In today’s SportSense Entertainment Newsletter…

There were plenty of predictions to go around yesterday across the NHL and MLB, with our model focusing in on one of those predictions and making it a 3-star Play. That prediction went 0-1 overall, and you can see how each of the models performed below.

Money Line Predictions: 0-0

Over/Under Predictions: 0-0

Spread Predictions: 0-0

3-star Predictions: 0-0

Money Line Predictions: 0-1

Over/Under Predictions: 1-0

Puck Line Predictions: 1-0

3-star Predictions: 0-0

Money Line Predictions: 7-4

Over/Under Predictions: 6-5

Run Line Predictions: 6-5

3-star Predictions: 0-1

There is one NBA game scheduled to take place this evening, with that game being Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. Miami owns a 3-1 series lead, but our model likes the Celtics to get another win tonight.

Boston Celtics @ Miami Heat

Model Predicts- Celtics ML, OVER 215.5 , Heat +8

The Miami Heat and Boston Celtics will head north to Boston in a pivotal Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Miami shockingly jumped out to a 3-0 series lead, defeating the Celtics twice in Boston before a 26-point victory at home in Game 3. However, the Heat collapsed in the second half of Game 4, allowing Boston to win by 17 points.

Miami has had defied the odds almost every time it has stepped on the court, regardless of being at home or on the road. Will we see the Heat continue to shock the world and close out the series, or can Boston build on its newly found momentum?

Miami Heat

The Miami Heat have been nothing short of spectacular in the postseason, and Jimmy Butler has been a large part of the reason why .

There is a reason he is called “Jimmy Buckets”. Per NBA.com Butler is averaging 29.9 points per game on 50.2% shooting in 15 postseason games, tied for the most points of any individual player still in the postseason. The scoring has been complimented with 6.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 2.1 steal per game, showing that Butler has been more than just a scorer and has been the heart and soul of this Heat team on both ends of the floor.

While we can give Butler most of the praise, he can’t get all of it. Bam Adebayo (17.6 points per game), Gabe Vincent 13.1 ppg), and Caleb Martin (12.9 ppg) are all averaging well into the double figures for scoring as well. Kyle Lowry (9.2 ppg) and Duncan Robinson (8.5 ppg) are right on the heels of double digits too, giving the Heat a crucial layer of depth off the bench.

The depth has done wonders for this team offense. In 82 regular season games Miami averaged just 29.1 bench points per game, the sixth fewest in the NBA. However, StatMuse has the Heat ranked third amongst playoff teams in bench points per game with 35.5.

The added depth, as well as improving their three-point percentage 3.6% when compared to the regular season, has opened so many hidden doors for the Heat. If you didn’t already think so, this Heat team is legit.

Boston Celtics

Not many great things can be said about Boston in this series. Having enough fight to grab a win when the season looked over deserves a tip of the cap, but other than that the Celtics have failed to show up.

Boston has completely collapsed on the defensive end of the floor. In Rounds 1 and 2 against Philadelphia and Atlanta the Celtics posted a 111.0 Defensive Rating, the sixth best amongst postseason teams. However, that rating has spiked to 119.7 in Boston’s series with Miami, a swing that does not bode well for winning a championship.

Boston’s biggest problem defensively comes on the perimeter. According to NBA.com the Heat are shooting 41.9% from behind the arc in the series, head and shoulders above Boston’s 32.5%. The Celtics have not been able to go shot for shot from deep, a big reason why they own a -22 point differential through four games.

Boston has come up short in many areas and has been played tightly for most of the postseason. They will need everything to be perfect moving forward in order to have a chance at advancing to the NBA Finals for the second year in a row.

What’s the Play?

The line for Game 4 closed at Heat -1.5. It made sense given the flow of this series, but our model spotted that overcorrection and picked the Celtics to win outright. Now the line has shifted to Celtics -8, which appears to be another overcorrection that favors Miami this time around.

The Heat were due for massive shooting regression heading into Game 4, which is exactly what we got. Miami shot a blazing 47.8% from three in the first three games of this series, but in Game 4 shot just 25% from behind the arc.

