How to Bet Eastern and Western Conference Finals in NBA and NHL Playoffs

May 15, 2023: Host Adam Kaufman (Twitter @adammkaufman) is joined by Dan Watkins (@danwatkinsradio) and guests Eytan Shander (@shandershow) from OddsShopper and RotoWire's Paul Bruno (@statsman22). Shander offers his best bets entering the Eastern Conference Finals between the Celtics and Heat, plus a look at how to bet a likely tighter Lakers-Nuggets series in the West. Bruno outlines his favorite bets in the NHL playoffs, with looks at the Panthers-Hurricanes and Golden Knights-Stars. And, time to give out another People's Parlay!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Now WRKO presents Boston's only nightly sportsbetting show, The Gambler, with Adam
Kaufman covering spreads, props, parleysand more. The Gambler starts now here's
Adam Kaufman. All right, Yes, get comfortable for the next couple of

(00:23):
hours, Day one of Week threeof The Gambler with Adam Kaufman here on
WRKO. And as we always liketo say, streaming worldwide. You can
find us on the internet. Wehope you do if you're wondering where,
well, of course w RKO's website, wrko dot com, slash bet I
just a little bit ago put outa tweet promoting the show. We've got

(00:43):
a lot of good stuff. Inorder we will bounce around across the professional
sports. We will take a lookat the NBA naturally, with the Boston
Celtics advancing. More on that ina moment. Major League Baseball, Red
Sox getting Claubert at Fenway Park bythe Seattle Mariners. But guess what,
all reliable the over hit again?Didn't it? The overhit again? It's
ten to one, And we willdo that with Aton Chander, good friend

(01:07):
of our program. He will hopon in about twenty minutes, help us
through the rest of the hour,help us complete the people's parlay that we
will track tomorrow that is scorching hot, absolutely scorching hot. And in the
second hour, Paul Bruno from RhodaWire will join us and take a look
at the NHL Playoffs and of coursesome early thoughts looking ahead to the likes
of the PGA Championship which begins laterthis week. We will have more horse

(01:32):
racing coming up this weekend, andthe NBA Playoffs do begin at least the
Eastern Conference Finals in just a coupleof days, something that we will be
paying very very close attention to onthis show. I am Adam Kaufman.
Dan Watkins is here. EJ Pachecoour producer. Hey guys, I don't
know about you. I had afantastic Mother's Day. Did you have a

(01:53):
great Mother's Day? Because the Celtics, Boy, oh boy, did Jayson
Tatum and company take care of business? Sure did? And Tatum it was
like one of those moments where Ithink, when we look back at it,
this was like the evolution of JasonTatums to that next step, to
that next level, that next tieras just a great Boston athlete and a
great and possibly becoming the best playerin the NBA, depending on how the

(02:15):
rest of this playoff run goes,it is going to be. It's crazy,
like for anyone that hasn't seen thevideos that have been floating around on
social media since I guess I don'tknow a little more than twenty four hours
ago. At this point with thatvictory, I mean, you had people
climbing street signs and you know,the causeways sign outside the garden is flapping

(02:37):
in the wind with people all overwhatever, phone poles, lightpost They're rioting
in the streets practically, and Ijust sort of snickered. I kind of
laughed a little bit, and I'myou know, I'm sort of, hey,
do you have a great time?By all means, But it's also
there's an element, there's an elementof act like you've been there before.

(02:58):
Because this is the second round,folks, I mean, they got through
the second round. We still atWe're only halfway home. There are eight
more wins, which just speaks tohow hungry this city is for another champion
and how incredibly spoiled we were reallythrough a twenty year period with a dozen

(03:20):
parades and another handful of trips tochampionship rounds across and that's not even including
the New England Revolution of MLS,who had a chance at a title five
times and failed unfortunately five times.But I am just talking about the Red
Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics, the Bruins and Seas fans in particular.
Of course, it has been fifteenyears, the New Big Three era,

(03:44):
Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce and RayAllen. It was so much fun
to watch, It was incredible.They got to a couple of title rounds.
They won one, but a lotof people will look back on that
and say it was a slight underachievement, right compared at least two expectations.
It dismisses a little bit how hardit is to win a championship. It's
incredibly difficult. But people, doyou know, look back on that time
and say, man, they reallyshould have gotten a couple. It didn't

(04:09):
happen. It didn't happen. Andnow you fast forward two guys who were
who were you know, children,I mean literally children at that point in
time. Jason Tatum was what tenyears old ish nine ten years old when
the Celtics were winning that championship,and this is now he is one of

(04:30):
the top five players, maybe evena top three or four player. Uh,
you know, in the entire NBA. He's one of the best.
Humbly as he would tell you,but it's true. He is one of
the best players in the NBA.And this is his time with Jaylen Brown
and Marcus Smart and so many ofthose complimentary pieces. You know, one
of one of the final runs,not necessarily the final run, but one

(04:53):
of the final runs for the likesof Al Horford, who's obviously getting up
there in age. This is theirmoment, and it is truly an incredibly
favorable, I won't say easy,but favorable path that has been paved for
them, with the Milwaukee Bucks goingout early against the team they're about to
face, by the way, theMiami Heat. But they got the Hawks,

(05:14):
made that series more difficult than ithad to be, and then they
get the Sixers, certainly made thatseries more difficult than it had to be.
Had to come from behind three twoin the second round for the second
straight year to reach the conference finals. And now this rematch with Miami,
a team that, of course JimmyButler scares the ever loving crap out of
me. But it is not ateam that is as good as it was
at this time last year. There'sno Tyler Hero. There's not going to

(05:36):
be any you know, thirty thirtyfive point Tyler Hero game that steals a
game. Now, I do alittle bit just worry about a a Max
Strus or Duncan Robinson having flashbacks.Yeah, there are some bubble flashbacks,
but bam Adebio is not the sameguy. You don't have him going up
against Daniel face like you can defendbam Ata Bio now you know, he'll

(05:58):
he'll have you know, he mighthave twenty ten or something like that,
but he's not gonna take over.He's not gonna go crazy. And Butler,
honestly, I don't believe is goingto, you know, just go
nuclear. In this series. Therewill be one or two games that he
does that for certain that like I'mwaiting for the forty point Jimmy Butler game.
But this is a series that theCeltics, if you remove fan PTSD

(06:21):
that exists and it does, thisis a series the Celtics, if you're
just putting your betting cap on,should not have trouble with which is that
that's the reason and I don't likeit, and I'm not going to bet
it really because there's no value.But that's the reason that the Celtics are
like six to one favorites to winthis series to advance to the NBA Finals

(06:44):
to face either the Nuggets or Lakers. And we'll obviously get into, you
know, all sorts of betting aspectswith those two series coming up with Aton
Schander in in less than ten minutesfrom odd Shopper and Stochastic. But you
look ahead, Dan Watkins to whatis in front of us on Wednesday,
the Celtics. Obviously it opens upat home and I love, by the
way, just the reliability, thepredictability of this series. It's every other

(07:06):
night starting on Wednesday. Every gameis an eight thirty. I know some
people don't like that during the week. It actually works out beautifully for us
during the weeks. But you know, I understand why people don't like it.
If you know, you gotta getup early the next morning or something
like that. But you know,we gotta Friday, and we don't.
We don't do Fridays. We're Mondayto Thursday. So you've got a Friday
night game. You got a Sundaynight game later. Oh it's it's gorgeous.

(07:28):
It's so good. I'm so excited. But every other night. Eight
thirty starts on Wednesday. The Celticsin this first game eight point favorites against
the Heat, a team that Ithink people neglect to recognize play them well
during the regular season. Now wehave not seen Miami since late January.

