By Daniel Behringer
LVSportsBiz.com
The Raptors had opened as -3.5 favorites, but Warriors money moved the line to -2 or -1.5.
Then comes news that Kevin Durant will suit up. The line swings all the way to Warriors -1.
How to play the game?
Judging from previous performances (and with the benefit of some helpful 20-20 hindsight), we found that was pretty easy. Play the favored Warriors on the first-quarter and first-half lines, then play the Raptors to stage a strong second-half.
And that would have worked: The Warriors jumped off to a 34-28 first-quarter lead and 62-56 first-half advantage. But play the hot-shooting defending champions were -5 in the second half? We don’t think so. The Raptors have been staging some impressive second-half performances so we would have been happy with Toronto +5 for the final 24 minutes of action from Scotiabank Arena.
And the Raptors indeed won the second-half, 49-44.
By the way, if you had the “square” bet of Warriors -1 by game, you pushed on a final score of 106-105. But the total, which was bet up all the way to 215.5 at some spots, came in a few points shy of going over.
We were out and about on Tuesday and were intrigued to hear occasional shrieks and screams from one of the local books. Fans don’t usually scream over Major League baseball. It was too early for Las Vegas Aviators action. There was no NBA nor NHL. What could it be?
Turns out it was for soccer, and fans were apparently cheering the U.S. women’s national team’s 13-0 rout of Thailand, the most lopsided result in World Cup history. While the margin of victory was a mild surprise, the outcome was not. The U.S. was a -8000 favorite, and Thailand was +10000. Not your optimal value wager either way.
We missed the excitement of being in the book on Wednesday for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Hockey fans are some of the most expressive, and we’re positive Blues fans were screaming, shrieking and hollering for every goal scored as the Blues upend the Bruins, 4-0. Bettors who held tickets on the Blues at +160 also had a good reason to be excited.
But we were out and about again on Thursday, eager to see how Game 6 of the NBA Finals would play out. We had a slight lean toward Golden State in the first half but thought Toronto, which had played very well on the road, could win the game outright. While we we waiting for the start of the game, there were again loud shrieks and screams from the race and sports book. Turns out, the loud cheers were coming from excited race fans.
“I thought the basketball game had started,” someone remarked wryly.
The Raptors, who went off at +2.5, won both the first quarter and the first half and led at half-time, 60-57. Golden State did win the third quarter, 31-26, but when the buzzer sounded, Toronto had won the game, 114-100, and the NBA Championship.
On Friday, we found interesting value tucked away in betting lines for Major League baseball. The Chicago White Sox and their ace, Lucas Giolito, was listed as even money vs. the New York Yankees. Since Giolito has been pitching well, the White Sox had been play well, New York’s injuries seemed to have been catching up with them, we considered that a bad line. We didn’t hesitate to play the White Sox at -130 on the five-inning line and at +100 for the game. The Yankees touched Giolito for a run in the top of the first, but it was the White Sox the rest of the way in a 10-2 victory. Our only regret is that we didn’t have a third wager on the run line.
There was one other outcome of local interest from Friday. The Las Vegas Aces, -13 point favorites, avenged an earlier loss to the New York Liberty with an overwhelming first-half performance en route to a 100-65 win.
As the weekend arrived, one might wonder what would attract betting interest with NBA and NHL seasons concluded. A quick survey of the betting sheets at one of the local shops revealed the answer: The 2019 FIFA World Cup (women’s soccer), the CONCACAF Gold Cup (more soccer), the USL (even more soccer), Week 1 of Canadian Football, a heavyweight title fight in boxing, Triple A baseball, more WNBA and the men’s college World Series.
If that weren’t enough, there was a full slate of Major League baseball.
The heavyweight title fight grabbed a good share of the headlines from Saturday with Tyson Fury at -5000 winning by second round TKO over Tom Schwartz who was +1500.
The Las Vegas Aviators, -130 on the road vs. the Memphis Redbirds and the total set at 10.5, won, 8-4, before 8,555 fans at AutoZone Park.
So what’s next?
— There’s more CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer Monday and Tuesday with USA anywhere from -3300 to -5000 vs. Guyana on Tuesday.
— Two matches for UFC 239 are on the calendar for July 6 in Las Vegas. UFC 242 will be in Abu Dhabi on Sept. 7.
— Manny Pacquiao fans get to see their fighter in a welterweight title fight July 20 in Las Vegas. Pacquiao is +115 vs. Keith Thurman.
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