Tuesday. He is expected to miss 10 months and is likely able to return at some point during the 2018-19 campaign. Porzingis (22.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.4 bpg) sustained the injury during last week's loss to Milwaukee. 5Dimes Sportsbook has New York as a +4.5 home underdog against Washington on Wednesday.

B. Boilermakers . Purdue lost twice in its first 25 games of the season. It has now lost twice in its last two. The Boilermakers could not rise to the challenge of a tough schedule last week, falling to both Ohio State (squandered a 14-point lead at home) and Michigan State (68-65 on the road). Purdue's four losses have come by a grand total of 11 points.


C. Cleveland Cavaliers . The Cavaliers traded, and then traded again, and then traded some more. They acquired various players, but most importantly they acquired LeBron James' happiness and newfound motivation. Led by an inspired LeBron and a supporting cast only slightly superior to Matthew Dellavedova, Cleveland is 2-0 since the trade deadline and 4-0 in its last four overall following Tuesday's road win over Oklahoma City. The Cavs are +700 at GT Bets to win the NBA title.

D. Dustin Johnson . Sundays are not for Johnson-at least not up to this point in his otherwise illustrious career. The two-time Pebble Beach champion didn't collapse in the final round last weekend, but he also didn't do anything, carding an even-par 72 and losing to Ted Potter Jr. by three strokes. Just think what the playoff would have been without Potter running away. Tied for second with Johnson were Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, and Chez Reavie. Darn it, Potter! Johnson is a +500 favorite at BookMaker to win this week's Genesis Open.

E. Eichel, Jack . The Sabres' 21-year-old forward will miss at least one month with a high ankle sprain. Eichel (22 goals, 31 assists) suffered the injury in last Saturday's win over Boston. The real story here that Buffalo has actually specified it as a "high ankle sprain" as opposed to the generic "lower-body injury."

F. Fitzgerald, Larry . Last Sunday's proceedings at Pebble Beach may not have gone well for Johnson, but they did for…Larry Fitzgerald?!?! Yep, the famous Pro-Am event took place alongside the real PGA tournament, and Fitzgerald won it. He and tour pro Kevin Streelman dominated by seven strokes, making the Cardinals' receiver the first African-American amateur to triumph at Pebble and the first professional athlete to win it since Dan Marino in 1988.

G. Garoppolo, Jimmy . The highest-paid player NFL history has made seven career starts. You can't make this stuff up, folks. Garoppolo, went 5-0 in five starts with the 49ers this past season after getting traded from New England, signed a five-year, $137.5 million contract last week.

H. Hyo-jun, Lim . It did not take long for South Korea to capture its first gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Lim got the job done in the men's 1500-meter race in short-track speedskating this past Saturday.

I. Islanders . The Islanders scored a laughable four power-play goals in the span of less than four minutes during last Friday's game against Detroit. Todd Bertuzzi incurred a 10-minute game misconduct, touching off New York's incredible stretch. The Islanders ended up winning 7-6 in overtime.

J. John Calipari . Three-game losing streaks happen; they just don't happen to Calipari. But that is the case for the first time since he took the Kentucky job as the Wildcats have dropped three straight against Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas A&M. Kentucky is a +8.5 underdog at Auburn on Thursday, per Bovada Sportsbook.

K. Kane, Harry . The battle in the English Premier League is for top-four spots. After all, the title race is all but over (Manchester City is running away with it). In a showdown for top-four positioning last weekend, Kane scored the only goal in Tottenham's 1-0 victory over Arsenal.

L. Lakers . L.A. legend and current executive Magic Johnson was fined last week for tampering because he talked about how good Giannis Antetokounmpo is. So, he got fined just for telling it how it is? The Lakers are +5 underdogs at New Orleans on Wednesday, according to BetOnline Sportsbook.

M. McDaniels, Josh . McDaniels spurned the Colts and is staying in New England as offensive coordinator. Last week's post-Super Bowl chaos saw the most extreme last-second flip-flip since last year's Best Picture announcement at the Academy Awards.