Now, Miami is shooting 41.9% from three in the series, much more in line with its postseason percentage of 38.0%. That is also in line with Miami’s road three-point split of 39.5% in the postseason, showing that the regression already happened and that Miami will likely stabilize from deep.

We think that is going to allow the Heat to keep things close here. Our model is predicting the Celtics to win by roughly seven points, so we feel comfortable taking the better shooting and deeper team as a road underdog, a situation the Heat have thrived in all postseason.

3-star play: Heat +8 (-110)

Money Line Trends💰

• Miami Heat- 11-4 overall in postseason, 5-3 overall as the away team

• Boston Celtics- 9-8 overall in postseason, 4-5 overall as the home team

Over/Under Trends↕️

• Miami Heat- Over is 11-4 overall in postseason, 7-1 as the away team with average total of 232.0

• Boston Celtics- Over is 11-6 overall in postseason, 5-4 as the home team with average total of 220.78

Spread Trends➕➖

• Miami Heat- 11-4 against the spread (ATS) in postseason, 6-2 ATS as the away team

• Boston Celtics- 9-8 ATS in postseason, 4-5 ATS as the home team

Miami Heat @ Boston Celtics

• Miami Heat

  • Gabe Vincent (Game Time Decision), Tyler Herro (OUT), Victor Oladipo (OUT)

• Boston Celtics

  • Danilo Gallinari (OUT)

👮‍♂️ Police check in on Ja Morant. Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant has been in the news a lot over the last few months, but many were concerned with Morant’s well-being after he posted some cryptic messages on Instagram. Morant’s post consisted of him saying that he loves his mother, father, and daughter, followed by the word “Bye” on the fourth post. This caught the attention of many NBA fans, and even prompted police to check in on Morant, who said the he was just taking a break from social media.

🧙‍♂️ Wizards make a front office hire. The Washington Wizards let Tommy Sheppard go as president of Monumental Basketball last month, but soon after filled the position with for Los Angeles Clippers GM Michael Winger. Monumental Basketball is the group that oversees the Washington Wizards, Mystics and the G-League’s Capital City Go-Go, per Adrian Wojnarowski. Winger joined the Clippers in 2017, and prior to that was with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

There is one NHL game scheduled to take place on this Thursday, featuring the Las Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars. Vegas owns a 3-0 series lead, looking to get the sweep and advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

There are no 3-star plays in the NHL today.

Money Line Trends💰

• Vegas Golden Knights- 11-3 overall in postseason, 5-1 as the away team

• Dallas Stars- 8-8 overall in postseason, 5-3 as the home team

Over/Under Trends↕️

• Vegas Golden Knights- Over is 8-6 overall in postseason, 4-2 as the away team

• Dallas Stars- Over is 9-7 overall in postseason, 4-4 as the home team

Puck Line Trends➕➖

• Vegas Golden Knights- Puck line is 9-5 overall in postseason, 5-1 as the away team

• Dallas Stars- Puck line is 8-8 overall in postseason, 4-4 as the home team

Vegas Golden Knights @ Dallas Stars

• Vegas Golden Knights

  • Laurent Brossoit (OUT), Brett Howden (Day-to-Day)

• Dallas Stars

  • Jamie Benn (Suspension), Evgenii Dadonov (Day-to-Day)

🧹 The Panthers bring out the brooms. The Florida Panthers entered the postseason as the last seed in the Eastern Conference, but after last night’s 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes will get to compete in the Stanley Cup Final. Florida began the postseason with a Game 7 victory over the Bruins after being down 3-1 in the series, then followed that up by defeating the Maple Leafs in five games and the Hurricanes in four. Matthew Tkachuk was the hero last night with his two goals, one in which gave Florida the lead with four seconds left in regulation. The Panthers await the winner of the Golden Knights/Stars series.

😬 Jamie Benn receives a two-game suspension. If being down 3-0 wasn’t already bad news, things got a whole lot worse yesterday for Dallas. The NHL announced that Jamie Benn, who was second on the Stars in points this season, will be suspended for two games following an incident where he cross-checked Mark Stone in the head. The penalty came in the first period of Game 3 after Dallas allowed three goals in less than eight minutes, putting the Stars in an even bigger hole.

The MLB has slowed down its pace as we approach the weekend, giving us 10-game slate on Thursday. However, due to some gaps in the early season data, our model has predictions for eight of today’s matchups.

