Cheat Sheet – Second Round
VegasInsider Staff Sports Betting Expert
The WNBA playoffs is down to six teams as the first round concluded this past Wednesday.
In those games, the home teams went 2-0 both straight up and against the spread as Chicago and Seattle posted wins and covers against Phoenix and Minnesota respectively while the 'over' also cashed in both games as well.
The Sky will now head to desert to meet Las Vegas on Sunday while the Storm trek down the West Coast for a matchup at Los Angeles later in the evening.
Those two clubs will meet the winner of Sunday's winners in the semifinals, which are best-of-five matchups.
(Straight Up - SU, Against the Spread - ATS, Over-Under - O/U)
No. 6 Seattle at No. 3 Los Angeles (ESPN, 3:05 p.m. ET)
Regular Season Meetings (Los Angeles 2-1 SU/ATS, Over 2-1, Home Team 3-0 SU/ATS)
June 21 - Seattle (+1.5) 84 vs. Los Angeles 62 (Under 154)
Aug. 4 - Los Angeles (-4.5) 83 vs. Seattle 75 (Over 148)
Sept. 5 - Los Angeles (-6.5) 102 vs. Seattle 68 (Over 155)
-- The home team went unbeaten in all three regular season meetings.
-- The Sparks captured their two victories at home, winning by eight points in early August before a 34-point blowout win last week.
-- Seattle advanced to this matchup by defeating Minnesota 84-74 at home this past Wednesday in the first round as a 2 1/2-point home favorite while the 'over' (149.5) cashed.
-- Including that victory, the Storm have won and covered four of their last five games. The lone loss, mentioned above, came at Los Angeles.
-- Seattle went 7-10 SU and 9-8 ATS on the road this season.
-- When catching points away from home, the Storm went 5-9 SU and 7-7 ATS.
-- In their last six spots as a road underdog, Seattle went 1-5 SU and 2-4 ATS.
-- Even though Wednesday's first-round playoff game went 'over' the total, the Storm were a solid 'under' bet in the regular season (20-13-1).
-- On the road, the low side went 11-5-1 for the club and all of those results are attributed to Seattle's defense that is allowing a league best 75.1 points per game.
-- Los Angeles finished the regular season with a 22-12 SU and 17-16-1 ATS record, the best mark in the Western Conference.-- The Sparks closed the year with three straight wins at home, winning by an average of 17.6 PPG.
-- At home, Los Angeles was an impressive 15-2 SU and 12-5 ATS.
-- As home favorites this season, the Sparks closed with 12 consecutive wins and they went 9-3 ATS in those contests.
-- Total bettors saw a nice back and forth with Los Angeles this season as the club saw the 'over' go 18-16 overall, 9-8 both at home and on the road.
-- L.A. went 1-1 in last year's postseason and the win came at home, a 75-68 decision over Minnesota as a six-point home favorite.
-- Going back to the 2015 playoffs, Los Angeles has gone 8-2 both SU and ATS in its last 10 playoff games at home. The 'over' has gone 6-4 during this span but the 'under' has connected in the last three encounters.
-- Seattle managed to steal one road win against Washington in last year's WNBA Finals but that was an anomaly. Prior to that win, the Storm had dropped eight straight playoff games on the road.
No. 5 Chicago at No. 4 Las Vegas (ESPN2, 5:05 p.m. ET)
Regular Season Meetings (Las Vegas 2-1 SU, 1-2 ATS, Over 3-0, Away 2-1 SU, 3-0 ATS)
July 2 - Las Vegas (-9) 90 vs. Chicago 82 (Over 162.5)
Aug. 9 - Chicago (+7) 87 at Las Vegas 84 (Over 164.5)
Aug. 18 - Las Vegas (-2) 100 at Chicago 85 (Over 168.5)
-- This regular season matchup saw the visitor go 2-1 SU and ATS, with all of the encounters coming in the second-half of the season.
-- Chicago surprised Las Vegas on Aug. 9 wtih an 87-84 win as a seven-point home favorite but it did fall to Las Vegas 90-82 at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 2.
-- The point-spread on those games was Vegas -9 and -7, which is much higher than Sunday's opening number of -2.5.
-- The totals on those games ranged from 162.5 to 168.5 and the 'over' went 3-0 in the regular season. Fast forward to the playoffs, where defense is expected to be stressed, and the number is up to 176.5 off an opener of 173.
-- Chicago came to play this past Wednesday as it dominated Phoenix 105-76 in wire-to-wire fashion as a seven-point favorite.
-- Including the win over the Mercury, the Sky have won and covered three of their last four games.
-- The 'over' has been the hot hand for Chicago, winners now in seven straight and 15 of the last 16 for the club.
-- Chicago is the only team in the WNBA to average and allow over 80 points per game (84.6, 83.3).
-- On the road, the Sky went 8-9 SU and 10-6-1 ATS.
-- Circling back to the 'over' angle, the Sky have watched the high side go 15-2 in 17 away games.
-- Las Vegas finished 21-13 SU overall but it burned bettors with a 13-21 record against the spread.
-- The Aces were strong at home, going 13-4 at the Thomas & Mack Center and they were a tad better for bettors (7-10 ATS).
-- Vegas finished the season with a 98-89 road win at Phoenix but a 1-4 record in its previous five games could be alarming.
-- The 'over' went 10-7 at home for Las Vegas, 17-16-1 overall on the season.
-- This will be the first playoff appearance for the Las Vegas franchise since the club moved from San Antonio.
-- Prior to Wednesday's playoff win over Seattle, the last trip to the postseason for the Sky came in the 2016 playoffs.
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