(07:50):
It's been a long long time sincethese teams faced one another. And they're
very different, both of them sinceabsolutely personnel wise from Miami, the way
the Celtics are playing right now,and just strategy like Rob Williams is back
in the starting lineup and all.There are a lot of different components to
it, and again stuff we candelve into. But they you know,

(08:11):
played four games, the Celtics youknow, loss or as they recalled,
they split, and one of themwas an overtime loss, another one was
a three point loss. So theCeltics were in all of these games,
you know, in going two andtwo. So eight point favorites going in
money line, forget it, there'sno point I'm looking at minus three to
sixty the over under. The totalis sitting right around two hundred ten,

(08:35):
two hundred eleven points right now,what are your early impressions going into not
just obviously Game one, but theseries as a whole. So the series
as a whole. When I hearlike I've heard a lot of Celtics in
five, just from watching this teamall season, you know there's going to
be at least one night, ifnot two, that they just totally take

(08:56):
their foot off the gas. It'scompletely predictable. It's what they done this
entire playoff run. Whether you lookback at Game five against Atlanta when they
should have closed out the Hawks there, or Game five against the Sixers where
they lost that one. It's it'sjust who they are this year, where
they just kind of fall asleep thereand until they kind of get punched a
bit, they don't really respond.I mean, I think they know they're

(09:18):
better than everyone else, and theodds makers sure do. As there's the
Celtics are even money to win theNBA Finals right now. That's how ridiculous
it is their minds five to twentyfive to win this series against the Heat.
But with all that being said,I do like the Celtics. On
Wednesday night in Game one, Ithink they'll cover in Game one. I'm
expecting big things from them. Ithink Miami might be a little rusty when
they last play Friday Night, wasthat when they love Yeah, they've sent

(09:41):
time and the Celtics, I thinkare gonna be riding that high from Game
seven, as they should be fromjust an all time legendary performance in record
setting. And again, this isa Heat team that dispatched the top seeded
Bucks. I know, not withthe full three games without Jannis. Yeah,
I mean Yannis was not always available. I recognize that, but it's
still a good team. They knockedthem out in round one, Round two,
as as I predicted and as Ibet on, and some people called

(10:03):
me crazy at the time. Theytook care of the Knicks with ease.
That was a plus money bet onthe Heat to win that series. For
those that don't recall this, youknow, I don't want to take them
for granted. I don't and Iwon't, but everything you just outlined and
the way Vegas feels, it shouldbe true. Like I'm not gonna make
a Celtics in five bet because Ijust feel like it won't happen. No,

(10:26):
I'm looking I'm actually looking at Celticsin six at plus three sixty right
now, Yeah, I mean it'sI could absolutely justify. I think that's
the only way you're going to getvalue on the Celtics is by trying to
predict this series correctly. No,I think you're right. I mean I
I'm so the the irony of theCeltics advancing, which is wonderful. And

(10:46):
I would I have said this ifif look some things, uh just it's
it's it's it's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong. But some things just
have a greater power over me thanbetting and betting smart and being a responsible
gambler in the sense of, likeyou know, putting in the research and

(11:09):
the time and not just betting withmy heart and that type of thing.
I don't mean being reckless and likebetting my mortgage when I can't you know,
that type of thing. I justmean in terms of the way that
I am betting, not in amounts, but in stylistically the way I am
betting. Being a fan sometimes transcendsthat and definitely there and they're like the
Celtics and the Bruins, but theBruins are done. The Celtics absolutely have

(11:31):
cost me more money this play offfront than they have made me without a
doubt, and yet oh god,I'm happy they're still going. Yeah,
So it really comes down it's itcould just it comes down to that do
they It's like a do they caremeter? Like how much do they care
about? Really imposting meter if youwill, exactly And we saw it.
It was, you know, atan all time high on Sunday for Game

(11:54):
seven where they wanted to run Phillyout of the building and they did so
we'll see. Uh, you know, Miami's talking about how this I heard
Max Stress talking today about how heyou know, they've been thinking about this
all year long, and how theywere a Jimmy Butler three pointer away.
But at the same time, itwas that give a bleep meter with the
Celtics in the fourth quarter of thatGame seven where they just completely took their
foot off the gas and let Miamiwalk right back into it. I mean,

(12:15):
how many three pointers did Marcus Smarttake in that fourth quarter last year?
It was like four or five thathe mitch missed all of them and
allowing Miami to come back. Sothe Celtics are better, They're way better
on paper. Miami has not playeda team at full strength like the Celtics,
like this yet in the playoffs,so the Celtics. If this goes
to a Game seven, I'll beupset. Let's put it that way.

(12:35):
Stay the very least. Yeah,you know, I'm just so happy too,
and we gotta hit the break.But I'm just so happy that come
Game one on Wednesday, I won'thave to watch a game with my throat,
my heart in my throat for threefreaking hours like I did for Game
seven, I did for Game six, and even to a certain degree,
Game five. I'm just happy thatI can take a breath and just relax

(12:58):
a little bit, knowing that evenif Game one goes south, it's not
the end, right. I thoughtyou were gonna say, I'm happy I
don't have to watch James Harden anymore. And I'm I was gonna say,
I totally agree. Oh what apain, What a pain that guy,
even though they shut him down.What do you have a total of forty
points over the last three months.I saw stat that he was wait,
let me, I'm gonna I'm gonnapull it up because I it was just

(13:22):
it was so good, it wasso good. Um. He searched Twitter
quick. It was here. Itis hardened in the fourth quarter of games
five through seven, zero points inthirty two minutes. Nice. You want
to talk about a shutdown. Yeah, I mean, he's, he's,
he's it was already making plans whereverhe was going after the game, wherever
in the country. It was Camcoonand then he relos from back to Houston.

(13:46):
All right, so here is Ialready ran it down. I'll do
it again if you're just joining ushere on The Gambler with Adam Kaufman.
But Aton Shander from the Shander hShanda Show experience in the past, also
hosts currently on on odd Shopper andStochastic. He is a great betting analyst.
He's been on this program before.He happens to be in Philadelphia.

(14:07):
We can talk a little bit abouthow things are going over there. He's
gonna join us coming up right afterthis and we will dive into NBA for
a segment. We'll do baseball fora segment. He'll help us out with
the People's Parlay, which he waspart of the very first successful People's Parlay,
which is running hot. Folks,make your bet seriously. The People's
Parlay six and two through eight showsand the individual legs. My goodness,

(14:33):
virtually everything is hit. I willgive you all the specifics later. And
now we're number two. Paul Brunofrom Rhoda Wire on the NHL. This
show is gonna go buying a blanketalways does. Thank you for being with
us here on w RKO. Weare live till midnight. Shander on the
other side, NBA talk more onthe Celtics. How do we bet Game
one on Wednesday? But also howwe bet in Lakers Nuggets that starts tomorrow.
This is the Gambler with Adam Kaufman. Sick and tired of bold sports

(14:56):
talk and want to get right intothe action. The Gambler with Adam Kaufman,
as you covered, call us nowwith six one seven two six six
six eight six eight. That's sixone seven two six six six eight six
eight. The Gambler with Adam Kaufmanwill be right back after this on w
r k oh. So, theDallas Stars have knocked off the Seattle Kraken

(15:22):
in Game seven to advance to faceButch Cassidy Bruce Cassidy's Golden Knights in the
Western Conference Finals. I'm not shockedat the win. For Dallas. I
am floored though that the under hittwo one final first time the under hit
in the entire series, all reliable, just like the Red Sox over had

(15:43):
been the over in the Stars krackingseries. But Game seven, everyone buckles
down defensively and there you go.Eventually, Jake Andre had to show up
and he did tonight. Yeah,congrats, congrats to him to the Stars
and certainly if you if you woundup laying the under, I did not.
Adam, I live bett at threeand a half at plus money.

