Just because it’s never happened doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
An NBA team has never come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series in the playoffs: 0 for 159.
The Timberwolves avoided that situation on Saturday night with a 143-101 victory over the Thunder to cut their deficit to 2-1.
Can the Knicks avoid the same fate? VSiN.com senior editor Zach Cohen previews tonight’s Knicks-Pacers game (8 ET, TNT) with Indiana (-2) up 2-0 and at home:
If Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau just shrinks his rotation, we could see New York get back in the win column. One of the big mistakes he made in Game 2 was leaving Cameron Payne in too long. The backup guard was a -9 in nine minutes, and Brunson played only 39 minutes. With the season on the line, Thibodeau might have to play Brunson closer to 45 minutes. The Knicks star is getting whatever he wants offensively in this series, and I don’t exactly see that changing.
>>More analysis from Zach, plus a pick.
>>Check for selections in the KillerSports NBA Playoff Challenge after 7 p.m. ET.
Oilers-Stars Game 3
Jonathan Davis will post his picks later this morning for tonight’s Oilers-Stars Game 3 (3 ET, ABC). The host Oilers are -147 favorites (at Circa) with the series tied at 1.
Saturday recap: The Panthers took a 3-0 series lead over the Hurricanes with a 6-2 victory. If you are wondering, a team has come back from a 3-0 deficit four times in the NHL playoffs.
MLB Today
Greg Peterson already has filed his top plays for today.
Josh Appelbaum and Steve Makinen will post their Best Bet contributions later this morning.
Today’s Autos Tripleheader
Steve Makinen has posted his final simulation for tonight’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 ET, Amazon Prime):
The final simulation finds the same top two from the initial run on Tuesday, William Byron followed by Kyle Larson.
The Coca-Cola 600 is one of the schedule’s crown jewel events. In golf terms, it would be considered a “major”. As such, this is typially a race where the cream rises to the top. Thus I’m not surprised by the top two projections. These are the favorites in my mind, too. Byron has never won this race and will be hungry to do so. Every one will have their eyes on Larson as he has been red hot and is running the double on Sunday between this race and the Indy 500. Assuming everything works out schedule-wise with that, he should be a top contender here. His quest is aided by the fact that the green flag for Sunday’s race is set at 6:27 PM ET, about 45 minutes later than we’ve become accustomed to.
Other top contenders for Sunday figure to be Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Denney Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott. There are several other underdog choices that could contend if they’re able to withstand the rigors that 600 miles brings. Here are my picks for the race:
Top 5: Byron, Reddick, Elliott, Larson, Blaney
Top underdogs to consider: Gibbs, Briscoe, Allmendinger, Cindric, Wallace
Favorites to struggle: Busch, Beuscher, Keselowski
In case you missed this in yesterday’s newsletter, handicapper Phil Bobbitt gave out these picks on Gill Alexander’s A Numbers Game:
Monaco GP (9 a.m. ET)
Oscar Piastri To Win (+200)
Lando Norris over Max Verstappen (-115)
George Russell over Lewis Hamilton (-163)
Indy 500 (12:45 p.m. ET)
Josef Newgarden To Win (+1200)
Pato O’Ward To Win (+600)
Josef Newgarden To Finish Top 5 (+165)
Coca-Cola 600
Kyle Larson To Win (+600)
Alex Bowman over Joey Logano (-110)
Josh Berry over Chase Briscoe (-115)
William Byron over Tyler Reddick (+100)
Quick Hits
Soccer: Nigel Seeley offers his Best Bets for four EPL games today.
Tennis: The French Open started early this morning. Zach Cohen makes his predictions for Roland Garros. Zach also joined Drew Dinsick on Gill Alexander’s Beating The Book mega-pod. >>Listen here.
Reminder: Zach will post his Best Bets daily during the tournament on our tennis page the day before. He and Gill have their plays on the tennis picks page.
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