The Early Line looks at tonight's "Winner takes all" game in the NBA!

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Last Updated on Thursday, 17th Jun 2010, 

Written by BetRepublic

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NBA

Series tied 3-3.

Next game Thursday: Lakers – 7, 187

The favorite in this series is 3-2 ATS.

The total in this series is 4 unders, 1 over and one push, or five unders, one over, depending on what line players got.

The series has been, in a word – lousy. Considering this is supposed to be the best of the best, we have not seen one competitive game – not a single game has seen a score decided in the last possession, or even the last minute. Every final saw at least a six point differential and half of the games have been won by nine or more points. We have seen shooting percentages as low as 39% by LA and an outright pathetic 33% by Boston – and neither is due to defense as much as it is a failure to execute on offense. Sub-20 point quarters have been standard in this series, including an embarrassing 13 point quarter by each.

The home team has won 13 of 16 game sevens. All three times game seven has been in the 2-3-2 format the home team has won.

MLB

Tampa Bay lost game two to the Braves in their series of first place teams, but didn’t lose any ground as the Yankees also got beat. The Dodgers beat the Reds and in doing so knocked San Diego out of first place as the Padres lost to Toronto.

The Orioles lost but remain five games removed from shedding the title of worst team in baseball as Pittsburgh lost also.

Today’s best matchup? How about a duel between a pair of aces – Liraino, 6-3, 2.90 vs. Jiminez, 12-1, 1.16.

Soccer

After playing to a tie with England, next up for the US is Slovenia on Friday, June 18. The US is the favorite to win the match. Current odds are:

USA +100

Slovenia +275

Draw +230

Today’s match-up features

Streak Players Alert:

The Pirates have lost ten straight.

The Mets have won six straight.

The Tigers have won five straight.

The streak begins anew: the Orioles have lost one straight.

BAD BEAT of the day: A pair of -200 favorites went down yesterday. The Cards lost, despite a terrific effort by Garcia who gave up only six hits and two runs, but received no run support as his teammates only scored once. The other big losers were Yankee backers. Despite a 17-5 record as favorites of -180 or more (and 17-5 on the run line, too) and despite facing old man Moyer, New York only managed to score three, while surrendering twice that number.