Papa Dude's Free Sunday Sports Plays

I reached a milestone in my life Friday as I officially retired from teaching and coaching. I must admit it was difficult and has been very stressful the past three months dealing with the decision. I’ve always said I didn’t do anything special to reach this milestone other than being healthy and living long enough to reach retirement age. I’m very blessed to have great health and to have my wonderful friends and family who have always been there to support me through the many ups and downs and dumb decisions and mistakes I have made along the way. I can pretty much say I’ve done just about everything I ever wanted to do and I’m very thankful for that because not many people can say that. I’m also very grateful to have the opportunity to work for Racing Dudes in the future days ahead and hopefully contribute to this great website and the upcoming additions that we will be launching. I’m truly excited to see what the coming months will bring.

Today this post will be short as I’m skipping horse racing because I’m retired and I don’t feel like handicapping today. How’s that for honesty?

So let’s look at a couple of NHL and NBA matchups for Sunday.

Los Angeles Lakers at Phoenix

Talk about a tough 1st round matchup for a 2/7 series. The Suns are coming off a great season and for their reward they get to deal with a Lakers team that is starting to get healthy and have LeBron James and Anthony Davis back and getting to full strength. The big question with the Lakers is how long will it take for them to gel together as a unit after playing all year without that cohesion and chemistry that is needed. I’m going to take Phoenix in this first game but I’m a little hesitant to do so.

The Bet: Phoenix -3

Atlanta at New York

This has the makings of a long and competitive series between these two teams. They appear to be evenly matched. The Knicks are at home and they have a very low point spread to cover and I like to bet home teams when they are favored by a short spread.

The Bet: New York -1.5

In the other two NBA matchups I like Philadelphia over Washington and Utah over Memphis but I’m not comfortable with the spread on those two games. Philly is favored by 7.5 at home but they have been sitting around while the Wizards have been playing and Utah is a 9 point pick against the Grizzlies and they are facing the same situation. I’m staying away from those two games.

In the NHL let’s look at three critical games.

Boston at Washington

This is do or die for the Capitals as they are trailing 3-1 to the Bruins. I’m surprised that they are in such desperation and I think they will ramp it up and get a win and send the series back to Beantown.

The Bet: Washington

Edmonton at Winnipeg

The Oilers are down 2-0 and quite frankly I am very surprised. Now, they are coming to Winnipeg and they are needing a victory to keep from falling down three games to none. They have to get their guns going as the Jets have stymied their scorers so far. I’m taking the Oilers but a smart bettor might take Winnipeg because I can never get their game right.

My Pick: Edmonton

Carolina at Nashville

The Preds won a huge game Friday night to get the series to 2-1. They have a lot of momentum and they are at home which is tough rink to play in. But, Carolina is very good and it took two overtimes and some questionable calls to get them beat. It’s a bounce back for the Hurricanes.