Stephen Nover’s Free Sports Handicapping Picks

The Padres could exceed this total just by themselves. San Diego just got through scoring 36 runs against the Rockies at Coors Field. Yes, that was against the Rockies in Colorado. But the Padres lead the majors in batting average and get to tee off against Yusei Kikuchi and an Angels bullpen that has the highest ERA in the American League.

Kikuchi has a 3.83 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. He's giving up nearly 1.5 homers per nine innings. The horrendous Angels bullpen has an ERA of nearly 7.00.

I have a lot of respect for San Diego starter Michael King. He's pitching well. However, the Angels surprisingly have smacked the sixth-most homers in baseball. They are averaging 5.2 runs in their last five games if you discount scoring one run against the Orioles three games ago.

If there's a key number in basketball it's 6. So getting anything more than six points with the home underdog Knicks in this crucial Game 4 playoff game is good value.

The Knicks aren't in Boston's class. However, the Knicks are resilient. They stole two games in Boston coming from 20 points down in each game. They have six playoff victories - and trailed in the fourth quarter during each game.

I don't see the Celtics routing the Knicks like they did in Game 3 when they won by 22 points. That was the Celtics' season and manhood being challenged. Boston also shot 50 percent from 3-point range making 20 of 40 shots in the win.

The Celtics certainly were due to shoot better than 25 percent from beyond the arc, which was their combined 3-point percentage during the first two games of the series. But highly unlikely they make half of their 3-pointers again. Probably somewhere in the middle since they ranked 10th in the league during the regular season in 3-point accuracy at 36.8 percent.

The Knicks always have been above average defensively under Tom Thibodeau, who is well-respected in the NBA for his defensive acumen. The Knicks ranked 10th during the regular season defensively.

Thanks to Reilly Smith's improbable goal with 0.4 seconds left, the Golden Knights nipped the Oilers, 4-3, this past Saturday to cut Edmonton's lead in the series to 2-1. 

Edmonton didn't play well in that game. Yet the Oilers let a 2-0 lead slip. 

I'm expecting a more focused Oilers' effort in Monday's game. The Oilers have superstar talent - which the Golden Knights do not possess - are on home ice and are the healthier team. 

Las Vegas has three key players not at 100 percent in Mark Stone, Brayden McNabb and Pavel Dorofeyev. It wouldn't shock if any of them sat out, especially team captain Stone. In addition, Jack Eichel is not playing well. 

Perhaps the Oilers got a little too cocky. They had won six straight Stanley Cup games until that defeat. 

Edmonton has won nine of 12 home playoff games the past two seasons. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl give the Oilers the two best players on the ice. 

Stuart Skinner is getting ripped for allowing Las Vegas' winning goal. That was a bad play. Skinner, though, has been OK in net. Las Vegas goalie Adin Hill isn't playing great either. 

I find the Oilers to be the superior team. So this is a reasonable lay price given that Edmonton is home, the healthier team and shouldn't play that bad twice in a row.