Art Aronson

This is a 10* on COLORADO

Colorado improved to a MLB-best 11-3 yesterday with a 5-0 win over Seattle. It was the Rockies second straight win here in the Pacific Northwest as they won Friday’s game by a count of 8-4. Given how each team’s season has started, it’s definitely a little surprising to still be able to get the Rockies at a somewhat affordable price. The Mariners are one of the worst teams in baseball so far at 5-11. No one has been outscored by more runs as they are -40 in that department. Tilting things even further in Colorado’s direction for Sunday is that German Marquez will be starting the game. Marquez has a 1.89 ERA and 0.90 WHIP. He’s allowed just four runs in 19 innings and has a win over Oakland. The Rockies are allowing just over two runs per game on the road. Seattle is averaging less than three runs per game at home. Justus Sheffield’s first two starts for the M’s haven’t gone well with the team losing by a combined 18 runs to Oakland and the Angels. The Mariners bullpen has been especially horrible. The Rockies should finish off the sweep in easy fashion today. Play on COLORADO

This is an 8* on TORONTO 

It’s come down to one game for all the marbles between Columbus and Toronto. The winner moves on to the Round of 16 while the loser’s season is done. After the Blue Jackets stunned the Maple Leafs in Game 3, rallying back from a three-goal deficit to win 4-3 in overtime, the Leafs did the exact same thing in Game 4. Albeit their rally was much more dramatic with three goals being scored in the last four minutes of regulation. They tied it up with only 23 seconds left. That is a very tough loss to get over if you’re Columbus. They also gave up 53 shots on goal. Though there are no fans, playing on home ice should provide a theoretical boost to Toronto. Momentum is on their side. Play on TORONTO

AAA

This is a 10* on HOUSTON

Houston is likely to finish anywhere from 4th to 6th when the “regular season” concludes. Normally, finishing 4th would be a big deal as it would earn you home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. But there is no home court advantage any more. Despite that lack of incentive, we still expect the Rockets to “go off” on Sunday against a Kings team that is prone to far too many defensive lapses. Time is running out on the Kings to finish in a position where they could play themselves into the postseason. The way things stand now, they’d have to jump four teams. It’s not mathematically impossible by any means, however, it’s highly unlikely considering the Kings record thus far is 1-4 and they just lost to Brooklyn by double digits. Houston has beaten both Milwaukee and the Lakers and while LA didn’t have LeBron, the Rockets didn’t have Russell Westbrook in that game either. Westbrook is again expected to sit out here but with James Harden still in the lineup, you can look for Houston to score plenty against the team that’s posted the worst defensive efficiency rating in the league since the restart. The Rockets are off three straight Unders and have gone 6-1 ATS in that situation this season. Play on HOUSTON

AAA

This is an 8* on PORTLAND

Saturday was a blown opportunity for the Blazers as they led a lead get away and lost to the Clippers, who were playing without Kawhi Leonard. This leaves them 1.5 games behind Memphis for the 8th spot in the West. The Grizzlies are heavy underdogs to the Raptors today, so a win here could very well pull Portland back within one-half game. All they have to do is finish 9th to force a play-in but finishing 8th has its advantages. Also the Blazers must worry about all the teams that are narrowly behind them as finishing 9th is far from a given. Bottom line is that today is “must-win” territory against a Sixers team that was already offensively challenged before losing Ben Simmons. Philadelphia is 3-1 SU in the bubble, but only 1-3 ATS. This will be the first time that the 76ers have been an underdog in a game. They are just 6-16 SU in the underdog role for the season and among those still playing, they have the worst road record of any team besides Washington. Portland really has to have this game. Play on PORTLAND

AAA

This is a 10* on UNDER

Every Raptors game so far has gone Under the total. The reigning NBA Champs would just as soon like to forget the last one though as they lost 122-100 to the Boston Celtics. That game stayed Under by half a point. It was the Raptors first loss since the restart as they’d opened 3-0 straight up and against the spread with wins over the Lakers, Miami and Orlando. They held all three of those teams to 103 points or less. We should see Toronto getting back to playing that caliber of defense on Sunday as they face a Memphis team that’s off a huge upset win and thus likely to experience some offensive regression in this spot. The Grizzlies stunned the Thunder 121-92 on Friday for their first win here in Orlando. Previously, they’d gone 0-4 SU/ATS. Worth noting Memphis will likely wind up being favored in only one of its eight games as they look to preserve their hold on the 8th seed in the Western Conference. We don’t really like their chances nor do we think they’ll come close to the 55% shooting we saw against the Thunder. Remember that Jaren Jackson is out and Ja Morant has been struggling with his shot. On the bright side, Toronto has shot better than 44% in only one of its four games so far. Of the last 45 times these teams have hooked up, 31 games have stayed Under. Play on UNDER

AAA