All four of the higher WNBA seeds are now clicking and looking like they’re in comfortable control of their playoff futures, following the Chicago Sky’s dismantling of the New York Liberty on Saturday afternoon to even the series.
And as Saturday evening approaches, the Las Vegas Aces can be the first team to punch their ticket to the semifinals.
For Becky Hammon’s squad to advance, the task is simple — win. And with the Phoenix Mercury suffering another blow to the lineup, there’s really no excuse for A’ja Wilson and Co. not to put Game 2 away relatively quickly.
Odds via Tipico Sportsbook
Game line bet: Aces -17.5 (-120)
Without having watched, you could look at the final score of Wednesday’s Game 1 between the Aces and Mercury and conclude that Vegas’ 16-point margin of victory came easily. But that honestly wasn’t the case.
Inexplicably, the Aces struggled for much of the game to pull away from the Brittney Griner-Dianna Taurasi-Skylar Diggins-Smith-less Mercury. Chelsea Gray ultimately had a fourth-quarter takeover take the Aces’ lead from four to as many as 18 in a matter of minutes.
The Mercury, now without the Shey Peddy due to a torn Achilles in Game 1, are somehow running even lower on bodies and production. On top of Phoenix’s bad luck, I’d assume A’ja Wilson won’t shoot 2/11 from the field and be held under 10 points again, which makes a Las Vegas blowout win highly probable.
Player prop bets: Kelsey Plum – O 20.5 pts (-114), A’ja Wilson – O 9.5 rebs (-146)
We’re running it back with Plum and Wilson’s props since we had success with them in Game 1.
Let’s keep it simple — Kelsey Plum is a bucket. She averaged more than 20.0 points per game during this past regular season and scored 22 in the opening game of this series. The only thing that would stop her from a repeat performance of this round’s opening game is a lopsided score that leads to fewer-than-usual minutes from Plum.
A lopsided score could also cause A’ja Wilson’s stats to be quieter than usual, but you just take the chance. But it shouldn’t be too difficult for her to get to double-digit rebounds, regardless.
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