(16:04):
It was that last goal there likegave me false hope with eighteen seconds left.
It was it was brtle. Soit goes all right. Let's circle
back though NBA playoffs. Aton Shanderis with us from Odd Shopper and Stochastic
Fox twenty nine Philly as well.And Aton, we've got a couple series
to talk about. We will beginnaturally with the Celtics and Heat coming off

(16:26):
of both. I mean the Heathaven't played in a little while. We
were talking about earlier dispatch the Knickswith relative ease in my mind. The
Celtics, of course, have hadtrouble in both of their series, but
are still overwhelming favorites going into thisset against the Heat. There eight point
favorites in Game one. It's likesix to one odds to win the series,
to reach the NBA Finals, andof course represent the Eastern Conference.

(16:49):
How would you recommend betting Boston orbetting this series in general? I think
you have to take right now Gameone and assume that this is not going
to be what happened with Philadelphia,and clearly that was a completely different set
of circumstances without joelvan bed This isa game where I am confident Boston can

(17:14):
handle that eight point line, andI would look also at a first half
line as well for the Celtics,and they're just a better team. You
know, this thing's going to catchup to Miami not having Tyler Hero being
banged up, surviving off of JimmyButler and Fumes, and it can only
get you so far. And they'veplayed a lot of basketball over the last

(17:37):
couple of years as well. Boston, as you know, just the depth,
even the depth in the sense oflike being able to pull two guys
off the bench and they being betterthan most fourth starters in the NBA playoffs.
Right now with Brogden and White whatyou're getting. So I think Boston

(17:59):
assume the better team. I alsolike, and I don't know what you
think about this, but the Sixerswell aware of Al Horford and I'll definitely
miss some wide open shots. Imean, you can tell just on the
nature of which those ball the ballhit the rim, back end, kind
of soft misses that are just barelymissing. I think he's due to have

(18:22):
a pretty big bounce back. I'mcurious to see what Miami does as far
as being able to or trying toif its fam or anybody coming out and
defending him as a big from three. Clearly, you guys know what you're
doing and getting him open looks.So I'm looking at going over seven and
a half points, but also takinga shot at maybe three threes because the

(18:45):
over one and a half is probablygoing to be somewhat juice three three plus
one eighty five. I'll shop that. But that's where I begin, man,
That's where I begin, is lookingat the Celtics manhandling Miami or at
least covering that eight first half playas well, and something without that first
half play. By the way,minus well minus two sixty is Boston being

(19:07):
a first half winner. But ifwe're talking about the spread, which you
alluded to, four and a halfpoints is what I'm seeing it at right
now. So I honestly I likethat one better than I even do the
confidence of a minus eight. AndI will tell you looking at Visa Splits,
which is the Draftking Sports book,most of the money and handle,
like a sixty five thirty five splitis actually on Miami at plus eight right

(19:30):
now, So people, I guessin terms of the betting publics, and
that's right now. A lot canchange between right now and you know Wednesday
night, which is you know,we're like forty six hours away, but
people aren't convinced, I guess byby the blowout we just saw in Game
seven. Betters anyway, even interms of the money line, and I
guess this just speaks to the number, right the plus three hundred for Miami.

(19:52):
But most of the money is onMiami at the moment. Yeah,
which is a interesting right because Ihaven't seen this line move much. Have
you? Did it open at eightand a half? Did it open at
eight? I saw it initially ateight. I've seen the money line number
move, I've not seen the spreadmove, and maybe it has. I
just haven't notice. No, Ihaven't either. I haven't seen it move.

(20:17):
The difference, of course, isthat being closed at least here in
Philadelphia, that being closed at fivein some books five and a half for
the most part, down to fivelocally. And that's what I mean as
far as there's money coming in onMiami. Don't get me wrong, but
the books aren't budging. Now.Look, the money line's going to fluctuate
in order for the books to justtry and see what they can get and

(20:37):
see how much they can push,knowing of course that the big is going
to be there and much more controllable. Basically behold or for those of you
who don't know what either of thoseare. It's essentially an ATM fee that
you're paying to place a wager,although in some cases, unlike an ATM,
money doesn't always come back. Pointbeing though, is outside of that.
Isn't that interesting that the spread haspretty much not moved yet You do

(21:00):
see money coming in, and publicis not convinced on that blowout. But
I'd argue the books are would youdo anything with Jason Tatum props in the
wake of what you an historic game? Seven fifty one point zero turnover is
so incredibly efficient. He was justamazing, I mean, record setting.

(21:21):
Like I said, would you doanything with Tatum props in game one or
do you sort of feel like youneed to before you get into any props
other than something that's maybe a littlebit lower like an al Horford over seven
and a half as you mentioned,do you feel like you need to see
a game or two play out justto look for some patterns. Yeah,
so I think there's probably going tobe more. It's probably going to be

(21:45):
a sharper number in this series thenit was. And I'm just looking here
again, DK, I have whattwenty nine and a half? Right?
It was twenty nine and a halfthirty and a half for the most part,
and granted exact going to drop fiftyI think he's not gonna drop fifty
one in every single game, butwho the hell knows at this point.

(22:06):
What a special what a special performancethat was, And I can say this
as a better I mean, mygoodness, that was amazing. But anyway,
to your points, I think it'sa sharper number this time around.
Look, it was an anomaly rightto see him slow start and it wasn't
like the Sixers were doing anything.It wasn't like, oh my goodness,
the Sixers were throwing waves of bodiesat him, and they were confusing Jason

(22:29):
Tatum and he was lost. Hedidn't know what to do. He was
missing shots. He was just missingshots, and at some point he just
had to take it and take tobias off the dribble. And it wasn't
like Tucker was locking him up thewhole time. So I don't anticipate that
to happen, which means in gameflow, even with the Celtics being up
eight to ten, what have you, he's probably gonna be around twenty eight

(22:51):
to thirty one points. So yeah, to your point, I don't feel
like we have to play Jason Tatum. I mean, look, I think
a guy like Jimmy Butler going underhis pre for example, would make a
lot of sense. With a littletime off and knowing that Boston's gonna win,
I would think pretty big. Ijust don't feel like we have to
play Jason Tatum. Props if thatmakes sense. So over in the West,

(23:11):
this is it's expected to be aroute. In the East, that's
that's what people are anticipating. Celticsfans a little skittish. There's some Jimmy
Butler PTSD there, but the betters, the odds makers expect this to be
a route that's not the case inthe West. You know, you've got
the Nuggets that are ballpark minus oneseventy series favorites, the Lakers coming in
at right around plus one forty onefifty. Of course, this first game,

(23:36):
which again is tomorrow night, islet's see latest line I'm seeing.
The Lakers are six point dogs inDenver. The bulk of the handle,
the bulk of the bets going onthe Nuggets and this one. What's your
approach to this game one as wellas the series? So this one comes
down to who do you trust more, Jamal Murray or Anthony Davis. For

(23:59):
me, that's essentially what this comesdown to. It's a six point line.
What have you opening up? Ithink Denver clearly, because if this
thing does get pushed like it wouldbe a shocker. If the Lakers were
able to win this thing in sixright, five is just going to be
unheard of. So most likely itwould be a scenario where it gets pushed
back to Game seven. Denver toughhome court. We know it's going to

(24:22):
be tough for them to win.What have you that separate that? I
think even getting to that point,Anthony Davis, Like, you can't have
the ups and downs of Anthony Davislike we just saw in the last series.
Granted when he was up, hewas a key difference maker on the
flip side. Remember the bubble,right, Jamal Murray. That was the
last time we really saw Murray outthere cooking like he's been. That is

(24:47):
a completely different basketball team with JamalMurray playing the way in which he is.
So my answer to that is Murray, And I think Murray is the
difference maker for me. And Iwould look at actually playing this in more
of a series, and I thinkyou can probably lay. I mean I
would lay the one and a halfgames absolutely for the Denver Nuggets. And

