(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
It seemed like such a square bet.
Undaunted, however, we walked right up to the window on Saturday, April 28, and said, “Give us No. 702 (the Celtics) -4.5.”
Had we done a complicated analysis of offenses and defenses? Nope.
Had we run a computer program of player matchups? Nope.
In fact, we were playing theme and variation on the commonly followed NBA zigzag theory. That is home team wins, then road team wins, etc.
At home, the Celtics had won and covered Game One. Ditto for Game Two.
Back in Milwaukee, the Bucks won Game Three and covered. They won Game Four, too; however, they did not cover.
For Game Five the series reverted to Boston, where the Celtics won 92-87, narrowly covering the 4.5-point line.
The series returned to Milwaukee for Game Six, which the Bucks reliably won 97-86, covering their 4.5-point line.
So following this rather clear zigzag pattern, we were ready to play the the Celtics at -4.5 in Game Seven. We even watched a good part of the second half in which the Celtics, rallied by a raucous home crowd, put away the Bucks 112-96.
Easy? Not necessarily.
A guaranteed winner every time? Obviously not, see Game Four above.
But in some NBA playoff series, you can see the zigzag theory playing out.
We were, however, happy to cash our ticket.
We found one other play on Saturday, April 28. We had noted earlier that the local press had reported a respected handicapper’s prediction that the Sharks would oust the Golden Knights in the second round of the NHL playoffs. And after the Knights drew first blood — which the handicapper had predicted — we found an adjusted series price on the Sharks at +250. We found that series price too good to pass and snagged it.
So with the Sharks squaring the series at one game each on Saturday, April 28, we like the value in that ticket as the series returns to San Jose.
