Friday Best Bet, Groundhog Day Recaps
Thursday was Feb. 2, which of course is Groundhog Day, which was ironic as I’ve felt like I’ve been reliving a personal Groundhog Day loop myself.
The three previous days, I had what I felt were live underdogs (and they were) but lost all three in heartbreaking fashion against the spread down the stretch. On Thursday night, my Best Bet on San Francisco +12.5 looked fated for the same result as the Dons fell behind Saint Mary’s by 10 with 17:44 to play in the second half and the game stayed within a bucket or two of the spread for the next five minutes before San Francisco rallied and then held on for a 68-59 loss and point-spread cover. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow to predict six more weeks of winter, but I started to wonder how many more weeks of Tuley’s Takes Today we were going to have. Last year, we did 289 straight days of TTT (a Groundhog Day-type run of its own at more than 41 weeks!) from the start of football season until the end of the NHL and NBA playoffs in July, spurred on by a lengthy 60% run for several months from the Super Bowl through the spring. We’re approaching 200 straight days since mid-July and was thinking we wouldn’t continue much past the Super Bowl if we’re not consistently giving out winners again (though hoping to get a boost when our NHL 1P Overs return after the All-Star Break).
Further breaking our recent Groundhog Day-like slump was the fact we also hit our NBA money-line parlay with the Mavericks -190 ML vs. the Pelicans and Bucks -190 ML vs. Clippers as we turned those favorites into a collective underdog with a +133 parlay payoff.
Let’s recap the reset of Thursday’s action, and look for another Best Bet for Friday. Then, as has been our custom here, we’ll recap our NFL “takes” column from Wednesday with our early Super Bowl bets.Groundhog Day Recaps
NBA: Faves went 6-1 SU Thursday but only 3-3-1 ATS with push in Mavericks (-5) 111-106 win vs. Pelicans. The lone upset was by the Knicks (+3 vs. Heat). The Pacers (+2.5 vs. Lakers) and Clippers (+4 at Bucks) covered in SU losses. Home teams also went 6-1 SU and 3-3-1 ATS. Unders led 5-2.
More NBA: On the season, faves lead 496-276 SU with 11 games closing pick-'em, but dogs still lead 390-362-20 ATS (51.9%). Home teams lead 470-313 SU and 401-364-19 ATS (52.4%). In totals wagering, Overs still lead 394-375-14 (51.2%).