Doc’s Sports

The Lakers are a bit of “fool’s gold” here as they have won four of seven but those wins were over Charlotte, Toronto, Sacramento and Brooklyn. Only one real quality win among those teams, and Brooklyn is a “work in progress” right now as this team is tinkering with a lot trying to have chemistry and stability once the playoffs start next month. And even the Lakers called that game the best win of the season. The Celtics have won six of seven. They DO have some quality wins there as they won in Portland and Denver in their last two. They also beat the Knicks, who are playing well now. This team is pretty healthy and has shrugged of their slow start. And this team has been one of the safest bets in the NBA the last few years as they normally have a great ATS mark. We think they hold the Lakers to a real low point total tonight.

5-Unit Play: Take 951 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES +195 Over METS (12:10pm E, Thursday, April 15th)

You mention deGrom and all of a sudden you get 2-1 odds. Most of the time, that's justifiable, but not today. The Phillies pitcher, Eflin, is no slouch and the Phillies bats can make a LOT of noise. We'll take the "Anything can happen theory," here and try to bring home twice the bacon.

5-Unit Play: Take 955 SAN DIEGO PADRES/PITTSBURGH "OVER" 8 Runs (12:35pm E, Thursday, April 15th)

The wind is blowing straight out at 10mph and it's time for the Padres' bats to explode. They have one of the best offensive teams in baseball and they're just aching to roar. Both teams should put up numbers, with Mitch Keller's 4.5 ERA (lucky to be that low - they've pulled him out early) and Chris Paddack's 5.62 ERA. We, typically wouldn't be so solid on this game, as we know what the Padres bats can do, but Pittsburgh would be a concern. Not lately, they've been heating up the bases, too, so look for an easy "Over," here.

4-Unit Play. No. 50. Take Tampa Bay over Florida (Thursday at 7pm)

As per your selection on Tampa Bay, this is a good bounce-back spot for them as they were thrashed on Tuesday by Nashville 7-2. In that game, the Lightning barely generated any chances and got some poor goaltending as they gave up 7 on 22 shots. A championship-caliber team knows that's unacceptable and they will be prepared to bounce back in a big way tonight as they take on an in-state rival. The Panthers are playing their fifth straight road game having lost three of the last four. The Panthers were lucky to come away with a win against Dallas, and we see this number being shaded down because of the result. Look for Tampa to come out and dominate this game from start to finish.