N. National Signing Day . Georgia wrapped up the No. 1 class in the nation last week. It's not easy to beat Alabama in that department, but the Bulldogs know as well as anyone that it's even tougher to beat 'Bama in the field.

O. One . That's the ranking Roger Federer is going for this week. Federer will become the oldest-ever world No. 1 on the ATP Tour if he advances to the Rotterdam semifinals.

P. Philly Special . Philly Special: Nick Foles' touchdown catch on a play that he called in Super Bowl LII. Philly not-so-special: the Eagles losing both their offensive coordinator and their quarterbacks coach. Former OC Frank Reich was hired as the Colts' new head coach last weekend following the McDaniels madness.

Q. Quenneville, Joel . No team has lost as many games in a row as the Blackhawks (seven) right now, and it's not even close. They can just about kiss their playoff hopes goodbye, and their head coach is admitting to the difficulty of the situation. "This is probably as tough as I've seen," Quenneville said of the current struggles. "It's not fun. Everyday we're trying to find a way to get the team enthused, I know it's not easy, it's hard to be positive. We can't accept that this is the way it is." Vancouver, one of three teams worse than Chicago in the Western Conference, is -110 to beat visiting Florida on Wednesday (GT Bets).

R. Red Gerard . The United States was expected to clean up in snowboarding at the Olympics, but not necessarily with Gerard on top of the podium. But the 17-year-old got things started by capturing gold in men's slopestyle.

S. Sergio Aguero . Manchester City has just been toying with people this season, and that's exactly what Aguero did with Leicester City last weekend. Aguero scored four goals-in the 48th, 53rd, 77th, and 90 th minutes-as the Sky Blues thrashed Leicester 5-1. City has a bigger lead (16 points) over the rest of the EPL field than Bruno Mars had over everyone else at the Grammys.

T. Traded . Russell Wilson has been traded. No, this is not fake news. Russell Wilson has been traded…. But don't worry, Seattle fans, he is still the quarterback of the Seahawks. On the baseball diamond, the Rangers fulfilled Wilson's wish and dealt him to the Yankees so that he can take part in some spring-training activities with the Bronx Bombers. New York is +550 at Bovada Sportsbook to win the World Series.

U. U.S. Soccer Federation . Following the disastrous failure of the U.S. men's national team to qualify for this summer's World Cup, Carlos Cordeiro has been named the new president of the U.S. Soccer Federation. It's not exactly as big of a shakeup as the collapse might have forecasted as Cordeiro had previously been second-in-command behind Sunil Gulati.

V. Venus Williams . Venus played the 1,000th singles match of her career last weekend, when the United States beat the Netherlands in Fed Cup action. It also marked the return to competition of Serena Williams following the birth of her first child last summer. Serena and Venus lost in doubles, but Team USA had already clinched winning the overall match.

W. Wind . High winds in Pyeongchang wreaked havoc on skiing and snowboarding events at the Olympics last weekend. Slopestyle went on as scheduled, albeit with some delays, but crashes were norm. Australian snowboarder Tess Coady wiped out during a training run and suffered a torn ACL before the slopestyle competition was delayed but not postponed. The women's giant slalom and men's downhill were postponed until this Thursday. American skier Mikaela Shiffrin is a +115 favorite at MyBookie.ag to take gold in the giant slalom.

X. Xavier . Xavier is now 23-3 overall thanks to an eight-game winning streak and it is up to No. 4 in both polls. The Musketeers are coming off their most impressive week of the season, with road victories over Butler and Creighton.


Y. Yu Darvish . Darvish is heading to the Cubs, and not a moment too soon before pitchers and catchers report for spring training. The 2016 World Series champions inked the 31-year-old Japanese ace to a six-year, $126 million contract last weekend.

Z. Zero . That's how many Big East wins St. John's had heading into February. At 10-13 overall and 0-11 in the Big East, the Red Storm stunned Duke in Madison Square Garden on Feb. 3. They promptly upset then-No. 1 Villanova on the road last Wednesday for their first conference victory and then beat Marquette three days later. Talk about from going zero to hero…. Villanova is +700 at BetOnline Sportsbook to win the National Championship; Duke is +800.

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