Monday Morning Gambler: Bucks Stun Suns in Game 5, Surprise Many Bettors
By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
Now aren’t you glad you didn’t bet the ranch, the Longhorn Cattle and the casita on the Phoenix Suns?
After the Suns bolted to a 2-0 NBA Finals series lead, the futures price on them to win it all zoomed to -500. The Bucks promptly rallied and took the next two games at home.
With the Suns returning home for Game 5, the series price was Suns -150 — more attractive than the -190 when the Finals began.
Then came Game 5 on Saturday with the telecast on the giant screens in virtually all Las Vegas race and sports books and the line with the Suns -1.5 for the first quarter, -2.5 for the half and -4 for the game. The total crept up to 218.5. The Suns bolted to a 37-21 first quarter lead (and cover), and it looked like the rout was on. Until the second quarter, however, when the Bucks flipped the “on” switch and took a 64-61 into halftime.
When it was all over, the Bucks covered and won outright 123-119. The total easily blew past 218.5.
The outcome surprised many bettors. Several experts at CBS SportsLine sided with the Suns. One confidently predicted a “double-digit” victory. Not one picked the Bucks. Not one.
The series price has now reversed course. The Bucks are -425 and the Suns are +310.
Game 6 is Tuesday at the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee where the Bucks are -5 and the total is 222.5
“The job is not done,” Giannis Antetokounmpo told reporters after Game 5. “We have to realize that. We have got to stay in the present. It doesn’t mean we are going to go back home and win Game 6.”
Elsewhere:
— Open season: Are you going to cash that ticket on pro golfer Collin Morikawa of Las Vegas at about 35-1? Or keep it as a souvenir?
The 24-year-old Morikawa won The Open at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England, on Sunday, finishing at -15. He rallied to win it, turning a one-stroke deficit at the 54-hole turn into a two-stroke victory. He shot a bogey-free 4-under 66 in his final round.
Morikawa is the first since Bobby Jones in 1926 to win two majors in so few appearances. He is also halfway to the career Grand Slam after only eight starts.
“It’s hard to grasp, it’s hard to really take it in,” the Cal grad said.
— Laugher of the week: If you bet the San Diego Padres when Major League Baseball resumed on Friday, you got to enjoy one of the laughers of the week. The Padres scored early and often to rout the Washington Nationals, 24-8. The Padres were -145. The total at 9.5 went over in the second inning when the Padres put up a 7-spot.
But they weren’t finished. In a game delayed on Saturday and completed on Sunday, the Padres blitzed the Nationals again, 10-4, with the total at 9.5. In Sunday’s regularly scheduled game, the Padres lost, 8-7, but did their part in sending the total over 8.
Some 61 runs in three games is enough to delight nearly all over bettors.
— Preseason NFL: It’s less than three weeks now until the Dallas Cowboys play the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL’s Hall of Fame preseason game in Canton, Ohio. No betting line yet but expect a short line and a total in the low 30s.
The Las Vegas Raiders open the preseason at the Seattle Seahawks on Aug. 14, where the Seahawks will almost certainly be a short favorite. Vegas Insider puts the Raiders at about 70-1 (same as the Philadelphia Eagles) to win the Super Bowl.
