College World Series Odds Competes With Lakers-Magic Point Spread to Bettors

The Lakers will try to close out the best-of-seven NBA Finals on Sunday night when they play Game 5 in Orlando. Kobe Bryant poured in 32 points (on just 11-of-31 shooting) in Game 4 on Thursday night as Los Angeles pulled out a 99-91 road overtime victory to take a 3-1 series lead. Pau Gasol and Trevor Ariza each picked up 16 points for the Lakers in the win, with Gasol adding 10 boards. Dwight Howard had 16 points, 21 rebounds, and nine blocks for the Magic, but went a costly 6-of-14 from the free-throw line. Hedo Turkoglu tossed in 25 points. Oddsmakers opened Orlando as a small 2.5-point favorite at home for Game 5.

The sportsbooks have the Magic posted as a three to 3.5 point favorite with a total of 198 or 198.5.

Today is Flag Day in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Magic try to avoid elimination at home, the Cardinals and Indians meet under the lights, and NASCAR races at Michigan. ESPN will have a follow up on Little League World Series cheater Danny Almonte. Speaking of the World Series, it’s the CWS, the College World Series odds.

Tipping off on the hardwood . . .

Heading to the Heart Attack Grill to watch the NBA Finals and eat some Annette Funicello cookies?

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Rounding out the Roundup . . .

The Sprint Cup Series hits Michigan International Speedway for the LifeLock 400 on Sunday afternoon, with Jimmie Johnson pegged as the 5/1 Vegas favorite for the race. Kyle Busch is next at 6/1 odds, with Tony Stewart at 8/1 odds to take the checkered flag; Stewart won the Pocono 500 last weekend and holds a 71-point lead on Jeff Gordon in the driver standings after 14 events. Gordon, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards are all pegged back at 10/1 odds to win at Michigan.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Formula 1 field will be looking to knock off red-hot Jenson Button when that circuit contests the British Grand Prix on Sunday. Button has won six of seven F1 races so far this season for Brawn-Mercedes, and had grabbed the victory in four consecutive races heading into Silverstone. That has Button 26 points up on teammate Rubens Barrichello in the drivers championship. Lewis Hamilton got the win in the British Grand Prix last season.

Finally, there are a pair of WNBA matchups on the schedule for Sunday, with Connecticut playing host to Atlanta, and Seattle playing on the road in Chicago.

Meeting up on the diamond . . .

The primetime matchup on Sunday has St. Louis at Cleveland, with Chris Carpenter (4-0, 1.23 ERA) slated to take on Cliff Lee (3-6, 3.17 ERA). Cards ace Carpenter took a no-decision vs. the Marlins last time out, surrendering three earned runs over six innings of work; the righthander had given up just three earned runs over his previous six outings. Lee is also coming off a no-decision, allowing four earned runs over six innings vs. the Royals on Tuesday; that was the first time the lefthander had surrendered more than three runs since April 11.

The top afternoon game has the Mets’ Johan Santana (8-3, 2.39 ERA) taking on the Yankees’ A.J. Burnett (4-3, 4.89 ERA) at Yankee Stadium. Lefthander Santana was knocked around for five earned runs on eight hits over seven innings by the Phillies in his last trip to the mound, but the Mets still managed to pick up the victory. Righthander Burnett had a two-game winning streak snapped by the BoSox last time out, giving up five runs (three earned) in just 2 2-3 innings.

Also on the interleague slate for Sunday: Florida at Toronto, Detroit at Pittsburgh, Boston at Philadelphia, Atlanta at Baltimore, Washington at Tampa Bay, the White Sox at Milwaukee, Cincinnati at Kansas City, Minnesota at the Cubs, the Dodgers at Texas, Seattle at Colorado, San Diego at the Angels, and Oakland at San Francisco. As well, the Astros will finish off their road set versus the D-Backs.