By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
Edge, Washington Football Team and slight to the under?
So wrote well-known Las Vegas handicapper Bruce Marshall in the Las Vegas Review Journal, noting the WFT had won and covered its past three games and that the under was 5-1 over the last six games. He further noted the Raiders had failed to cover its last seven games as a favorite.
Regardless, the game went off with the Las Vegas Raiders -1.5 and the total at 48. The Raiders had been -2.5 and even -3 during the week, and the total was bet down from as high as 50.5.
The game was close much of the way. But WFT placekicker Brian Johnson booted a 48-yard game-winning field goal with 37 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The final, if for some reason you haven’t heard, was Washington 17, Las Vegas 15 — just the way the handicapper drew it up.
Interim coach Rich Bisaccia after the game: “We gotta come up with some plays, somehow. Find a way to make a play with people on us. Find a way to make a throw even when we’re under duress.”
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Next up for the Raiders (6-6): A visit at the Kansas Chiefs. The Raiders are +9.5 with the total at 50 for Sunday’s game.
Elsewhere:
— An avalanche of goals: How do the Vegas Golden Knights stop a two-game losing streak? With an onslaught of goals vs. the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night. The VGK, who were about -220, scored four times in the second period, one their way to a 7-1 win over the Avalanche. The offensive onslaught also sent the total over 6 in the second period.
The win not only ended a two-game skid, but three games out of four in which Knights bettors had losing tickets.
They followed that up on Sunday with a 3-2 win over the division-leading Calgary Flames late Sunday. The Golden Knights were -130 with the total at 5.5.
Next up: The boys with the gold-toned helmets, now 14-10, host the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.
— A pariah vs. the point spread? Fading the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels has been particularly profitable early in the season. UNLV, +8, fell to SMU on Tuesday, 83-64. And on Saturday, at +10.5, they lost to the San Francisco Dons, 83-62. Ironically, SMU had only covered one time prior to its contest vs. UNLV.
The Runnin’ Rebels are 4-5 but a remarkable 1-8 ATS.
Coach Kevin Kruger to the Las Vegas Sun after the loss to the Dons: “They’re a little frustrated. They play hard. They just weren’t quite able to get over that hump tonight.”
“There’s a lot of season still left,” he added. “Before we played Michigan, we were feeling pretty good. But that’s the way sports works.
UNLV next hosts the Seattle University Red Hawks on Wednesday.
— Beating the NBA: How tough is it to cash a ticket in the National Basketball Association? Sometimes very tough. But in the widely anticipated showdown between the Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors, the home team covered and the total went under both times. In the first game Tuesday, the Suns, -3, rolled to a 104-96 victory and the total was well under 222.5. In the rematch on Friday, the Warriors, -7.5, cruised to a 118-96 win with the total narrowly coming in under 215.
— Sunday collapse: If you had Collin Morikawa to win the Hero World Challenge Golf Tournament at +750, you had to like your chances going into the final round. The 24-year-old Las Vegan led by five strokes at the beginning of play on Sunday. But he closed with a 76 and fell into a tie for fifth place. Ouch. Think tearing up a betting ticket that would have paid +750 is bad? A first-place finish would have earned Morikawa $1 million, but the tie for fifth netted him a mere $127,500.
— Laugher of the week: If you had a ticket on the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday at -11, you hitched an easy ride to a winning bet. The Grizzlies rolled to a 152-79 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Griz outscored the Thunder in every quarter en route to the win, the largest margin of victory in NBA history and Memphis’s largest point total in franchise history. Bettors never broke a sweat with a cover by 62 points.
— Las Vegas Bowl odds: Wisconsin is -7 vs. Arizona State in the Las Vegas Bowl. The total is 43.5. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 30.