(25:11):
then you just start to look atall, right, well, where are
they for the series themselves? Right, they're one sixty. I don't mind
that by any means. I wouldtake a small shot, you know,
maybe put a half unit on theDenver Nuggets minus two and a half or
quarter unit at plus two eighty five. Again, I think I think this

(25:33):
one's a little bit wider than peopleindicate I think I would not be shocked,
my friend, if this thing endsin a similar fashion as your Boston
Celtics. Disregarding the Miami heat,I think a lot of the drama was
getting here. I think these twoseries are going to be pretty straightforward,
in my opinion. We will savethe baseball end of the conversation the people's

(25:56):
parlay from next segment. The People'sparlays running hot. We're making people money,
so I would encourage your tune eightyfour it and get the books out.
But before we hit the break,we've got a caller. Let's sneak
him in. EJ do me afavorite. Pull him up. Adam from
Norton. What's up man? Howare you doing? Guys? It's an
honor to be on the show,honor to have you. How are you,
buddy? I'm good? How areyou? I'm good? What's on

(26:18):
your mind? Listen man, I'vebeen meaning to catch you guys. Congratulations
on the new show. I justwanted to talk to you guys about the
Celtics and Celtics in Miami. Howare you feeling? So? I appreciate
the call. Adam. I'm lookI my if I'm removing the betting from
it. It's a cautious optimism interms of Boston winning again, heavy heavy
favorites going into this series. Thatscares me a little bit, it does.

(26:40):
It scares me a little bit.It's not because there's no value betting
it. In fact, I'll leaveit with this a time before we hit
the break. If you were lookingfor value in terms of betting this series,
if you were trying to find it, I think I saw one of
your colleagues, Greg Ehrenberg, whowe got to have on this show at
some point this week. He's thebest. I saw him put out a

(27:02):
tweet. I think it was atweet saying that if you're if you're looking
for any sort of value to existin this series, the only place that
he was really seeing it, I'mI'm I'm trying to pull it up as
well as I talk is betting likeJason Tatum to be Conference finals MVP something
like that, and I want tosee exactly what the number is while I'm

(27:25):
talking about that Conference finals MVP.Uh, well, so now it's mine
is two fifty. It was aneven better number earlier today if you were
to try and find some value inthis and EJ. We can drop Adam
Adam, Thank you for Colin.If you were looking for value, where
would you find it? That's agood one. I think you could find
someone like Jaylen Brown to leave this. Again, this is predicated on Jason

(27:53):
Tatum not destroying the mine heat overand over again. But Jaylen Brown is
six to one to leave the series. In total points, Jimmy and Jason
are going to be obvious ones.Both are under two to one for Butler
and you're laying one eighty for JasonSadum. But I would take a six

(28:15):
to one shot on Jalen Brown.Bams just not going to have the opportunity
to do it. Marcus Smart isnot in same with Malcolm Brogden. They
won't have the volume to do that. And the other guys are just non
existent on Miami. I would lookat that honestly. As far as Jaylen
Brown six to one, I'm alittle intrigued in that. And the other

(28:37):
one that I think you're going tosee that would be I don't like the
number, but Murray twenty five plusto average twenty five plus and Denver wins
again, I think you're gonna seea monster series from Jamal Murray. Unfortunately,
that's only plus two seventy where Isee it. I'd like that to

(28:59):
be like close three fifty. ButI really like that just on the surface,
so I think there's some value there. But look, Jaylen Brown six
to one to leave the series inscoring a little sneaky right there. Some
to keep an eye on, wouldn'tbe a shocker, elevates his play as
time moves on. We saw itlast year, especially in that finals,
no doubt about it. Eton Shandershere, people's parlay coming up next.

(29:22):
Sick and tired of old sports talkand want to get right into the action.
The Gambler with Adam Kaufman. Asyou covered, call us now with
six one seven two six six sixeight six eight. That's six one seven
two six six six eight six eight. The Gambler with Adam Kaufman will be
right back after this on w rKO. Back to the Gambler with Adam

(29:45):
Kaufman on six eighty w r KO, streaming live on the iHeartRadio app,
or tell your smart speaker to playw r KO on iHeartRadio. The final
sector opening our eight Shanders here,I am Adam Kaufman. It's the Gambler
with Adam Kaufman. We're gonna dothe people's part lay in a moment eight
time. We don't have a wholelot of time to work with here,

(30:07):
only about four or five minutes forthis segment, but I've been promising baseball.
I want to just sneak in aquick question on it. You mentioned
why RFI earlier again, Yes,run first ending versus of course NRFI the
no run first ending For people thatare just sort of warming up to that
concept, what is your approach interms of how to best bet those?
What are you looking for? Sothe biggest thing that I look for guys

(30:33):
that have and honestly, there aresites you can find. Baseball Savant is
a really good one. Baseball Savanton MLB. I'm looking at advanced stats
that I never thought i'd be lookingat Eric Linquist and others just jamming him
down my throat. So I'm like, you know what, maybe the stuff
actually has some relevance. It's awesomebecause what I target. If I'm looking

(30:57):
at teams, you know, youlook and say, all right, a
guy that doesn't strike many people out, that walks people, You know,
what chances are there's going to besomebody on the bag in the first inning.
You're looking for volume, just likeyou're in any sport, right if
it's shots on goal in hockey,if it's three pointers in the NBA,
if it's runs in the first inning, you're looking for volume opportunity, and

(31:19):
that's base runners. So I lookat teams that are starting pitchers that don't
strike guys out and walk people.That's usually like the perfect ven diagram.
And then go from there and tryand say, oh, wait, wait
a second, why am I gettingplus one oh five for a yes run
first inning where two guys on themound don't really strike many people out.

(31:41):
Location coors Field, Boston, Philadelphia, places that you know the ball may
fly. People's parlay has been scorchinghot picks. Money has been flying in
Aton through two weeks eight shows.We and I say we, I mean
me, Dan, and you areincluded in this. All the guests who
have been on you are a firstrepeat guests, So thank you for that.

(32:04):
Six and two individual legs, bythe way, hope people have been
playing the straits. Individual legs aretwenty one, two and one. It
has been incredible. What's happening withthe people's parlay, and these are not
like you know plus one fifty parlayslike everything is is four fifty and above,
you know, sometimes six hundred.That's right Churching like you read about.

(32:25):
So with that, we are goingto build a parlay. You know
the rules. You should whatever bookyou want, put whatever amount of money
you want, but you are requiredto play the parlay, and we hope
the listeners will as well. Wecan all sweat it together tomorrow. Aton,
you're the guest. You start usoff. What leg are you looking
at for tomorrow's action? All right? So this is tomorrow, right?
And do we know doesn't matter whatbook because I have stuff around different books

(32:47):
and you have to give me.So do I dictate by the first play
what book we're talking? Then Isuppose you do? Yeah, okay,
just making sure here, just makingsure I'm gonna start. I'll add this
here. It's nice little minus oneten play, nothing wild, nothing crazy.
I'm going under fifty seven and ahalf. This is on bet MGM,

(33:08):
but I'm sure you can find itany other book too. It's gonna
be a similar total under fifty sevenand a half. First quarter total for
the Lakers and Nuggets I don't expectthe Lakers to come out firing. I
think Denver, as we've seen hereboth of these two teams, is gonna
take a little bit. Granted,this game can go over. You can

(33:30):
see some scoring of not thinking thatthis is gonna be like we just saw
with the Sixers and Celtics, ormy god, even worse with the heat
and the next but first game,first series in this series, I'm gonna
go under the first quarter total.I just don't see these two teams coming
out firing. It's again more likea football game, right where you just

(33:50):
kind of get the feel of eachother. Yokich. Indeed, just these
matchups here, I'll go under fiftyseven and a half. What you got,
all right, I'm gonna go baseball. Uh The Chicago Cubs started off
really hot. They've come back downto earth. They've lost six out of
eight, including three in a row. They just lost to the Astros Monday
night six to four. But Tuesdaynight, Justin Steele is on the mound.

