Yes Coach, that was ugly. As ugly as it gets.
How ugly?
Utah had a 36 point first half.
That is the exact same amount of points they scored in the first QUARTER of their last game.
Denver had a 15 point third quarter.
I'm not going to lose a half-hour of my day by opening every box score of theirs to see if that was the lowest quarter they had all year, but I'm pretty sure it was.
Making things even worse - they scored only 15 AGAIN,
IN THE FOURTH QUARTER,
OF A PLAYOFF GAME,
WITH ELIMINATION ON THE LINE!!!
And, if Conley's last second shot - a shot that was as in-the-basket as much as any missed shot I have ever seen - didn't pop back out, Murray's horrendous, moronic mistake (not dribbling the clock down until he got fouled) would have been entered into the books right next to Wenber's "time-out called when they had no time outs left" as one of the biggest bonehead moves in the history of the sport.
People are getting on Craig for missing the layup - and righfully so (how does a "pro" baller miss an uncontested layup like that??!!?) but Murray should not have made the pass. He almost single-handedly sent his team home from the playoffs.
I have no doubt in my mind that last night and this morning, all over the world, there are bettors who are swearing off ever betting the NBA again. It was THAT ugly.
I felt bad for Mitchell, he put in a helluva an effort in the second half, but then I heard his post game comment, which, naturally, the sjwp's (Social Justice Warrior Princesses) at ESPN just HAD to feature under an all CAPS heading in their story on the game:
"Mitchell said the pain on his face was nothing compared to the families of people who have been victims of police brutality and racism."
They preach at us in the pregame show.
They preach while the game is being played.
They preach during the interviews after commercial breaks (at one break last night, the "sports reporter" asked two questions of the coach, a required question about the game, then the real question she wanted to ask - the setup for further preaching about sjw issues.)
They preach during the post game show.
I DON'T CARE WHAT SIDE OF POLITICS ANYONE RESIDES ON, BUT KEEP IT OUT OF SPORTS!!!
Or at least limit it to just 25% of your "sports" coverage (<- sarc.)
And they wonder why their ratings are down over 20% including night games and weekends.
Recap: Hit two of three last night. Missed with the Raptors, hit with the fade on the 2-4 Temp play, now 2-5.
Came back in my post and kicked myself in the ass for buying a non-system play, and, with two system plays left (team total Over on Utah and Den) I didn't take either, went with a non-system play again, got lucky when Denver hung on for a W. Record 16-17.
I didn't take either of the Overs because Utah lost the last two times in that spot, and though Denver had been winning in that spot (at 3-1, as noted in my morning post) I don't like going to the well too often.
After watching Toronto collapse, I remembered the Jazz's attitude/demeanor during and after their last collapse/blown chance to advance, the lack of aggressiveness after the first quarter, the hesitation to shoot (no one wanted to look bad and miss) the finger-pointing, back-biting, etc.
You cannot win at the top level of sports unless you are totally focused at the task at hand.
Utah did not seem to be focused, so I pulled the trigger on Denver.
I'll be back as soon as I can with today's plays.
First Update:
Note - ALL four games this week have stayed Under the total. And by no small margin, an avg. of 26 pts.
Yes, the Den game skews that number to the high side because it stayed Un by 59 pts, but remove that game from the equation and the avg. is still double digits at 15 pts. That's no small differential.
The books, of course, have factored this into the lines.
Last Mia/Milw game was 224, today's is 221.
Last OKC/Hou game was 226', today's is 217'.
Still, even with that drop, does anyone feel like betting Overs today?
Q1 plays - nothing qualifies.
Temperature plays: OKC/Hou Over, fade material at 2-5.
No buys for me yet.
Second Update: Two team totals qualify as Overs, Mia and OKC.
After four losses yesterday, this system is now at 31-24, 56%.
It was hitting at 65%, but has been dropping steadily (all things even out over time.)
Factoring in the drop in W % for this play,
AND after watching OKC put up three quarters with less than 20 pts vs. Houston just two games ago,
AND the way the games stayed Under yesterday,
AND OKC's PPG avg. of 104 in this series, there is little chance that I'll play Over 111'.
Miami team total Over is a possible for me, only concern is a slight let up with a 2-0 lead in the series?
No buys yet.
