(USA TODAY Sports)

Jared Dudley incited a small brouhaha when the 76ers met the Nets in Brooklyn on Saturday. The Nuggets evened their series in San Antonio while the St. Louis Blues eliminated the Winnipeg Jets from the NHL playoffs. Here’s a sports betting recap from Saturday and a look ahead to playoff action on Sunday.

NBA Playoffs Get Edgy on Saturday

With all of the chatter leading into Game 4 of the Nets-76ers series, one had to assume tempers would boil over at some point during the afternoon tilt on Saturday. Jared Dudley — inserted into the starting lineup — immediately engaged in a war of words with Ben Simmons before getting ejected midway through the third quarter for his part in a scuffle following a Joel Embiid flagrant foul. Embiid returned in Game 4 in productive fashion — scoring 31 and grabbing 16 boards — but maintained his cool when Jared Dudley engaged him after a hard foul in the third quarter. Jimmy Butler got involved and the scuffle moved into the crowd before both Dudley and Butler were ejected.

On the court, the Nets relinquished a six-point lead in the fourth quarter at home — ultimately losing 112-108 after a clutch Mike Scott 3-pointer put the Sixers ahead for good. The Sixers covered the 3.5-point spread and will bring a 3-1 series lead back to Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Speaking of tension, DeMar DeRozan was ejected on Saturday as the Spurs lost at home to the Nuggets 117-102 to deadlock the series at two games apiece. While there was no scuffle, a frustrated DeRozan argued an offensive foul call and was tossed as the Nuggets were running away with the contest. As 3.5-point underdogs, the Nuggets were able to win outright as a change to the starting lineup put the clamps on Game 3 star Derrick White. Torrey Craig was inserted into the starting five for a struggling Will Barton. Craig held White to 3 of 8 shooting while scoring 18 points of his own.

Stick a fork in the Detroit Pistons. 27 points from a returning Blake Griffin were not enough to prevent another route at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks.

The traveling Bucks covered the 9.5 number on FanDuel Sportsbook in a 119-103 victory. Brook Lopez supplied 19 points with three 3-pointers while Ersan Ilyasova added 15 points off the bench. In all likelihood, the Bucks will mercifully end this series on Monday night. FanDuel pegs Milwaukee at +115 at the time of this writing to win the Eastern Conference.

The Rockets overcame a dreadful shooting night from James Harden to take a 3-0 series lead against the Jazz with a final score of 104-101. Despite being a two-point dog — and James Harden missing his first 15 shots — the Rockets will await Game 4 on Monday hoping to end the series in Utah. If you think the Rockets will finish the sweep, you will be better served betting the -120 ML on Monday instead of the -5000 price on FanDuel Sportsbook for a series victory over the Jazz.

Four Game Fours on Sunday

Game 4 is all the rage on Sunday with the NBA offering up a 4-game playoff slate. The Celtics look to sweep the Pacers in front of the Indiana home crowd as 2.5-point favorites on FanDuel Sportsbook. The Celtics last swept a team in the playoffs in 2011 when they held — surprise — the Knicks winless in the first round of the playoffs.

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After a 132-105 drubbing at the hands of the Warriors, the Clippers look to even their series at home on Sunday afternoon. Currently 8.5-point and +300 ML underdogs on FanDuel Sportsbook, the Clippers look to rekindle some of the magic that led to their historic Game 2 comeback at the Oracle.

Speaking of home underdogs, the Orlando Magic are 5.5-point underdogs against the Toronto Raptors today in Game 4 of their series. The Raptors look to push the Magic to the brink of elimination — led by Pascal Siakam who is averaging 24.3 points and 10 rebounds per game in the series.

Lastly, the nightcap will feature another matchup of superstar point guards when Russell Westbrook welcomes Damian Lillard and the Blazers for a Game 4 in Oklahoma City. Westbrook will likely be all but a welcoming presence as the two star guards spent the entire Game 3 chirping back and forth as the Thunder nabbed an all-important 120-108 victory in front of a home crowd. Westbrook scored 38 in the affair and will need to be just as effective if the Thunder are to cover a six-point spread and even the series at 2-2.

