Sports Betting Week: Heat Get Back on Hardwood

The NBA's conference finals got underway this past Sunday with the defending-champion Miami Heat falling to the Indiana Pacers 107-96 in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series. They had closed as 2-point road favorites on the Bovada NBA betting odds for the game, and the total went OVER the 182-point line.

Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals is set for Tuesday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indiana with an 8:30pm ET tip. Miami is listed as a 2.5-point road favorite on the opening betting line. The total for this contest has been set at 184. The home team in this rivalry has now won the last nine meetings straight up, and the Pacers have a slight 5-4 edge against the spread in that span. The total has gone OVER in three of their last four meetings.

The Western Conference Finals tip off on Monday night with the Oklahoma City Thunder squaring off against San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of that best-of-seven battle. The Thunder will play the first two games on the road and Bovada has listed them as 5.5-point underdogs in its betting odds for Monday night’s contest. The total for the game has been set at 209. Oklahoma City advanced to this round by ousting the Los Angeles Clippers in six games, while the Spurs rolled over Portland in five games. The Thunder have won the last five meetings both SU and ATS.

A pair of division leaders in the MLB’s National League will face each other this week in a three-game series starting on Tuesday night when the Milwaukee Brewers head to Atlanta to play the Braves. The surprising Brewers are 27-17 through this past Sunday’s games and they have a four-game lead on St. Louis in the NL Central. Atlanta is coming off Sunday’s 6-5 victory over the Cardinals as +106 road underdogs on the closing MLB betting moneyline. It is now 23-19 and holding a half-game lead on Washington in the NL East.

One of the bigger matchups in the American League sends Toronto on the road against Boston for three games starting on Tuesday night. The Blue Jays will face their AL East rivals with a 23-22 mark that has them a game in back of the Yankees for the lead in the division. The defending champion Red Sox are in the midst of a four-game skid that has dropped their overall record to 20-23.