THE GAMBLING GUIDE

Bookie Busters: NBA Playoffs, Messi vs Ronaldo and more

Bookie Busters: NBA Playoffs, Messi vs Ronaldo and more
Ronaldo vs. Messi highlights a busy betting weekend. Photo courtesy of Nike, Inc.

Bookie Busters continues the winning-streak, busting the book again going 10-3 this week.

Last two weeks we are 17-5-2 ATS.

El Clasico          Sunday

Barcelona vs. Real Madrid

Bittersweet can be best used to describe Sunday's fixture. A glorious farewell to a soccer legend expects the fans of the Barca to be electric come Sunday.

Andres Iniesta will take the pitch for his final El Clasico, and what better way to do it than in front of the home crowd. Barcelona to the bone, Iniesta played with the Barca youth since the age of 12. He would go on to captain the under 15 team to a Victory in the 1999 Nike Cup final, netting a goal in the final minutes. It was then that he caught the eye of the former Captain Pep Guardiola, who said Iniesta would retire him. Guardiola would ultimately play a big role in Iniesta's career as a coach, and someone the midfielder looked up to as a father figure.

In a perfect world, Iniesta rides off into the sunset, after three more matches, winning his last El Clasico appearance making it a fairytale ending to a supernatural career.

Every good story has a villain, and the spoiler to this film, will be none other than Cristiano Ronaldo. With  the La Liga title wrapped up for Barcelona after Messi's hat trick last weekend, the teams will be playing for pride more than anything. With Madrid having played midweek in a crucial Champions League match, how much legs will they have to run around with the ultra passing Barcelona? Another factor will be that they qualified for the Champions League Final later this month and avoiding injuries will be the priority.

The match has somewhat of a laid-back feeling to it, and I expect an open game with teams looking to put on a show, with neither having anything to lose. Madrid just played an excruciating 90-minute match, and the defense will be feeling the quick turn around.

The Pick

Barcelona is undefeated this season and will be looking to complete the feat with four matches left in the season. At Camp Nou, they have 14 wins and 2 draws. While playing on home soil, they averaged 2.8 goals a game, while their counterpart nets two goals a game on average this season when playing as visitors. Barca is 4-1-2 in the last seven in this rivalry, and I see them continuing their dominance as remaining undefeated and the Iniesta factor will ultimately pull them through. Expect end to end action

Barcelona money line 3x

Game Total Over 3.5

Match Result and Both Teams to Score: Barca and Yes   +185

Will a goal be scored in both halves? YES

Messi scores a goal 2x

Both team to score in 2nd half   +130

Barca and 2.5    EVEN

Plays of the week

Germany

RB Leipzig vs. Wolfsburg

Over 2.5   -144

Over 3 +112

Mainz 05 vs. Dortmund

Over 3

NBA Playoffs     Friday 5/4

Pelicans vs. Warriors

Warriors over 30 1st quarter

Warriors Team total  1st half over 60

Over 119.5 First Half

For any questions or comments reach me @JerryBoKnowz on twitter

 

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The Astros beat the Blue Jays, 3-1. Photo by Jack Gorman/Getty Images.

Christian Walker homered in a three-run second, Ryan Gusto pitched well into the sixth and the Houston Astros beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 on Wednesday night to sweep the three-game series.

Walker led off the second with a home run to left off Bowden Francis (2-3), Yainer Diaz tripled and scored on Zach Dezenzo's RBI single and Yordan Alvarez capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly.

Gusto (3-1) allowed one run on three hits with six strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. Gusto has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his three starts this season.

Bryan King pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, and Bryan Abreu threw a scoreless eighth.

George Springer walked, and Ernie Clement doubled with one out in the ninth, but Josh Hader struck out Alejandro Kirk and induced a flyout by Myles Straw for his seventh save.

Houston has won five of its last six.

Springer hit an RBI double in the fourth for the Blue Jays. They have lost five straight games.

Francis surrendered three runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. He has allowed three runs or fewer in four of his five starts.

Key moment

Hader striking out Kirk and getting Straw to flyout to center to end it.

Key stat

The Astros swept the Blue Jays for the first time since they swept a four-game series in Houston on May 14-17, 2015.

Final Thoughts

Julia Morales caught up with Walker after the game.

Up next

Houston starts a three-game series Friday at Kansas City, with RHP Hayden Wesneski (1-1, 3.91 ERA) starting the opener. Toronto RHP José Berríos (1-1, 5.02) starts Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at the Yankees.

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