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 Saturday, May 27:
TOP PLAY
The play: NHL Playoffs, Vegas Golden Knights -1.5 puck line over Dallas Stars
The odds: +180
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: 8 p.m. (ABC)
Our take: Vegas is an overwhelming favorite at every sportsbook (-146 at FanDuel) for this decisive Game 5. Therefore, we’re looking toward the puck line for some more value. It’s a bit riskier given the Golden Knights need to win by 2+ goals in order for this ticket to cash, but it’s obvious that oddsmakers believe they’ll enjoy a bounceback game this evening.
Even though these two teams have gone toe-to-toe in three of the four games played in this series (three OT thrillers), the exception was a blowout in favor of Vegas. The Golden Knights are 6-1 at home in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs with the lone loss coming in the first round to Winnipeg on April 18.
It took everything the Dallas Stars had to avoid being swept in Game 4; Game 5 screams a statement home win for Vegas to send it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
FADING THE FAVORITES IN THE NBA
The play: NBA Playoffs, Miami Heat money line over Boston Celtics
The odds: +130
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: 8:30 p.m. (TNT)
Our take: Everybody in America (outside of Miami and New York) seems to be rooting for the “underdog,” the Boston Celtics. Can we really even call them that anymore though? They’ve been favored in nearly every game this postseason and that is true again for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals in South Beach.
The Celtics have absurd odds to come back in this series — despite putting themselves in a 3-0 hole to start — and even have better odds to win the NBA Finals than the Miami Heat. The reality is that no team has ever come back from down 3-0 in the history of the National Basketball Association.
Jimmy Butler guaranteed a win in Game 6, and we have no reason to doubt Jimmy Buckets after the performances he’s put on in these playoffs. I’ll take the +125 odds on Miami money line and run.
HOW WE’VE FARED
MLB: Mets over Rockies and Astros over Athletics (WIN)
NCAAB: UL over Texas State (WIN)
Friday’s record: 2-0
Total for the week: 5-3, 1 pending
Total for May: 29-21, 1 pending
Total for 2023: 117-126, 1 pending
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).