Morning Coffee: Will the Avs seize control of series without Makar?

Entering last night, NBA teams that had a 3-1 series lead at home with a double-digit lead in-game were 30-0 straight up, dating back to 2003.

The Boston Celtics wanted no part in that trend.

The Celtics closed as a 13.5-point favourite for Game 5 against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.

The Hawks, a .500 team during the regular season, were without one of their best players in Dejounte Murray.

Atlanta trailed by 13 points with six minutes left. No problem.

Trae Young went for a game-high 38 points and the Hawks outscored Boston 20-6 in the final six minutes of regulation for the 119-117 win.

Anyone who bet on Atlanta to win at +640 on the money line at FanDuel cashed their bets.

On a night when it felt like I couldn’t lose, it was extremely disappointing to watch the Celtics spoil the FanDuel Best Bet that I gave out in Tuesday’s Morning Coffee column.

The Edmonton Oilers cruised to a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings as the second leg of my two-team parlay.

Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Stars and Toronto Blue Jays all took care of business.

After a rough start to the week with the FanDuel Best Bets, we’re looking to get it right this morning with a couple of winners.

This is the Morning Coffee for Wed., April 26, 2023.

Will the Avalanche seize control of series without Makar?

We’ve been spending a lot of time at the office talking about potential Betting 101 content that we could produce for our audience at TSN of late.

Here’s a couple of important lessons I could share in regard to Tuesday’s FanDuel Best Bet in Morning Coffee.

First, there’s no such thing as a lock in sports betting.

When it comes to what went wrong for the Celtics last night, you can take your pick from the awful turnovers, bad fouls, terrible defence, questionable shot selection, and the lack of adjustments by the coaching staff.

I’ve already come to terms with how Boston lost the game, and while it still stings, the reality is that I had other options available to me that I could have considered instead of the parlay for my FanDuel Best Bet on Tuesday morning.

I made the point that the Oilers were due for a dominant performance, but I didn’t want to lay the juice on Edmonton money line.

I assumed it was safe to parlay the Oilers and Celtics.

Still, I could have bet on Edmonton to win in regulation. I could have bet the Oilers -1.5 on the puck line.

While parlay bets are an excellent option for improving your odds in a lot of cases, it’s important to never underestimate the potential risk associated with each leg that you add.

The Celtics were a double-digit favourite, they led by double digits for almost the entire game, and they lost.

It happens.

Now we turn the page and look to get back on track with a couple of winners.

As was the case with the Oilers entering last night’s game, I still don’t believe the Colorado Avalanche have played to their potential so far in the first round series against the Seattle Kraken.

The Avalanche have shown their ability in stretches, but they haven’t put together a full 60-minute effort to date.

Now they will be without Cale Makar tonight.

The Avalanche should have a greater sense of urgency on home ice tonight, as they look to avoid falling behind 3-2 in the series before heading back to Seattle.

In terms of a FanDuel Best Bet, Makar’s absence creates an interesting opportunity when it comes to shots on goal props.

Makar is fourth on the team in shots on goal in these playoffs with 12, trailing only Nathan MacKinnon, Bowen Byram and Mikko Rantanen.

With Makar out of the lineup, that should lead to even more opportunities for the big three.

After the over cashed for his shots on goal prop in three straight games to open the series, MacKinnon let us down on Monday night with zero shots on goal.

I think he bounces back with a dominant effort tonight.

After registering seven, eight and five shots on goal before laying an egg in Game 4, I think MacKinnon bounces back tonight and records 5+ shots on goal.

I’ll make Mackinnon over 4.5 shots on goal my FanDuel Best Bet for Wednesday night.

I also like Rantanen over 3.5 shots on goal and Bowen Byram to go over 2.5 shots on goal at plus-money for Game 5 tonight.

Finally, I’m on Colorado to win in regulation at -120.

The absence of Makar will hurt, but as long as their best players play to their potential, the Avalanche should be able to deliver on home ice tonight.

Meanwhile, as I’ve already highlighted, I also considered the Blue Jays as a potential match with the Oilers for my FanDuel Best Bet parlay yesterday.

While I ultimately passed, I did bet on Toronto to cover the run line against the Chicago White Sox and cashed.

I’m back on the Blue Jays to win tonight and complete the three-game sweep.

Who will Panthers take with first-overall pick?

The Carolina Panthers are on the clock with the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

While Alabama quarterback Bryce Young remains the favourite to go number one at FanDuel, another quarterback has been in the spotlight over the past 24 hours.

In a span of hours, Kentucky quarterback Will Levis went from 60-to-1 to +600 to be the first-overall pick at FanDuel on Monday morning.

According to the traders at FanDuel, they took five times as many bets on Levis to go No. 1 on Monday morning as they did any other bet for the NFL Draft.

Levis, who could be found as high as 75-to-1 to be the first-overall pick at FanDuel, is currently +600 to go No. 1 overall this morning.

Young remains the favourite to be the top choice at -1000.

Meanwhile, Levis to be the second-overall pick has gone from as high as 34-to-1 to +250 at FanDuel.

As we’ve learned in previous years, a lot can change between now and 8 p.m. ET on Thursday night.

The steam behind Levis to be a top-two pick is certainly fascinating.

Now we wait and see what happens next with Carolina on the clock.