There are no 3-star Plays in the MLB today.

👟 Jets work out Matt Araiza. Former San Diego State and Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza completed a workout with the New York Jets on Wednesday. Araiza was drafted by Buffalo in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, but was cut before the season began after allegedly taking part in a rape at a frat party while college. Charges were never formally filed against Araiza, and it was only recently determined by a witness that he was no longer at the party when the crime was committed. He was a consensus All-American in college, and now appears to be drawing interest from NFL teams.

👀 Adrian Peterson ready for a comeback? Future Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson isn’t ready to call it quits yet, stating “Mentally, I haven’t officially hung it up”. Peterson currently ranks fifth on the NFL’s all-time rushing yards list with 14,918, but has played very sparingly over the last few seasons with several NFL teams. He’ll always be remembered for his time as a Viking, but to be honest we all thought that he was already retired.

🦤 Kevin McCullar Jr. withdraws from NBA Draft, will return to Kansas. There was BIG news for Kansas Jayhawks fans yesterday. Kevin McCullar Jr. announced he would return the Jayhawks for another season after entering the NBA Draft and participating in the combine. McCullar played a majority of his career at Texas Tech before transferring to Kansas before the 2022-23 season, where in his first season as a Jayhawk averaged 10.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

🏎 Will Lewis Hamilton leave Mercedes? F1 is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and its top athletes are starting to get paid top dollar. Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, who currently races for Mercedes, has an expiring contract and Ferrari is looking to fill the void with up to $40 million. Hamilton has been with Merceds since 2013 after starting his career with McLaren.

Today’s trivia requires you to dig into multiple pockets of your brain, testing your knowledge of recent events as well as those that happened decades ago.

See how many of the below questions you can get correct. Answers are provided at the end of the newsletter.

1. The Super Bowl is a dream for every NFL player, even if it means just getting the opportunity to play in the big game. One NFL team made the Super Bowl every year from 1991-1994, an NFL record, yet failed to win a single championship in that time. What team was that?

2. Tiger Woods has won his fair share of major tournaments in his career, 15 to be exact. That is the second most all-time behind Jack Nicklaus, but perhaps Woods’ most impressive win came at the 1997 Master’s, his first major victory. How many strokes did Tiger win the Master’s by the year?

3. Horse racing doesn’t catch the attention of many sports fans, but plenty of people tune into the Kentucky Derby when it pops up on the calendar. Most people even stick around in the weeks after to watch the following two big races, the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. What is it called when one horse wins all three of those races?

4. The three-pointer is perhaps the most crucial piece of the game for an NBA team nowadays, but it didn’t always use to be that way. What year was the three-point line introduced to the NBA?

Anyone know what has happened on May 25th throughout history? We didn’t have a clue either, but it appears that it has been a historic day.

On May 25th…

1935- American Track and Field legend Jesse Owens equals or breaks four World Records at a BIG 10 meet held at the University of Michigan. Owens was a member of The Ohio State University track and field team at the time. Setting one World Record is impressive in itself, but Owens managed to accomplish this feat in only 45 minutes in what is regarded as “the greatest 45 minutes in sports”. One year later in 1936 Owens would represent the United States in the Berlin Olympics, where he won four gold medals.

1951- Baseball legend Willie Mays plays his first major league game, going 0 for 5 at the plate. It was an underwhelming start to Mays’ career, but as we all know things would turn around very quickly. Mays ended his 23 year career with a .302 batting average, 660 home runs, and 1,903 RBI’s, leading to one World Series, 12 Gold Gloves, and two MVP’s along the way. the Hall of Famer is still going strong today at the age of 92.

1975- The Golden State Warriors sweep the Washington Bullets in the 1975 NBA Finals. Golden State came into the series as heavy underdog, winning 48 regular season games compared to Washington’s 60. Rick Barry was the MVP and the series contained four future Hall of Fame players, but what made it even more notable was that it was the first championship game or series in U.S. professional sports to feature two African American head coaches. Al Attles coached the Warriors and K.C. Jones coached the Bullets.

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1. Buffalo Bills

2. 12 strokes

3. The Triple Crown

4. 1979