Phil Agius
NBA
Show Bio
Welcome to another wonderful week of sports. The destiny of the NBA championship will be decided this week, while the Stanley Cup Finals start on Wednesday and golf’s U.S. Open gets underway on Thursday! Along with that huge Game 5 between the Celtics and Warriors today, we have a 10-game MLB slate — so let’s get straight to making your next bet better!
About Last Night
Giants sweep Dodgers, Phillies’ run ends
Sunday’s MLB slate was a solid day for Pickswise, as we went 8-7 on ML/RL picks and 9-6 on totals. If you’re going to have a winning streak snapped, you might as well do it in style, and the Phillies did just that against the Diamondbacks, losing 13-1 after winning their previous 9 games. The Giants completed a sweep of the Dodgers with a 2-0 win, while the Yankees crushed the Cubs again, winning 18-4. The New York teams are the only clubs with 40+ wins this season after the Mets reached that mark with a 4-1 win over the Angels.
Today’s Slate
Warriors favored at home
The Warriors are bidding to become the first team to win back-to-back games in this year’s NBA Finals as they host the Celtics in Game 5 (9:00 pm ET, ABC) with the series finely poised at 2-2. Bettors can currently take either the Celtics with a 4-point start or the Warriors -3.5. Check out our full Game 5 preview.
10 MLB games on the schedule
There are a solid 10 MLB games on the slate today, albeit with no afternoon action, starting with Marlins vs Phillies at 7:05 pm ET on ESPN+ and running through to Twins vs Mariners at 10:10 pm ET. Read our preview of all today’s baseball games.
Best Bet of the Day
MLB: Arizona Diamondbacks ML vs Cincinnati Reds
9:40 pm ET
The Diamondbacks exploded on offense in yesterday’s series finale against Philadelphia, scored 13 runs, and now they head home to open up a series against the Reds. These teams split a 4-game series last week, but the Diamondbacks have a major advantage on the mound in this game, as Mike Minor faces off against Merrill Kelly. This was the exact same pitching matchup for their game on June 8, when Arizona won 7-0. Minor has made just 2 starts this season, with his last start being against the D-Backs when he allowed 3 runs in 4.1 innings. Kelly is 5-3 with a 3.32 ERA. He shut out the Reds across 6 scoreless innings in his last outing, and also pitches better at home, where his ERA drops from 4.06 on the road to 2.65. Check out our full preview of Reds vs Diamondbacks.
Must-watch
Start your week the right way by watching our daily sports betting show Let’s Bet It!
Lauren Jbara and Jared Smith are your hosts today and they will be joined by former NBA champion Brian Scalabrine and Bobby Stanley, NBA player prop betting analyst, to discuss the NBA Finals.
The team will also give out their best bets for today’s MLB slate, look ahead to the Stanley Cup Finals and reveal their Plays of the Day!
Check out the show at 10:00 am ET on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/Pickswise. You can also access the show through Spotify and Apple Podcasts (search for Let’s Bet It Presented By Pickswise).
Must-read
Today’s NBA coverage includes our Celtics vs Warriors same game parlay (+1241 odds) and first-basket best bet. Our Stanley Cup Finals preview is also ready to read, and don’t forget to check out the latest sportsbook insights from Jared Smith in Behind The Counter and this week’s top tennis bets from Ricky Dimon. Horse racing fans will like to know that we’ll be having daily coverage of the high-class Royal Ascot meeting in the UK this week, featuring a number of American contenders, so look out for that.
Keep an eye out for more great sports analysis as it arrives throughout the day on the Analysis tab.
Stat of the Day
The Warriors are 10-1 at home in the playoffs this season.
Boost of the Day
Steph Curry shook off an injury scare to score 43 points in Game 4 of the NBA Finals and FanDuel Sportsbook has enhanced the odds of the Warriors star scoring 6 or more points in each quarter of tonight’s game against the Celtics from +350 to +450.
Pickswise is the home of free sports picks, news, and best bets. Check out our expert NBA picks, NHL picks, MLB picks, Golf picks and Soccer picks for the latest game picks.
