NBA, NASCAR and UFC Betting This Week
The NBA Finals continue as the top option for sports bettors this week, while baseball has more interleague play, NASCAR races at Sonoma, and the UFC offers two events.
LeBron James and the Miami Heat will play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder in NBA Finals betting action again on Tuesday night in Game 4 of the championship series. In Game 3 on Sunday night the Heat came away with a 91-85 home win to take a 2-1 series lead; James had 29 points and 14 rebounds in the victory. The NBA Finals will continue on Thursday night this week with Game 5 of the series once again in Miami.
A pair of Central Division clubs meet in interleague MLB action early this week as the Detroit Tigers play host to the St. Louis Cardinals, and Tuesday night offers up the top pitching matchup in the series as ace Justin Verlander takes on St. Louis' Lance Lynn.
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Verlander only lost five games all of last season, but he's only 6-4 through the first few months of this season despite his solid ERA of 2.66 plus 103 strikeouts in his 101 2-3 innings pitched. That's made Detroit a disappointing 8-6 in games in which their ace has started. Lynn, on the other hand, is a surprising 10-2 on the season, becoming a lucrative option on the baseball betting lines with the Cards 10-3 over his 13 outings.
Other notable series to watch on the diamond early this week include Tampa Bay at Washington, Atlanta at the Yankees, Miami at Boston, Baltimore at the Mets, and San Francisco at the Angels. Later in the week the rivalry matchups take center stage, with the Yankees at the Mets, Atlanta at Boston, and Washington at Baltimore, while the Dodgers will be on the road to take on the Angels in the latest all-Los Angeles battle.
The Sprint Cup Series will be at the road course in Sonoma on Sunday for the 2012 Toyota Save/Mart 350, with Kurt Busch looking to defend his title and pay off on the NASCAR betting lines again at the race. Jeff Gordon has won this road race five times in his career, and Tony Stewart has taken the checkered flag at the event twice. Formula 1 offers up auto racing betting options at the European Grand Prix this week.
Finally, MMA betting fans will get a double-dose of action this week with UFC on FX 4 on Friday night and UFC 147 on Saturday night. On Friday it's Gray Maynard as the -350 favorite at the sportsbooks to beat underdog Clay Guida (+265) in the card's main event, with Rich Franklin the -155 favorite against Wanderlei Silva (+125) on Saturday.