(34:13):
He's six and out with a oneeight two ERA. The Cubs actually
seem to win and play well whenthis guy is on the mound, hence
his record. Uh So their theirrun mine tonight is plus one and a
half, and that's at minus onefifty. I like them to win.
I'm gonna bet them money line separately, but for the parlay purposes, let's
take their run line at plus oneand a half against the Astros tomorrow night.

(34:34):
All right, Cubs run line plusone and a half, all right,
and I will tack on well,just for the just for the sake
of keeping this interesting across sports.What can I say? I'm a I'm
a sucker for over unders. SoI'm going to go over to the NHL.
Uh, Paul Brunos will Paul brunowill join us to talk NHN a
little bit. By the way,I'm gonna go over to Uh. Let's

(34:58):
see, we got the Panthers andHurricanes. Oh it's Thursday. Yeah,
no hockey for two nights. That'swhat are we gonna do without hockey for
two nights? All right? We'regonna get cut off in a second by
by the top of the hour here, So I will go I'll stay with
the same theme. I will goDiamondbacks a's over nine runs. So that's
what we can mix in still toget an over under for us. So

(35:20):
let me go back to baseball realquick. I'm up against the clock,
but I know Ejai'll get in myear. Let's see. I just want
to see what kind of number we'rewe're looking at over nine runs, that's
putting me at plus five hundred righton the line. Work for all of
you, right, all right,excellent Aton, Thank you so much,
my friend. Again, we willbuck again for certain hour one in the

(35:43):
books Paul Bruno talking hockey with us, and plenty of time to preview it.
Apparently that's coming up next on TheGambler with Adam Kaufman. Another hour
of The Gambler with Adam Kaufman iscoming up on six eighty w r KO,
streaming live on the iHeartRadio app andon your smart speaker. Just ask
it to play w r KO oniHeartRadio. Gambling problem Hope is here,

(36:06):
Call one eight hundred and three totwo, seven fifty fifty four. Visit
gambling Helpline MA dot Org. Anhour number two of The Gambler with Adam
Coffman rolls on. We have beenfixated mostly on basketball and baseball, and
of course we have built out thepeople's parlay. Hope, you tell us
again six and two through eight shows, and these are real parlays. These

(36:28):
are fun, good number parlays,just out there making your money. The
straits are what did I say?Twenty one two and one so far through
the eight shows. So we'll seehow things go. Obviously with this next
one that we will sweat tomorrow night. If you miss the play, we've
read it multiple time, make youdo some work. You're gonna need to

(36:49):
check out the podcast. We're availableeverywhere right after the show, about an
hour after the show, our guyEJ will put out the pod wherever you
find them Spotify, Apple, Pandooror a spreaker, you name it.
Of course on the iHeart media sites. We are out there and encourage you
to rate, review, download,subscribe, all that good stuff. We

(37:09):
appreciate your support. Let's talk pucksthough with our guy Paul Bruno. First
time on this show, but Ilove Paul. You can find his work
at Rhoda Wire. I think ofhim as more of an NHL guy,
but of course he covers the othersports as well. He's a big DFS
guy. He is ready to engagewith you in conversation. You can get

(37:30):
him on Twitter at Statsman twenty two. The only thing missing from his life
right now are the Toronto Maple Leafs. Pablo, how are you, buddy?
I'm great, I'm nice to beon your show, Bud. Oh,
it's great to have you here,first of many, I certainly hope.
And what are you gonna do withyourself the next couple of nights with
no hockey? Jeez? You knowwhat. I'm still getting over the series

(37:52):
loss against Florida. I'm a diehardfan, you know that, But and
wearing my heart on the sleeve,and I'm a season ticket holder, and
maybe I'm saving some money over thenext few weeks, I guess. But
tough pill to swallow when they wereI think, very heavy favorites to go
over Florida. But we can getinto that series or some of the others
if you want. But I thinkFlorida really showed that they're a tremendous for

(38:15):
checking team and they preyed on theweakness that I've been talking about put the
leaf season all year long, thelack of mobility on the blue line.
So that was the telltale sign inthat set. There are not a lot
of areas that Bruins fans and MapleLeafs fans would agree and commiserate, but
I think the just general hatred towardthe Florida Panthers right now. I would

(38:37):
have loved to have seen a BruinsMaple Leafs playoff series. I mean that
that just would have been so muchfun. I mean, I can't even
imagine, I guess because obviously we'renot getting it. Yeah, more fun
for you though, based on therecent history. I'll try to say that,
Yeah, that's very true. Youknow, I can't believe it.

(38:59):
It's a jarring number to me everysingle year when I hear it, and
it really is an annual number aroundthis time that people like to recite it
with the oilers. Of course,your mayele Leafs with the oilers last night
going out, which did surprise me. I really thought they were going to
win that series, as many andmost people probably did. But this is
now thirty years since a Canadian teamhas won the Stanley Cup. This is

(39:22):
supposed to be your sport. Whatare you guys doing up there, Well,
we're sending our Canadian war players toplay on the teams in the United
States. If you look at therosters, they're still sixty percent of the
NHL has made up with Canadian bornplayers. I got roasted about this on
the DraftKings Show today. I nearlycame through the phone, and I'll do
that with you too, if youkeep on the track. Come on,
It's true. We're exporting our talent. That's the problem. Yeah, jerks

(39:50):
like it all right. So let'slet's look ahead this series that we'll start
with the one that's going to startfirst, which is Panthers and Hurricanes,
And you know the betting numbers they'regoing to move, and where the handle
is and where the money is andall of that obviously in the days to
come, since this thing isn't startinguntil Thursday, but right now it is
as far as the goal line goes, it's kind of it's like a sixty

(40:14):
forty split in favor of Florida atplus one and a half. I'm looking
at Visa numbers with the drafting sportsbook. The money line is being bet
up a little bit toward Florida,but it does, you know, lean
toward Camera Lina. Right now,the only line that is overwhelming is the
over five and a half goals withnorth of ninety percent of the handle and

(40:37):
just shy off ninety percent of thebets. Do you believe this is going
to be a high scoring first game. I think it could be. Florida's
had the Leafs under wraps, limitingthem exactly two goals per game the last
five games, and even Boston beforethat. They're due for a little bit
of slip up, and that's mainlybecause Sergey Vibrovski has been playing on a
real heater. And I mean,I've done a podcast for eight years with

(41:00):
a guy that's been on your showrecently, A J. Schulz, and
we have not seen Sergey Babrowski onthis kind of a run in the entire
history of our show. So Idon't think he's gonna be keeping it up
much longer. And I think that'sgoing to be a big factor in this
series. I think I think heplayed his best hockey in the first two
rounds. Don't see him doing itagain. And Carolina is overwhelming pressure game

(41:22):
is going to be a big factorin putting up more shots on goal than
he's been facing in recent games.As Dan Watkins, who's also here,
knows, it doesn't take much toconvince me, Paul, I'm I'm a
sucker for for well, I'm asucker for betting in general, but I'm
I'm a sucker for a good stator two. So I've just as you
were talking, I was already puttingmoney on the over for this game.

