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 Monday, May 8:
TOP PLAY
The play: NBA Playoffs, Miami Heat (-4.5) over New York Knicks
The odds/bet: -110 ($33 to win $30)
The book: Caesars Sportsbook
Time/TV: 7:30 p.m. (TNT)
Our take: The Heat have put together a magical playoff run thanks to Jimmy Butler’s dominance, and they appear to be in position to keep it going tonight at home.
The Knicks won’t make it easy being that they’re a defensive-minded team that causes trouble for opposing scorers, but Butler and the Heat have been nearly unstoppable at home to where we feel confident in them covering the spread.
The Heat are 6-1 with Butler this postseason, as they were without him in their Game 2 loss to the Knicks, and he appears to be well past the ankle injury that caused him to miss that contest.
NBA MONEY LINE
The play: NBA Playoffs, Golden State Warriors (money line) over Los Angeles Lakers
The odds/bet: +130 ($10 to win $13)
The book: DraftKings Sportsbook
Time/TV: 10 p.m. (TNT)
Our take: The Warriors and Lakers are two of the most inconsistent teams in the NBA on a per-game basis, which makes it tough to handicap them considering how volatile their production can be.
Anthony Davis tends to see his performance dip the next game following a dominant effort, and the Warriors were able to take advantage of that in Game 2 with Davis struggling to score after a strong Game 1.
The bottom line is that Davis’ performance tends to be the difference, and we’re not confident in him stringing together back-to-back strong nights to where the Warriors should be able to even up the series.
HOW WE’VE FARED
Sunday’s best bets
- NBA Playoffs, Denver Nuggets money line over Phoenix Suns (LOST $24.20)
- USFL, New Jersey Generals +2.5 vs. New Orleans Breakers (LOST $11)
- Wells Fargo Championship, Xander Schauffele to finish in the top 20 (WON $10)
Sunday’s profit/loss: -$25.20 (1-2)
Final total for the week: +$11.80 (7-7)
Total for May: +$11.80 (7-7)
Total for 2023: -$470 (95-112)
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).
