World Hockey Championship Finals Canada vs. Finland
Canada has not trailed after the first period in any game in the 2016 tournament. Even the game they lost to Finland they played a very tight 0-0 first period score (revenge spot).
Really good spot for Canada on a few fronts; This is a big game for Hockey Canada as they need to be able to manage the media to show Canadian Hockey is still as strong as ever strong despite some of the recent articles stating otherwise. Last major competition was the World Juniors where Canada had a bad showing; the media was very negative....Finland won the tournament. As far as pressure for the players, there really isn't any as Canadian hockey fans could care less about the Worlds. Finland, on the other hand, is under a tremendous amount of pressure as we know all the Euro teams care about this event more so than NHL playoffs or titles in many instances.
All things point to Canada coming hard out of the gates and I like the full game ML as well. Here are my plays:
$$$$ IIHF Championship Canada 1st Period ML -135 $$$$
Canada 1st Period -.5 goals +205; Canada Full Game ML -135; Canada Full Game PL +250
BOL today fellas!
$$$$ Golden State Warriors ML (-150) $$$$
I’m kind of cheating here with the maximum amount of juice allowed for a $$$$ play, but this is too good to pass up. The over in game 2 was a joke by the 4th quarter when OKC decided to throw in the towel, should have seen that Billy Donovan wasn’t going to try to steal both home games in the hardest arena to play in. However my analysis of that game was pretty spot on, the Thunder kept it close through the first half and GS pulled away afterwards on the back of… rebounding?!?!
Warriors Closing the Rebounding Differential
Ever since that overtime thriller in the regular season where GS was out-rebounded by 35, the warriors have aggressively been attacking the boards. This strategy saw the warriors win the rebounding differential in game 2, netting 9 more boards than the Thunder. I don’t expect them to repeat that feat, but I don’t think OKC will have as much of an edge on the glass as they have in the past.
A Fast-Paced Game Favors the Warrior’s Depth
OKC publicly admitted their game plan to box out more effectively and look for transition opportunities. Everybody knew that already, but it’s not smart to directly admit it in the post game conference so that GS can get an extra day to prepare. A faster game should force OKC into revealing their stunning lack of depth, where they were outscored 42 to 61 in the second half where Durant and Westbrook received gratuitous rest minutes. It’s also wasn’t encouraging to see Westbrook ask for a breather in Game 1. The guy is an absolute machine, but he has an injury history and could be slowing down after extensive minutes in the playoffs.
There is a chance that with a lead OKC will slow down the game to prevent turnovers but the over is 0-2 so far in the series and I expect a little mean reversion upon a shift to OKC’s home court. In the one game that OKC did win against the dubs this year (game 1) they had to score and couldn’t control the pace at times when GS went on runs. I think Billy Donovan utilizes the home crowd to run the OKC offense more efficiently without much regard to the warrior’s demoralizing shots, both teams will focus on playing to their strengths, scoring, and the warriors have been shown over and over to be the better team. During the regular season we loved the warriors, I don’t see a much different team right now in the playoffs. Let’s not get too fancy with the Thunder and make some $$$$ tonight.
Record: 8-5
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