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Las Vegas - If you're thinking NBA, we have a Play-In game for the 8th seed in the Western Conference, with the Blazers now -6 points over the Grizzlies. Absolutely LOVE Damian Lillard. He has put the entire Portland team on his shoulders, winning five of seven since the restart to grab the 8th seed. But lets drill down. Specifically, the last three wins. They beat the 76ers, 124-121, a Philly team without Ben Simmons, and NO Joel Embiid after only six minutes. Then they posted a 134-131 win over a Maverick team that was kinda playing out the string. And in the most important game, the Blaze barely squeezed past a lousy Nets team, 134-133, and DIDN'T come close to covering the 10-point spread.

The last time they hooked up with Memphis was the first game of the restart, and they beat the Grizzlies in Orlando, 140-135. In an earlier meeting at Memphis, the Grizzlies picked up a 111-104 victory. Look at all the recent Portland scores, and you'll notice exceptionally tight games.

So, here's how the Play-In works. Since Portland is the higher seed, a win tomorrow and Memphis is gone. If the Grizzlies win, they'll play another game Sunday for the glorious chance to face the top-seeded Lakers. Just so happened to be in Vancouver when the Grizz were introduced to the world, and STILL have the GORGEOUS Vancouver Grizzlies baseball cap. That's not enough of a reason to pick Memphis, but JA and PLUS SIX IS!!!

Back to Lisbon for the Manchester City/Lyon game and we'll look to add more cash to the bank after yesterday's winners with Bayern and Over three goals. It went over at halftime, which made for a pretty relaxing afternoon out here in Vegas. City is a gigantic -$450 favorite and we're not interested in laying so much wood, but will go with the Citizens to win the 1st half at a very reasonable -$165.

Looking for some brotherly love and a little more cheese in the wallet. Gonna try the Phillies with Aaron Nola over the Mets and Steven Matz. Nola opened up soft, but then started DEALING! In his last two starts, he has allowed just 2 earned runs over 14 innings, with, are you sitting, TWENTY TWO Ks! After a decent opener, Matz has gone into the world of UGLY. He has not won a game (0-3) and has been rocked for 23 hits and 16 earned runs in just 12 innings of work. Gimme MORE CowBell, oops, I mean Liberty Bell!!!

On the baseball board, the Reds/Pirates games has been postponed, and the A's have switched pitchers from Luzardo to Manaea.

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