By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
Betting against a team on a winning streak is like standing in front of a fast-moving locomotive.
And right now, that fast-moving locomotive is the Las Vegas Aces. Last Tuesday, the Aces wrapped up a homestand at Michelob Ultra Arena with an ultrasharp performance against the Los Angeles Sparks. .
The betting line opened at Aces -10 but closed at around -10.5. That half-point or “hook” never came into play as the Aces rolled to a 58-36 halftime lead. They didn’t take the foot off the gas in the third quarter either, outscoring the Sparks 28-20 en route to an overwhelming 104-76 win.
That left the Aces 7-1 and 6-2 ATS. And brought them to their weekend encounter on the road Saturday vs. the Chicago Sky. This time the Aces were very short favorites at -1. But who wants to bet against the team with the momentum?
In fact, the Aces were down 23-22 at the end of the first quarter, but found their footing in the second period and outscored the home team 29-15. That was all they needed, and they closed with a 83-76 victory.
“A good win and a great test for us,” coach Becky Hammon told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
It was their sixth straight win and moved them to 8-1, 7-2 ATS. Any bettor would be proud to cash tickets 78 percent of the time. A tout with that percentage would let the world know and probably have a huge following.
The Aces now return home to face the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday.
Elsewhere:
— NBA Finals odds: The Golden State Warriors (53-29) will face the Boston Celtics (51-31) in the NBA Finals that begin Thursday. At Vegas Insider, the Warriors are generally around -150 or -160 to win the title. The Celtics are around +130 on the buyback.
Game 1 has the Warriors at -3.5 with the total at 211.
NBC Sports noted that in 16 games the teams have played against each other beginning with 2014-15, the Warriors have one double-digit victory. The Celtics have done so four times. Looking at the cumulative score over those 16 games, the Warriors are minus-63. If you wish to go back to the 1964 NBA Finals, Bill Russell and the Celtics topped the Warriors in five games.
The teams split this season. The Warriors won 111-107 at TD Garden on Dec. 17, but the Celtics crushed the Warriors 110-88 on March 16 at Chase Center.
“I’ve said it many times: You go to the Finals, it’s almost a two-month journey filled with stress and fatigue and everything else,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told The Associated Press.
Tipoff is at 6 p.m.
— Trilogy complete: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin have agreed to meet for the third time on Sept. 17. The first Alvarez-Golovkin bout in September 2017 was declared a draw. Alvarez won a majority decision in May 2018.
This time, oddsmakers have made Álvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) a heavy favorite in the -300 range or even higher, according to Covers.com. Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) is generally +250 on the buyback.
Alvarez, 31, will step down to super middleweight to defend his undisputed status as WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO champion. Golovkin, 40, the WBA and IBF middleweight champion, will move up a division to face him.
The fight is expected to be held in Las Vegas. T-Mobile Arena was the site of the first two bouts.
— Laugher of the week: If that total of 7.5 on the New York Mets vs. San Francisco Giants last Tuesday looked a little low, you were correct. There were runs galore and the Mets put up a crooked number in the top of the eighth inning to make the outcome interesting. But the Giants prevailed, 13-12.