Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The NBA Finals start in Tipping off on the hardwood . . . The oddsmakers have Kobe Bryant and company pegged as 6-point home favorites for Thursday night’s opening contest of the NBA Finals (with the total at 206 points at BetUs Sportsbook ). The Lakers dispatched the Nuggets in six games in the Western Conference Finals, with Bryant tossing in 35 points in the series clincher last week. The Magic, meanwhile, got past the Cavaliers in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals, as Dwight Howard powered his way to 40 points in that set’s finale. Tipoff for Thursday night is The greatest handicapper in the land GodsTips is on a run of 25-13 in the NBA. Get a day baseball side, then finish with the Magic-Lakers side from the service that simply cannot lose. Click now to purchase Meeting up on the diamond . . . The news world is focusing on the Obama Cairo speech to the Muslim world, but MLB handicappers are dominating baseball betting. Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter will try to continue his impressive comeback on Thursday night when his team closes out their home series with the Reds. Righthander Carpenter has allowed just two earned runs over 29 innings of work so far this season, putting him at 3-0 with an 0.62 ERA. Taking to the mound for the Reds will be Aaron Harang, who is 5-5 with a 4.19 ERA on the season. Harang gave up eight runs in 4 1-3 innings in a loss to the Brewers last time out. Also on the National League schedule for Thursday: the Mets at Pittsburgh, San Francisco at Washington, the Cubs at Atlanta, Milwaukee at Florida, Colorado at Houston, and Philadelphia at the Dodgers. Meanwhile, the American League offers up the Angels at Taking a trip around the rink . . . The Penguins doubled up the Red Wings 4-2 on Tuesday night, and they now head into Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final at home on Thursday trailing just 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Max Talbot scored twice for the Pens in Game 3 (once into an empty net), while Kris Letang and Sergei Gonchar had singles. Evgeni Malkin had three assists in the win, and Sidney Crosby picked up his first point of the series. Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen replied in the loss for the Wings, who were once again without the services of forward Pavel Datsyuk. Rounding out the Roundup . . . Finally, Tiger Woods will be a part of the field at this week’s PGA Tour stop, The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield. Woods won this event three consecutive times from 1999 to 2001, and Vegas oddsmakers have him pegged as the 5/2 favorite to get a fourth title. Kenny Perry has also won the Memorial three times (including last year), but he’s back at 20/1 odds this time around. Paul Casey is behind Tiger at 12/1 odds, with both Padraig Harrington and Jim Furyk at 15/1 odds. Zach Johnson and Ian Poulter are then tied with Perry at 20/1 odds to win. |