GAMBLING GUIDE

Red hot Bookie Busters: NFL Draft picks, NBA and Champions League

Red hot Bookie Busters: NFL Draft picks, NBA and Champions League
The NFL Draft offers some betting opportunities. Brett Deering/Getty Images

Bookie Busters went 5-2 last week, and we look to keep the streak going. Soccer plays are on an outrageous 19-1 Run (all Documented through Houstonsportsmap.com/ sportsgamblingpodcast.com and Twitter)

2018 Draft Bets

Overall First Pick

Sam Darnold      -260

Josh Allen           +250

Baker Mayfield    +535

Saquon Barkley   +975

Josh Rosen      +5000

Bradley Chubb  +10000


QB's drafted in the 1st round over/under 5½?

Over    +180

Under  -260

RB's drafted in the 1st round over/under 1½?

Over     -245

Under   +175

WR's drafted in the 1st round over/under 2½?

Over    +110

Under  -150

How many wide receivers drafted in the 1st round over/under 2½?

Under 2.5 Wide receivers drafted in the first

C.Ridley draft position over/ under 19½?

Under 19.5

Top 3 picks of the draft are all QB's        +130

Any other result -180

Any other result

NBA

Raptors vs. Wizards

The Toronto Raptors return home after letting Game 4 slip thru their hands. When Bradley Beal fouled out in the fourth on a phantom call, the Raptors were in position to steal the road game and come home comfortable. Instead, they blew the opportunity and now return home with the pressure now on them. Toronto was the second-best home team in the NBA where they won 83 percent of their games sitting at 36-7 straight up and 45-40-1 ATS. Toronto was the third best scoring team in the opening halves of contests averaging 57 per the first 24 minutes. Thier average margin in first halves is +4.5, and in the last three, that number has risen to 7. The Wizards are an average team in terms of first-half scoring and only hold a+.1 point margin. Look for the Raptors to come out hot and take control of this game early.

Raptors -4 1st half

Thunder vs. Jazz

Thunder home games went under 55 percent of the time while Utah loves to slow the pace. In a must-win for the home team, expect spurts in this game where both teams struggle to score.

Under 207.5

Soccer Champions League Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid

The Allianz Arena is a venue that takes your breath away, and that's what the Germans have done to visiting clubs going undefeated this season playing at home. The Germans haven't tasted defeat at the Allianz in 21 instances, and in 14 of those matches, they netted at least three goals.

There have been a total of 384 goals in the 121 matches in this year's Champions League, thus far breaking last year's record.

Both of these clubs thrive on scoring with Madrid averaging 2.6 goals per match and Bayern 2.3.

When these two clubs have faced off, Real Madrid has beaten the Germans four out of the last five times. Picking a side will be tough. Instead, I'll sit back and wait for goals to happen in a matchup that guarantees to see chances from both sides.

Over 3

Bayern Team Total Over 1.5

For any questions or comments reach me @JerryBoknowz on Twitter

 

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Should the Rockets be active on the trade market? Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

It’s been a slog on the treadmill of mediocrity for the Astros thus far in 2025. Their 18-18 record heading into a weekend series at Daikin Park vs. the Reds is appropriate. Plenty of good teams will have similar stretches this season. The Astros have to prove that this year’s edition is a good team. Plenty of time for that remains. Reminder that the breakout 2017 Astros had a 74-game stretch over which they went 37-37. 162 games allow for a lot of ebb and flow. Of course, the 2025 Astros’ roster is not close in quality to that of the 2017 squad. The point isn’t that this team could be a 101-game winner but that the 88 victories good enough for a playoff spot last year are still quite plausible this year.

The Rockets achieved mediocrity last season after three seasons as a laughingstock. This season they made the leap to good. While curling up and succumbing to Golden State in the decisive game seven of their first-round playoff series was a disappointment, the Rockets are in excellent position moving forward. Where they go from here should be quite interesting,

OF COURSE the Rockets are going to explore trading Jalen Green. He is obviously their most physically gifted player, but his consistent inconsistency is exasperating. Green’s series against the Warriors was basically an embarrassment with the exception of his 38-point game two outburst. The other six games, a meager nine-point-two points per game. That Green is still just 23 years old means it is not near obligatory they move on from him as Green starts a three-year 105 million dollar contract extension. However, the state of his game and comparison to a few specific players cast enough doubt about Green’s ceiling that declaring him “untouchable” would be ridiculous. During the Golden State series, an NBA play-by-play guy who I think is very good overall once referred to Green as the “Rockets’ superstar.” Anyone, including Green himself, who calls him a superstar either misspoke, was caught up in a moment, or is clueless.

Jalen Green just finished his fourth NBA season. Fairness requires noting that his first two seasons were compromised by being on atrocious Rockets’ squads. That said, Green was on 41-41 and 52-30 teams the past two seasons. In neither of him did he shoot a league average percentage either overall or from behind the three-point line. He did approach the three-point league average of 36 percentage made with his 35.4. That Green is an 80 percent career free throw shooter gives hope the three-point shooting can further develop. Better shot selection sure would help.

Green was the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, one year removed from high school. The player taken ahead of him was Cade Cunningham who also played just one year out of high school before going NBA. Cunningham joined a joke Detroit Pistons team. Cunningham is a much better player than Green at this point.

Other shooting guards who played one year after high school then jumped to the NBA, who were markedly ahead of Green after four NBA seasons include Anthony Edwards (first pick in his draft class), and Shae Gilgeous-Alexander (11th), and Devin Booker (13th). In comparison to each Green is a disappointment, though certainly not a bust.

What is head coach Ime Udoka’s bottom-line belief in Green fulfilling his potential? My guess is that cup is not overflowing. The Rockets’ half-court offense simply is not of championship caliber. Can it evolve there with Green, or is he better used as a piece in a trade offer with other players plus draft picks for a Booker or Kevin Duran? The Phoenix Suns are a near assets-less mess of a franchise in dire need of a reset. Durant will be 37 years old when next season starts, but is still a tremendous offensive player who would be a gargantuan half-court offense upgrade for the Rockets. The Rockets have so much draft capital that offering two or three first round picks plus Green, Cam Whitmore, and another player or two to make the salary cap math work would A: not empty out the Rockets’ flexibility going forward and B: have to get the Suns’ attention. If I’m Udoka and General Manager Rafael Stone, I’m making the call.

Courtesy of the Suns, the Rockets hold what is currently the ninth pick in the NBA Draft. The draft lottery is Monday night. The Rockets’ have a three-point-eight percent chance of winning it and the right to make Duke freshman superstar (and Final Four loser to UH) Cooper Flagg the number one pick. There is a 13.5 percent chance the Rockets move up to pick two, three, or four. Otherwise, it’s ninth, or lower if another team or teams vault up the lottery board.

For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!

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