Prior to the 2018-2019 NBA Season tipping off, Marc Lawrence provided capsules of each team in the league. It has come down now to the Toronto Raptors and the Golden State Warriors in The Finals with The Raptors having home court advantage. Take a look at what Marc had to say last Fall and join him now for his plays throughout the quest for the NBA Championship with his NBA Weekly Access Pass
Golden State Warriors (62.5) – Winners of the NBA championship three of the last four years, including back-to-back titles, the Warriors are led by the star power of Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry – the best one-two punch in the NBA. It didn’t matter that Curry played in only 51 games because of an ankle injury, the support cast is good enough to make the playoffs on their own merit. The offseason addition of DeMarcus Cousins – recovering from an torn Achilles and expected to be in the lineup after the holidays – is scary and could carry them to another level this postseason. And while Father Time paid Andre Iguodala a visit last season he will provide the glue until Cousins is ready to contribute. Still, they are very much the team to beat. – Betting nugget: The Warriors are 2-11 ATS as favorites of 9 or more points without rest against rested opponents.
Toronto Raptors (55.5) – Yes, it was a good season in Toronto last campaign. The won a franchise-record 59 regular season games, and were the only team to rank in the top five in both offensive and defensive efficiency. But after a third straight playoff exit at the hands of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, sweeping changes were made. NBA Coach of the Year Dwane Casey was shown the door and All-Star G DeMar DeRozan was traded for Kawhi Leonard in a stunning swap of MVP candidates. Former assistant Nick Nurse takes over and with it look for bombs away to be the mantra in Toronto. In Nurse’s two seasons as coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (2011-12 and ’12-13), the team took 33 percent of its shots from 3-point range, a rate that was four times the G League average. If Leonard is healthy his addition could be a home run. If not, the Raptors will have swung for the fences and struck out. Stay tune – Betting nugget: The Raptors are 15-3-2 ATS in its last twenty games as dogs of more than 3 or more points in non-conference games.
Marc Lawrence is on a 63% run and has released his strongest play of the postseason for Game Two Sunday night in Toronto. Get it here along with all of his plays through next Sunday with the NBA Weekley Access Pass for just $29
Author: Marc Lawrence
Marc began handicapping professionally in 1975. He developed a love for the profession as a student in high school, where he met his beautiful wife and has been happily married with one child (Marc Jr.) since.
Achievements in handicapping: Through countless hours of hard work, determination, and his trusted database, Marc has been fortunate enough to win more documented Top 10 Handicapping Achievement Awards than anyone in the nation (over 500). More recent accomplishments include 8 winning seasons in last 9 years combined on the NFL and College Football gridiron (suffered first losing season in nine years in 2016). As a result he also had a string of 10 consecutive winning seasons in the NFL snapped last year as well. In addition he established an NFL season-long record going 28-9 during the 2014 regular season campaign as documented by the Sports Monitor in Oklahoma. Other top achievements include winning the 2008 Playbook Football Wise Guys Contest and the No.1 ranking in NFL Win Percentage in 2008 (by SPORTS WATCH in Las Vegas), Playbook Football Wise Guys Contest Best Bet Champion in 2007, No.1 ranking NFL Win Percentage (by SPORTS MONITOR in Oklahoma City) in 2006, and No. 1 ranking in College Football in 2005 (by SPORTS MONITOR in Oklahoma). Marc was also fortunate enough to win the prestigious STARDUST INVITATIONAL FOOTBALL CONTEST in 2005. In addition, and was named HANDICAPPER OF THE YEAR in 2005 by FOOTBALL NEWS. He reached the semifinals of the 2006 LEROYS MONEY TALKS CONTEST and the quarterfinals of the 2007 LEROYS MONEY TALKS CONTEST. in addition he also managed to establish a personal best 16-game win streak in MLB prior to the 2011 All-Star break.
Marc hosted both a weekly television and radio show called Marc Lawrence Against The Spread for 10 years in the late 1990’s. He currently writes a weekly NFL column for the USA TODAY Sports Weekly and has authored thousands of articles, while illuminating on the fact that three primary forms of sports handicapping exist. Those are Fundamental, Statistical and Technical. He believes that in order to be a successful handicapper one must be a well-rounded handicapper, meaning it’s critically important to blend all three forms into the handicapping equation. Marc relies heavily on a powerful database that allows me to query scores, stat and results of games played since 1980 in College and Pro Football, along with College and Pro Basketball. By being able to identify and recreate identical situations, and checking them against the database, he has come to rely on similar results created by this technical ‘cause and effect’. It’s like Winston Churchill once said, “The farther back you can look the farther forward you can see.” Applying these findings to statistical and fundamental matchups makes for a solid handicap. By applying ‘value’ to the handicap we learn to win in the long run. And winning, in the long run, is what it’s all about.
Marc also believes that fatal mistakes are made by players who fall in love with a certain team(s). The bottom line is they are all ‘machines’ and our job as handicappers is to identify those that are well oiled and hitting on all cylinders, and conversely those who are not. His primary focus is isolating on winning teams in underdog situations that have a good chance of winning the game in straight-up fashion. If they do, you win. If they don’t, but play well, you still win. If they do neither, you lose. I like those kinds of odds. Hence, Marc lives by the ‘Woody Hayes’ theory of handicapping. Hayes’ contention was that when you pass the ball, three things can happen and two of them are bad. When it comes to handicapping sporting events, three things can happen when you bet on a favorite, and two of them are bad. Conversely, three things can happen when you bet on a dog, and two of them are good. Think about that the next time you’re convinced a favorite can’t lose.
He lives his life by the GOLDEN RULE and applies it to his business practices as well. Nothing, absolutely nothing, overcomes dedication, experience, hard work and information. Together they help one make informed decisions. When it comes to Sports Handicapping Marc is truly one of the hardest working professionals in the industry. Because of his desire to be the very best handicapper he can possibly be, and his work ethic, he continues to burn the midnight oil working 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week. The last time he took a vacation was on his 25th wedding anniversary over 25 years ago. Marc has learned over the years that the harder he works, the luckier he gets… and he's a real lucky guy.
