Each day, one of our experts will offer up a best bet (or two or three) that mobile sportsbooks are offering. It might be a traditional spread bet, a player prop or one of the various odds boosts that books offer.
Here are our best bets for Wednesday, April 26:
TOP PLAY
The play: NBA playoffs money-line parlay, Grizzlies over Lakers and Cavaliers over Knicks
The odds: +125
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: Knicks at Cavaliers, 7 p.m. (NBA TV); Lakers at Grizzlies, 7:30 p.m. (TNT)
Our take: The public thinks this is the end of these two series, as Aunt Mabel seems to be on the sides (no surprise) of the New York and Los Angeles teams.
But as we saw Tuesday night, teams in a 3-1 hole seem to fight with as much vigor as they can muster. (For some reason, that isn’t as much the case at 3-2. Maybe because they fought so hard in the previous game?)
Anyway, two higher seeds have very much underperformed to this point, and each lost heartbreakers in their last game on the road. It’s now or never, and we still think both could end up being classic series. But we can’t have that without wins tonight.
MEXICO OPEN TOP 20
The play: Mexico Open, Wyndham Clark to finish in the top 20
The odds: -120
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: Thursday through Sunday on Golf Channel, ESPN+ and Peacock and on Saturday and Sunday on CBS
Our take: All the attention here is on the two names everyone knows – Jon Rahm and Tony Finau – while much less attention is on Clark, who is playing excellent golf right now.
He’s the third-favorite to win here at +1600, and after his third-place finish last week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, he also has two other top-six finishes in his past four tournaments. In fact, Clark hasn’t missed a cut since October and has seven top-20 finishes since then.
Seems like great value here at slightly above even money, as the weather should be ideal for the better players in Vallarta, Mexico.
HOW WE’VE FARED
NBA playoffs: Nuggets -10 over Timberwolves (LOST)
MLB total: Cardinals-Giants over 9 runs (PUSH)
Tuesday’s record: 0-1
Total for the week: 1-2
Total for April: 21-28
Total for 2023: 86-98
NOTE: If a line or odds are minus, it considers the juice one must lay to place the bet. Ex: Team A is -160 on the money line, one would have to bet $160 to win $100 (or $16 to win $10). OR Team B is a 5-point favorite at -110, one would have to bet $110 to win $100 (or $11 to win $10.)
Conversely, on positive lines, if Team C is +140 on the money line, $100 would bring in $140 (or $10 to win $14).
