We are back in the desert we were here last night for our NBA Top Play Selection on the Suns as they got the win over the Warriors giving us another 8* winner. Tonight we are on the diamond instead of the court with the Toronto Blue Jays in town playing a weekend set against the host Arizona Diamondbacks. Arizona got the win last night behind Michael Soroka who got the start and the win on Friday night, giving up two runs on five hits across seven innings of work. The Arizona bullpen combined to give up one run on three hits over the final two innings of the game to secure the Diamondbacks victory. Braydon Fisher got the start for Toronto, giving up no runs on one hit across one inning of work. Eric Lauer came on in relief and took the loss for Blue Jays on Friday, giving up three runs on five hits in five innings of work. The Toronto bullpen continued to struggle, giving up three more runs on four hits over the final two innings of the game. The Toronto offense has been below average this season, with a .241 team batting average overall. The Blue Jays have scored just 68 runs on 148 hits. Toronto is batting .213 on the road while the Diamondbacks are hitting .274 in their last five games overall. Max Scherzer will get the start for the Blue Jays he is 1-2 SU with an ERA of 9.58. He has really struggled to open the 26 campaign. Over his last two starts he has given up seven hits and ten earned runs through just 4.1 innings of work. Scherzer has had a long career the 41-year-old was drafted by the Diamondbacks in 2006. I say that because he has made a point in defeating Arizona since he was traded away posting a record of 9-0 over twelve starts with an ERA of just 2.65 over that span. As with all of us father time has caught up to Scherzer and if they leave him in long enough we expect the perfect record to end tonight. Zac Gallen will toe the rubber for the home team tonight in the desert with his 1-1 SU record and an ERA of 3.60. The Jays are 1-6 SU on the road while the Diamondbacks are 6-2 SU at home this season. The TPR Index projects a run advantage of 1.42 runs. Our next set of metrics look at the overall Starting Pitchers Power Ratings for tonight's contest. The Blue Jays Max Scherzer comes into this game with an average of 79 and the Diamondbacks Zac Gallen has an average of 97 with 100 as the MLB league average. The SPMatrix has Max Scherzer with an average of 4.23 compared to Zac Gallen who has an average of 5.79. Our BHOR Matrix (Bases, Hits, Outs, Runs) has a projected run advantage of 1.37 in favor of the Diamondbacks. The BPMatrix has the Diamondbacks with a 1.56 power rating average compared to the Jays 1.38. The SIM Matrix has the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 73.98 percent advantage against the Blue Jays in tonight’s contest. Play ON MLB teams in Game 15 and beyond with a team playing to a line that equals or exceeds the lowest line they have played to all season, 1799-811 SU (69%)(+$17,245) including 46-20 SU (70%). We are going to lay the chalk with the better overall team playing better currently. PREDICTION: 8* ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS 6 TORONTO BLUE JAYS 4

The Boys from the ATL are in the Apple for Game One of their playoff series against the host Knickerbockers at Madison Square Garden Saturday night. The Hawks numbers were impressive after the All-Star break especially their point differential saw a dramatic increase over their last thirty games of the season. Although you must consider the fact most of that was due to the weak schedule they faced since the break. This will be a much bigger task for a team that doesn’t have much of a veteran presence at key positions. The Hawks Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who played well against the Knicks during the regular season will find the going much tougher in the playoffs. Aside from him the Hawks can really only expect a few scoring bursts from Jalen Johnson and that will not be enough tonight to get the job done. The Knicks know about playing four full quarters in the postseason while the Hawks have an inexperienced team when it comes to playoff experience. The Hawks will look to disrupt Jalen Brunson but even if they are successful which I doubt the Knicks have others that can consistently play at a very high-level including Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and several others. NY is 9-3 at home since the break averaging 121.8 points per 100 possessions with a +10.7 net rating. Atlanta went 6-4 on the road since the break averaging 117.4 points per 100 possessions with a +3.6 net rating. The Knicks have outscored opponents by ten points per game on their home court. NBA First Round home teams have gone 69-27 SU and 51-43-2 ATS (54%) over the last thirteen seasons. They were 14-2-0 SU and 12-4 ATS last season. Play AGAINST NBA teams playing on road in 3+ Days Rest scenario because they are 5-16 SU and 6-15 ATS versus teams in 4th Straight Home games over the last three seasons. The TPR Index projects a point advantage of 12.21 points in favor of the Knicks. The MM projects a point differential of +5.46 against the current line range. The Pace-Tempo Matrix has an offensive defensive differential of 5.24 with a transitional average of 43.7. The SIM Matrix has the New York Knicks with a 73.99 percent advantage against the spread in this contest. Play AGAINST NBA teams that have lost at least thirty-four games this season and the team’s prior margin was less than or equal to -10 and the opponent’s last game went Under the posted total, 65-37 ATS (64%)(+$2,430). Play ON NBA teams when the team’s last opponent had less than fourteen fast break points and when the team had more than thirty-three defensive rebounds in their last game, 35-15 ATS (70%)(+$1,850). Lay the points with the Knickerbockers as they roll to a Game One victory in the Garden Saturday night. PREDICTION: 8* NEW YORK KNICKS 122 ATLANTA HAWKS 110