Stephen Nover

Seattle is in rebuild mode. However, the Storm have covered two of their three games. They are well-coached and retained two good players, Jewell Loyd and Ezi Magbegor.

The spot sets up well for Seattle here. The Storm have been idle since Tuesday. They have been in Los Angeles before the Sparks.

That's because the Sparks were in Phoenix last night where they upset the Mercury in overtime. That game took a huge effort from the Sparks, who are dealing with multiple injuries and in transition themselves with a new coach.

There are many reasons why the A's are a laughing stock this season. Lack of offense certainly is one factor. Oakland ranks last in runs, batting average and OPS.

The A's were blanked, 4-0, by Miami's Edward Cabrera on Friday. Now Oakland draws another excellent Marlins pitching prospect in 6-foot-8 righthander Eury Perez, who has a 2.84 ERA in four starts while averaging a strikeout per inning. He faces an Oakland lineup that is averaging a puny two runs in its last 15 games.

The A's have terrible pitching, but Luis Medina has been semi-respectable giving up three earned runs in three of his last four starts while averaging nearly six innings during this span. Those starts have come against better offensive teams than the Marlins in the Astros, Mariners, Diamondbacks and Rangers. The Marlins have scored the third-fewest runs in the majors.

The kicker is Doug Eddings is the home plate umpire. He's a top Under ump. The Under is 47-34 (58 percent) the past four years Eddings has been behind the plate.

The Giants are playing well winning 12 of their last 18 games. The price is right to back them at home against Baltimore.

Tyler Wells gets the start for the Orioles. He hasn't been in good form with a 5.06 ERA in his last three starts.

The Giants are starting Anthony DeSclafani, who has a 2.90 day time ERA. The Giants' bullpen has the second-best ERA in baseball during the last 30 days.

The Orioles have scored three or fewer runs in seven of their last nine games. They aren't likely to have good-looking rookie third baseman Gunnar Henderson. He has a back injury.

This is Denver's lowest total of the season and an overreaction to the Nuggets' 104-93 Game 1 home win this past Thursday.

That was a feel-out game. The Heat were still on fumes following their Game 7 upset win against the Celtics and were not used to the high mountain altitude in Denver. The Nuggets were rusty having not played in 10 days.

All of this showed in Thursday's opener. The teams combined to shoot just 31.8 percent from 3-point range making 21-of-66 shots from beyond the arc. The Heat were only 13-of-39 from 3-point range with six of those 3-pointers coming when the game already was out of reach. This despite getting good looks throughout the game.

This was Miami's worst shooting 3-point game of the playoffs. They were shooting 39 percent from 3-point range during the postseason entering this championship matchup. The Nuggets shot 37.9 percent from beyond the arc going into the playoffs. They made only eight of their 27 3-point shots for 29.6 percent.

The Heat also only got to shoot two free throws! It was the first time Jimmy Butler didn't have a free throw attempt during the postseason. The Nuggets are not some dominant defensive team either. They ranked 20th in defensive field goal percentage. I see Butler coming out extra aggressive for this Game 2.

It was obvious in Game 1 that the Nuggets' frontcourt size was too much for the Heat. Nikola Jokic isn't just a great triple-threat talent. He's also extremely intelligent. He can find Miami's weakness and exploit it either by scoring, or passing off. Michael Porter Jr. isn't likely to miss nine of 11 3-point shots. He finished in the top 20 in 3-point shooting accuracy during the regular season at 41.4 percent.

There's not much Miami coach Erik Spoelstra can do. One option would be for him to go with his best offensive weapons playing them as much as possible. That would be the dream scenario for this Over and could happen as the Nuggets are easily capable of reaching their season average of 115.8 points. They were the No. 1 shooting team in the NBA during the regular season making 50.4 percent of their field goals.