Prop Shop: Series Odds Update on FanDuel

If you believe in miracles, you might consider waging on the Pacers at +3300 to come back and rattle off four games in a row versus the Celtics to win the series.

Level-headed bettors might instead consider the +154 series price on San Antonio despite a loss and a +116 price on the Thunder. After the late loss to the Sixers on Saturday, the Nets are now +2500 to overcome a 1-3 deficit in their playoffs series.

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End of Season Blues in Winnipeg

The St. Louis Blues closed their series against the Winnipeg Jets in front of a home crowd behind a last-second hat trick from Jaden Schwartz.

Schwartz’ three goals helped Blues bettors cash -149 tickets but came up just shy of the 5.5 O/U. The Blues await the winner between Dallas and Nashville in the second round.

In Nashville, the Dallas Stars pushed the Predators to the brink of elimination with a 5-3 road victory. The game total went way over the 5-goal O/U as the Stars pushed the series to 3-2 as +128 underdogs. Alexander Radulov and Jason Dickinson scored twice in the matchup.

Finally, Saturday’s playoff games ended with a Washington Capitals rout of the Carolina Hurricanes 6-0. The Caps went up 3-2 in the series while cashing -149 tickets for bettors and slamming the 5.5 O/U on their own. Alex Ovechkin scored while Nicklas Backstrom added two goals in the decisive victory for Washington. The series shifts to Carolina on Monday night for Game 6.

Today, both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights are favored — -120 and -180 respectively — to win their opening round series . The Maple Leafs welcome the Bruins into Toronto up 3-2 in the series while the Golden Knights will host the Sharks also up 3-2. Both series could come to an end today unless the underdogs have something to say about it.

Diamond Notes

Major League Baseball supplied a ton of fireworks with baseballs leaving the yard all day on Saturday. In Milwaukee, Christian Yelich proved his late-season power surge in 2018 was no fluke.

Yelich homered twice — both off of Hyun-Jin Ryu — as the Brewers topped the Dodgers 5-0. The Brewers were underdogs at home — paying off +105 ML tickets.

Speaking of home runs, the Bronx Bombers collected 4.5 home runs on Saturday in a 9-2 victory over the Royals in New York. Gleyber Torres hit what should have been a fifth home run but had the big fly overturned due to fan interference. The home favorites paid -260 ML tickets and the overturned home run didn’t affect bettors on the game total that comfortably went over 8.5 runs.

Andrew Benintendi drove in five runs — four from a second-inning grand slam — as the Red Sox managed to edge the Rays 6-5 on the road on Saturday. Benintendi’s sac fly in the ninth broke a 5-5 tie and captured a much-needed victory for the Red Sox — moving the defending champs to 8-13 on the season and paying off +120 tickets for Boston bettors.

Today, Sunday Night Baseball features an inter-league matchup between the Atlanta Braves and the Cleveland Indians. The Indians will send Shane Bieber to the mound as -126 favorites while Max Fried will toe the rubber for the Braves. Francisco Lindor returned to the Indians lineup and aims to get the struggling Indians back on track. A 7.5 O/U for the game suggests that the Cleveland offense might need some time with Lindor back in the lineup to return to last season’s form.

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Injury Report

Aaron Judge left Saturday’s game versus the Royals with a left oblique injury after a base hit. The Yankees are awaiting results from an MRI taken on Saturday. The Yankees might potentially boast a full Major League roster on the IL.

Quick Links

The NFL schedule was released! Thomas Casale breaks down the best games of the year and gives Week 1 betting lines with some early picks. 

Matt Schmitto caught a potential arbitrage opportunity yesterday — learn about arbitrage and how to take advantage of this situation with his article.

There’s a new sportsbook being built in New York. Here’s a sneak peek from Thomas Casale.

betting tale from the Final Four. Matt Schmitto took his alma mater — Texas Tech — to win the National Championship at long odds. He’s finally ready to talk about it.

Follow us on Twitter @RGSportsBetting.

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