Winners Club: Belmont Stakes Headlines Stacked Sports Weekend

Plus, NBA Finals Game 4 Preview, Lightning take 3-2 lead in NHL ECF and news from around the NFL.

Good morning! Are you ready for an exciting weekend filled with marquee sporting events?

Game 4 of the NBA Finals is tonight, then the Belmont Stakes take place Saturday evening, followed by a potential closeout game in the NHL Eastern Conference Final. Plus, the LIV Golf Invitational is going on all weekend long.

Before getting into the NBA and NHL playoff matchups, let’s begin with the ponies.

Frankie Taddeo has betting profiles for each of the top contenders. Find out each horse’s post position, jockey, trainer, record and running style before placing your bet(s) on the third leg of the Triple Crown.

Below are the odds for the big event in New York:

We The People: 2-1
Mo Donegal: 5-2
Rich Strike: 7-2
Creative Minister: 6-1
Nest: 8-1
Barber Road: 10-1
Skippylongstocking: 20-1
Golden Glider: 20-1

Coverage gets underway at 5 p.m. ET on NBC on Saturday. Enjoy the race!

Celtics Favored in NBA Finals Game 4

Boston took a 2-1 series lead Wednesday night and the turnaround from Game 3, a 116-100 Celtics win, to Game 4 tonight is the shortest gap between two games in the Finals.

That’s bad news for Steph Curry and the Warriors—the two-time MVP injured his foot in the fourth quarter of Game 3 when Al Horford landed on him during a scramble for a loose ball. Regarding his availability for Game 4, Golden State’s leading scorer said: “I’m gonna play.”

The Celtics, who are 3.5-point favorites again in tonight’s game, moved to sizable championship favorites after pulling ahead in the series Wednesday. Boston is -222, while Golden State is now +180. As for the fight for Finals MVP, Jayson Tatum is the favorite at +100, followed by Curry (+175) and Jaylen Brown (+300). I think there’s value in betting Brown at those longer odds and Robin Lundberg agrees—we discussed that here.

Michael Dwyer/AP

Golden State has its back against the wall with the threat of going down 3-1 in the series looming large over tonight’s matchup. Boston, meanwhile, can take control of the Finals or let the Warriors back in with two of the final three games to be played at Chase Center.

With that in mind, how should you bet on this game? I came up with a four-leg, same-game parlay to tail in Game 4—Count on big performances from the Celtics’ stars.

Friday
9 p.m. ET (ABC): Warriors vs. Celtics (-3.5) | Boston leads series, 2-1

Lightning One Win From Third Consecutive Cup Trip

Tampa Bay won its third game in a row Thursday night to take a 3-2 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final. That’s after the Lightning were staring down an 0-2 deficit against the Rangers earlier in the series.

Now, the Lightning are in a familiar spot: Win and they’re back in the Stanley Cup Final, which they’ve won each of the last two seasons with a threepeat looking increasingly possible.

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the second period of Game 5 before Tampa Bay, led by a pair of goals from Mikhail Sergachev, scored three unanswered to put the game away. The series now shifts back to Florida, where the Lightning won Games 3 and 4 at Amalie Arena.

Frank Franklin II/AP

Tampa Bay is a -549 favorite to win the series and the most likely series outcome on SI Sportsbook is a 4-2 Lightning win (-200).

The championship favorite Avalanche (-200) await their Stanley Cup Final opponent after disposing of the Oilers in a 4-0 sweep Monday.

Saturday
8 p.m. ET (ESPN): Rangers vs. Lightning (-175) | Tampa Bay leads series, 3-2

The Rams Take Care of Another Star

One day after the Rams re-worked Aaron Donald’s contract, the Super Bowl champs took care of Cooper Kupp as well. Los Angeles and the winner of the 2021 receiving triple crown agreed to a three-year extension worth $110 million Thursday, which puts Kupp in the company of some of the highest paid pass catchers in football.

If you’re curious how the Rams balance their checkbook with stars like Donald, Kupp, Matt Stafford and Jalen Ramsey all on big money deals, Andrew Brandt explained how the front office makes the numbers work. In short: Cash is king, and the cap is real—sorta.

To kickoff a recurring series, Michael Fabiano made the case against Kupp repeating his all-time fantasy success this coming season. Can he repeat what he did in 2021? Probably not. Can Kupp still put together one of the best fantasy seasons for a wide receiver? Certainly.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

One of the biggest stories of the NFL offseason has been unprecedented star player movement. Many of the top-end players who changed teams were pass catchers, like Tyreek Hill and Davante Adams. Their departures mean a healthy number of targets are up for grabs in their former teams’ offenses. Enter: The Replacements.

I’ll be projecting the beneficiaries of the teams that have the highest percentage of vacated targets in the NFL. That’s the Titans, Chiefs, Falcons, Browns, Ravens and Packers.

The series got going Thursday with Tennessee, which has an A.J. Brown-sized hole in its receiving game. Thankfully for quarterback Ryan Tannehill, the team drafted Brown’s replacement, Treylon Burks, in the first round and traded for Robert Woods.

In Other News

Aces No. 1 in WNBA Power Rankings: Las Vegas has two of the top three scorers in the league in Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young and has gotten off to a dominant start. See how the rest of the league falls in line behind the Aces and who could challenge them for the top spot.

USFL Week 9 Betting Breakdown: The Stallions put their undefeated record on the line against the lowly Gamblers this weekend and are 12.5-point favorites. Check the rest of the spreads from around the league and the championship odds with just two weeks remaining in the regular season.

LIV Golf Invitational Day 1 Leaderboard: Check the leaderboard from Round 1 at Centurion Club. Charl Schwartzel shot -5 on the opening day of the competition to lead the field. Keep up with The Morning Read for all the latest from London.

Oklahoma Wins Second WCWS in a Row: The top-seeded Sooners blew out Texas 10-5 for their second title in a row and the program’s sixth championship, all of which have come under coach Patty Gasso. Thursday’s victory improved OU’s record to 59-3 and capped off a historic season.

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Thanks for reading! Best of luck with all your wagers during this loaded sports weekend.