(41:45):
But what is the approach to bettingthis series? Do you think? I'm
looking at some of the numbers,and Carolina slight favorite to come out of
the East the Panthers, though youcould still get him at at plus one
twenty. As far as Stanley Cupfavorites right now, Carolina is I'm seeing
them right around plus ninety, thenthe Golden Knights, then the Dallas Stars,

(42:05):
then the Florida Panthers. But unlikethe NBA, everything is really pretty
close. I mean, how areyou handicapping these final four? Well,
you gotta put the betting aside fora minute and think what's what's the better
team going into this set? Andto me, it's it's overwhelming that Carolina
should be the heavy favorite. Ialready panned Bobrovski. I'm not a big
fan of his, despite the factthat he's had a nice run. Carolina

(42:29):
seems to have gotten their defensive gamein order, and Freddie Anderson is finally
having some playoffs success. We're talkingabout a goalie who has one of the
best winning winning records in the historyof hockey in the regular season, and
it's finally translating into the postseason.And I couldn't be happier for the guy
because I had a lot of respectfor him in his game while he was
in Toronto. But listen, Carolinas. The strength of Carolina's team was the

(42:52):
weakness in Toronto. They have avery mobile defense and Florida's four check is
going to have a tough time keepingthese guys under wraps, and I think
that's been the key to Florida's successin these playoffs. I think Carolina is
going to get that first pass outof their zone, run up the shot
clock, and I think they're gonnaoverwhelm for it. I don't think this's
gonna be a long series, soI don't mind if if Carolina's favorite.

(43:13):
I still want to take the teamthat's gonna win the set, and that's
the Carolina Hurricanes. Do you havethe conviction to, you know, bet
series total games or are you lookingat series spread or you know what,
what's your approach to this series goingto be? When you're placing your bets
you think. I think I'm gonnago for the games, and as I
said, it's gonna be a fivegame set, I don't believe it's gonna

(43:34):
go much longer than that. Soyou can get some nice odds in your
favor by going that route, becauseI think that most pundits are going to
say, oh, it's gonna bea long series. Well, I don't
think so, and so I'm sayingCarolina should be the favorite team, and
I think they're gonna get this donequickly, So there's money to be made
on that bet. All right,Well, let's uh, Dan, do
you have anything on the East beforewe get to the West. Yeah,

(43:57):
Paul, do Carolina's injuries up frontconcern you at all going forward in this
series? I, on the otherhand, I feel like Florida kind of
has like a team of destiny afeel to them going forward. Here.
They're six and one on the road. They haven't lost on the road since
Game one in Boston. They playedwell in that game too, even though
it's a three one final. Ikind of like the Panthers in this one.
I think they're going to give Carolineall they can handle. Now.

(44:21):
I don't feel as strong about that. I don't like the way some of
the best players on Florida played inthe last series, Barkoff and Ketchuk.
How many goals do you think theygot between them in that set? The
answer is zero, and that's twoof their top players. You might say,
Okay, they're due, but Ididn't like what I saw from either
one of them and the offensive sideof the puck. Sure, they were
hitting everything inside of the team,but when the two of their big offensive

(44:45):
pieces aren't showing up, I wonderif they can turn it on for this
series. I don't know. Idon't like their chances because I think Carolina
has an overwhelming defensive structure that's goingto handle them at least as well as
the Leafs did. So the Hurricanesthe East favorite right now, the Stanley
Cup betting favorite as well, andof course the West has only just been

(45:05):
established. That matchup with Dallas eliminatingSeattle would have been kind of fun to
see the crack in advance. Ilike talking about the Seattle crack and what
can I tell you? But theStars will face the Golden Knights. So
what we will do We will takea break, We'll talk about the West
preview the West with Paul Bruno fromRhoda Wire. When we come back here
on The Gambler with Adam Kaufman.Sick and tired of old sports talk and
want to get right into the action. The Gambler with Adam Kaufman. As

(45:30):
you covered, call us now withsix one seven two six six six eight
six eight. That's six one seventwo six six six eight six eight.
The Gambler with Adam Kaufman will beright back after this is on WRKO.
We've got Paul Bruno from Rhoda Wirewith us. We were just talking about

(45:50):
Florida and Carolina and what to expectin the NHL's Eastern Conference Finals. That's
right, it's not just the Celticsgoing on to a conference final. We
only wish the Bruins were part ofthat as well. But what can I
say. You can't have everything.I suppose Now it is time to look
ahead to the West and we're practicallya week away. You know we'll be.
We'll be games into that series bythe time we come back next week,

(46:13):
because this series doesn't start until Friday, A long ways away. The
Bruce Cassidy's Las Vegas Golden Nights hisfirst year coaching there. Of course,
after knocking off the Edmonton Oilers willtake on the Dallas Stars, who just
won and had a great elimination ofthe Crack and really entertaining series, but
they ousted them in a low scoringgame earlier tonight. So Paul, looking

(46:37):
ahead to this series here and especiallyyou know, starting with what happened tonight,
I mean a monster, monster setout of Rupe Hints. You know,
he was just always aggressive, shotslike crazy. He scored again tonight,
nine goals in the playoffs. Inhis thirteen games, He's up to
nineteen points, far and away thatteam's scoring leader to this point. Obviously,

(46:59):
he's been a plus play as well. What's the outlook on Dallas going
into this next set? Well,you know what, Dallas for me over
the last couple of years was knownas a defense first hockey club, but
now they boast perhaps the most explosiveforward line in the game. You touched
on Rupe Hens, he's with JoePavelski and Jason Robertson. Robertson pushed quiet

(47:20):
in the last series, but Tavelski'shadn't play a great playoff two and I
know that the Nights are pretty stackedup front as well, but they don't
have anything like this trio that theycan throw it on the ice. So
that's a big edge in terms ofstar power on the front line for Dallas
to match up with the fact thatI think they have a very solid defensive
structure. And don't forget I formy money too, Adam, I think

(47:44):
they got the best goalie reigning inthe playoffs and as far as today's game
goes, if you listen to theDraft King's Sweat program, I was on
with two other panelists and those twopicked Seattle to win tonight, and I
said, no, it's going tobe Jake Otten. There's going to be
a star tonight in a low scoringDallas victory. So I don't need to
tell you how that turned out,do I? No? Of course,
I mean he was obviously excellent andI was. You know, it was

(48:07):
exactly one year as well since hissixty four save performance in another Game seven
that lost against Calgary, and CalgaryJohnny Goudreau with the overtime goal to end
that first round series. The questionis, though, because it was very
sort of up and down and moredown series quite frankly for him. He
stepped up at the right times youalluded to, but can he continue on

(48:29):
against the Golden Knights with an explosiveoffense in their own right. I know
it doesn't necessarily have you know,some of the high numbers we're seeing so
far from Dallas, but you lookat you know, Jack Eichels had a
good playoff, Jonathan Marchso has comeon more of late, had the hat
trick, and in their clincher,Mark Stone's been pretty good. You know,
they're getting balanced scoring. You know, you get a handful of guys

(48:51):
that have at least five goals sofar in their playoffs set through ten eleven
games, depending on you know,how many were out there. But what
I think is interesting you talk aboutand Vegas has been more of a goalie
tandem. You know, we hadAiden Hill in net for this most recent
game. What's the direction here forthis club? Well, they're gonna go
start with Aiden Hill. But it'slike a carousel, and you wonder if

(49:14):
we're going to see Jonathan Quick atall in this series. He's listed number
two on the depth chart because Basisis listed as day to day, So
maybe you'll see two or three ofthose goalies in this series. Wouldn't that
be something when we're used to seeingone guy take the bit and go all
the way. But Hill is inthe driver's seat right now, and that
to me is a deciding factor inthis series. Like I said, I

(49:35):
don't see the pedigree in him thatI do on the other side with Optinger.
And so you look at that.You mentioned the depth of the Vegas
Nights. They have a lot ofweapons, and I like the way that
Dallas has stretched their roster by movingoff Sagan and Ben off the first line
last year, and they brought bothanchoring the second and third lines respectively.
So both teams are loaded among theirtop nine forwards, and both teams have

(50:00):
some quality on the blue line.But the disparity for me is in goal.
I he coming back to that,and I give a Dallas a slight
edge as a result. So GoldenNights are favored to win the series.
Though so does that You know,I'm not saying you should count out the
you know where the money's coming in, or what the public thinks, or
or obviously what the books have,but are I mean, would you be

(50:22):
surprised if if Las Vegas were topull this thing? Out in advanced to
you know, another Church to theStanley Cup Final. No, not at
all. I think like it's theopposite of what I said for the Eastern
Conference. This could be a longseries, could go seven games. And
did you notice the night one ofthe stats that came out in that that
seventh game tonight, Peter Debor thecoach, that's incredible. I'm seven and

(50:45):
oh in Game sevens now and sothat's something that they have in their back
pocket. That's quite an interesting stat. But on the regular season, Dallas
took the measure of Vegas in allthree games they played, two of them
decided by shootouts, So you controlout those results a little bit, I
guess. But they shut out theNights for nothing in the other games,
so they have some something going forthem. Has their head into this series.

(51:07):
And I don't mind saying that I'llbe on the other side betting against
the favorites in this set. Crazywith Pete to boor two. You mentioned
the seven and oh in Game seven'sfourth team that he has actually led to
a win in the finale of abest of seven series. It's just I
mean, well traveled, you know. We talk about it with the coaches
all the time, you know,the the extra, the nine lives.

(51:30):
It feels like that in hockey insome ways more than any other sport.
But fourth time in five seasons theStars got to a game seven all away
from home. Hadn't won a gameseven at home since two thousands, So
you know, great night for them, obviously, And now Adbor, on
top of that, gets to goagainst his old team, with Vegas one
of the old clubs. That's that'llbe another narrative obviously in this set.

(51:51):
So if I mean, would you, I know, you said obviously Caroline
should be the Stanley Cup betting favoriteand is but our you would you be
tempted to place a bet, youknow, even if a small wager on
another team with just longer odds,for the sake of, you know,
trying to take advantage of the situation. I'm taking Dallas as that second team.

(52:13):
I think they're definitely going to winthis series, and I like their
chances going up against Carolina. Theboth teams are built very similarly, I
think, so that will be acompelling matchup if and when it comes to
pass. It wouldn't surprise me ifDallas has better than even chance to win
that set. Yeah, I'm seeingDallas plus three hundred right now as the
outright betting for the Stanley Cup.Dan, you want to mix anything in,

(52:35):
Yeah, Paul, how do youfeel about like some early con smythepicks
right now? Oh boy, Ithink you're gonna look at the goalie emerging
over the next two rounds to bethe favorite eventually. And you can make
a case for for Ottinger certainly ifhe if he backstops the club. But
how about a guy like Commiral Hiskinand two had an outstanding playoff so far,

(52:59):
and you know scoring, scoring doesdoes way way heavily, So let's
see if somebody can dominate the puckgoing in the net regularly in the next
two rounds to emerge that way.But to me, there's no clear favorite
in that regard. Joe Pavelski couldbe an interesting one if he gets back

(53:20):
on a heater. He had anice start to his playoff, cooled off
a little bit. But another guythat if he goes further, would be
a kind of an interesting choice,an older player that has had put together
a very nice run in his postseason, and I have a lot of time
for him, so it would bekind of a nice story. Yeah,
and all he's missing is a cupto solidify his career. Right, He's
at plus fifteen hundred right now forconsmyth odds, he's con in as you

(53:43):
mentioned, plus twenty five hundred.Ottens You're at plus fifteen hundred, Frederick
Anderson of Carolina at plus nine hundred, and Bobrowski's at plus one thousand,
and I'm not even Aiden Hill's atplus twenty five hundred as well. Before
I let you go, Paul,off topic of NHL, but obviously more
local to you, you being aToronto guy, obviously among the things people

(54:07):
can bet on just about anything,and among the things that people can bet
or next next coach or coach ofnext team, destinations, that type of
thing. What are we expecting therefor the Toronto Raptors. You think in
Montie Williams going to take over there? I think we could see Becky Harman.
How about that? Wouldn't that bea great story? That would be
interesting? And she she is listedin one of the one of the favorites

(54:28):
in that regard. I know she'sinterviewed for the job already. They've also
got a guy who helped them withthe club in their championship years. Saragio
Scariolo, let me see here,you try that name. I don't think
I did. He did a beautifuljob. So so some interesting names have
propped up, cop popped up.There's about six or seven that have actually

(54:51):
interviewed for the job. And JerryStackhouse a guy who excelled in this league
not so many years ago, asanother guy who's in the system as well
and had some experience with the Raptorsnine oh five club, the minor league
affiliates. So there's a few namesout there that are compelling stories in their
own right. Where is he inthe system? I forgot that he was
even there, but yeah, Imean he coached. He coached as an

(55:14):
assistant with the nine oh five club, and then I had a short stint
as a head coach there too.Not sure where he is now. I
think he's in college basketball right now. But he's another guy who who has
been interviewed for the position recent mostrecently. Yeah, I'm gonna watch for
going and just among the offseason conversationsthat I'm sure we'll be having to some

(55:35):
degree on this program. But Paul, thank you so much. For hopping
on with us. I'm certain wewill bug you again, especially as the
NHL playoffs continue to roll after youknow, way too long a break.
As far as I'm concerned, let'slet's just boom boom boom. Let's get
going with the conference finals. Loveit, Adam, thanks for having me
on. Look forward to the nexttime already, of course absolutely. Paul
Bruno from Rhoda Wire check him outstatsman twenty two on Twitter and Dan among

(56:00):
the things that we can follow.I guess for a little while. We
won't be able to follow it fortoo long because the show's over in fifteen
minutes. But we got a nohitter going in baseball, right Yeah,
you were Red Sox fans. Youremember Michael Waka seven hit lists with eleven
k's right now for the Padres,you got that. And then Nathan Valdi's

(56:21):
like the third pitcher in the lastten years to have twenty five straight innings
without allowing a run. So thingsare going well right now for him.
What you know? I don't sothe the Valdi thing, I got like
he was he was gonna leave fora pay day. I did understand it.
What happened with Waka he was sogood left no one. I have
not found the answer to this.I haven't seen one report and no why

(56:44):
he wasn't back here, No Ihave there. Usually by now you would
hear like some weird clubhouse story orsomething. And I'm not, like,
I'm not saying he did anything,but usually you would hear something happen behind
the scenes there. But yeah,I don't get it. I don't what's
he making. I think he's makingan exact play the same of what Corey
Cluber's getting, like ten million dollars. I'm gonna look it up real quick.

(57:05):
Uh bass salary at four signing bonusthree and a half. Okay,
Cluber's getting making ten and a half, so good, good move. Yeah,
and like and involved he got whatseventeen from the Rangers. So it's
it's puzzling. And I realized,you know, the the jury's still out,
I suppose with respect to what hewill be, it's still very early

(57:28):
on in the recovery. But like, did James did you have to bring
back James Paxton after? Did heneed all that money? Like you already
paid him to not play while hewas recovering, and and but but then
you had to like give him moremoney to come on back, Like,
all right, now he's gonna playthis time, let's do it. No,
I mean remember when they made thatsigning two years ago, it was
like, no, this signings forthe future. It's just great because they've

(57:52):
got all this money to hand out. They can't afford to sign their good
players. You know, they gotthe the disaster that is Keik Hernandez,
a shortstop whiles Ander will Now,well, now they had the savior,
savior what's his name, Pablo Lopez? Well, yeah, whoever went today?
Yeah, the pictures. You know, he's a dual threat. Yeah,
I'm excited about Emmanuel Valdez though Ido like him. Yeah, he's

(58:12):
cooling off though real quick. Well, I mean that'll happen. Yeah,
And then he got who'd you gethurt? He got Kek hurt the other
night, didn't he with his throw? Well, everyone has to, you
know, prove they're worth Yeah,you know he got the hit assignment.
Now there you go. All right, great stuff from Paul, great stuff
earlier from Eton. Obviously we're gonnastep aside when we come back. Time
to put this show to bed.Need a venta bad bad Bets you've come

(58:35):
to the right place. Tell usabout it. Call six one seven two
six six six eight six six oneseven two six six six eight six eight,
or if you're listening on the iHeartRadioapp, use the talkback button.
The Gambler with Adam Kaufman will beright back after this on WRKO. No,

(58:58):
it's time to put the show tobed with Mike Flow very folk,
my jo. I am not toofar away from resting my head on my
pillow and going off to bed.Maybe I'll finish watching Air First, which
I saw in the theaters, butnow it's streaming on Prime and I watched

(59:20):
the first half again last night.I just I really enjoy that movie.
Dan, I haven't seen it yet, I've only seen some clips. It's
very, very stronghold. You shouldcheck it out. But as you heard
Kelly the voice, guys say,it is time to put this show to
bed, which means we are lookingahead to what we were most excited about
for tomorrow. To help with yourbedding some of the notable things, of
course, we will tip off theWestern Conference Finals, the Lakers and the

(59:45):
Nuggets. That's tomorrow night. Nugscoming in at six point favorites, which
is where the bulk of the moneyin the handle is, and most of
the money is toward the over,which is a slightly larger number two twenty
two and a half. As itsits right now, the money line does
favor the Nuggets in that one.I am inclined to go with Denver,
not only in Game one, butto win that series. I've not placed

(01:00:05):
any bets on it yet, butI'll take a deeper look at it tomorrow.
I know EJ's not happy. EJ'sa Laker guy. I'll tell you
what, though, I there wouldbe taking nothing for granted because the Celtics,
you know, I know better atthis point, but it Celtics and
Lakers in the NBA Finals. Lebronon the other side, like my god,

(01:00:27):
my word, and NBA ratings thatmight break records as opposed to you
know, Unfortunately, Denver just doesnot have that kind of national casual fan
support, even though Yokich probably isthe best player in the game right now.
But what are you looking at withthis one? So I like the
Nuggets minus six. I think I'mgonna lay the points Tuesday night with the
Nugets, and now one I reallylike. I just We've We've seen so

(01:00:49):
many Lebron playoff series, playoff games, playoff game ones to know that normally
he does this like feel it outkind of thing in game one. Obviously
they didn't against Golden State and lastround, but I can see this happening.
And then you got the whole altitudefactor, you know, the Denver
thing. Give La a night ortwo to kind of figure things out.
I like them much more in gametwo than I do in game one,

(01:01:10):
so I like Denver to cover tomorrownight. I'm also looking at yoki is
a total for points. It's atwenty seven and a half. He's hit
over this number in five straight andI'm just I'm guessing that's the Anthony Davis
defensive factor going into that. ButI'm kind of tempted to go over on
that too, because if the Nuggetsare gonna win, and they're gonna and
I think they're gonna win by sixpoints, I believe that would mean Nicola

(01:01:34):
Yokich is gonna have a big game. A prop in that game too that
I like, and it's it's notexciting because it's it's just not one of
the star players. But I wastempted to include this in our conversation earlier
when we were doing the People's parlay, and I just I didn't. I
went in a different direction. ButI will probably bet it anyway, just
as a straight or maybe part ofa different parlay or something like that.

(01:01:55):
And that is Dennis Shrewder over eightand a half points. I like that
one. He's done it more oftenthan not of late. Not it's it's
not a sure thing, but it'sa good number for him. I think
he's going to see a good chunkof minutes. Obviously, we've we've seen
his role increases the playoffs have movedalong. So that's that's one that I
would I would definitely recommend checking out. And it's it's not too far off

(01:02:16):
even money, so um you basicallyjust like when it comes to Lakers,
you spin the wheel of their supportingcast and whoever it lands on, that's
who's gonna have a big night.Yeah, it's a Shrewder game. Is
it a huge Austin Reeves game?Again? Yeah, I don't think there
are going to be too many ofthose. I'm not probably not. Yeah,
I'm not wholeheartedly. It's a smallersliver on the wheel. I will

(01:02:39):
mention Nolan Ernado for those that thinkhe's gonna do it again going against the
Brewers plus four forty odds on ahome run games. Yeah, and I'm
seeing a win percentage at the oddsShopper tools that you know we were shouting
out with Aton earlier. It's sittingright around twenty percent. So he's he

(01:03:00):
is the favorite. It's Wade Miley, you know, best best pick to
hit a home run tomorrow right now? Anyway, A lot can change,
right Yeah. I mean, likeI said, I think the Cardinals might
have figured it out. I mean, they're too talented. That lineup is
something as we just saw this pastweekend. If you watched any of that
Red Sox Cardinals series, that lineupis really really good. Over Tomorrow night

(01:03:21):
eight and a half, by theway, and that Cardinals Brewers games.
The Cards just put up eighteen tonight. They put up what ten, what
was it nine or ten against ThreadSox Sunday night break. Yeah, might
might do it by themselves, don'teven need the Brewers, right, they
have the past two nights. Soas far as some of the baseball bets
tomorrow, I would say, andI probably won't place these bets until tomorrow.

(01:03:45):
But that's that I am looking atright now. I am looking at
the over in the Angels Orioles gamethat's sitting at nine right now, I
am looking at the Guardians both onthe nine minus one and a half as
well as the money line, whichis a very favorable to one twenty five.
I'm seeing right now. Uh.The Diamondbacks, of course, not

(01:04:09):
only on the money line, whichshockingly is not minus like two twenty or
something. It's minus I've seen atminus one forty. Uh, and the
run line as well, and theover, which obviously we included in the
people's parlay. Padres. I liketheir run line and money line. Fact
I might I probably will end updoing a Padres Diamondbacks money line parlay.

(01:04:31):
There you go. Yeah, it'stargeting the Royals and Athletics. Very bold,
I say, money line. I'mat Padres Diamondbacks run line parlay.
Oh okay, yeah, get geteven better number on two games that could
be blowouts. There you go.But you we're saying sorry, yep,
and uh. Anyways, the playerprops aren't aren't aren't out yet, at
least for batters. But Kevin Gosman'sgoing for the Blue Jays against the Yankees

(01:04:53):
tomorrow night. Aaron Judge kind ofowns him. He's got a three thirty
three career batting average against him,nine for twenty seven, two doubles,
three home runs, six RBIs inthat stretch, Judge, and two home
runs tonight too, so he couldbe heating up. I'll probably be playing
smaron Judge props tomorrow night. Well, another fun show in the books to
kick off Week three here on wRKO. Great stuff from Aton Chander earlier

(01:05:15):
helping us figure out how we're gonnabet obviously the East and Western Conference Finals
in the NBA, and of coursePaul Paul Bruno from Rhoda Wire doing the
exact same thing for us for theNHL. So great stuff tomorrow. I
can't tell you who we're gonna havefor guests just yet, but we'll get
into early look ahead to the PGAChampionship, which of course gets started on

(01:05:38):
Thursday. Much more concerning the Celtics, maybe a deeper dive into some of
the player props and things along thoselines. So we're gonna have more fun
as we always do. But thanksto E. J. Pacheco, our
producer Dan Watkins of course, hereeach and every night with me Monday through
Thursday, ten to midnight. Checkout the podcast tail the People's Parlay.
Seriously, you're costing your self moneyby not right now and play the straits

(01:06:02):
too, because those will make youeven more money. Or you could just
get fancy with me and do theround robin in addition to the parley that
I like to do when people laughat me. But what can I say?
It's a comfort thing. It's acomfort thing. So this has been
great. I'm Adam Kaffman The Gamblerwith Adam Kaufman. For the best night
sleep you've ever had, go toMike Pillow dot com and use the code

(01:06:25):
Gambler. You've been listening to TheGambler with Adam Kaufman on six eighty WRKO,
Boston's first and only nightly sports bettingshow, airing live Monday through Thursday
nights from ten to midnight. Listenon demand. Download The Gambler with Adam
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(01:06:47):
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org. Good Night from the GamblerStudio