The Bums 2019 WNBA News - Notes - Picks Thru The Playoffs !

[StarDust Bum]

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
GAME TIME(ET) PICK UNITS

LA at CONN 06:30 PM
CONN -1.5
O 162.0

LV at WAS 08:30 PM
LV +10.0
O 176.5

[StarDust Bum]

Sun rout Sparks 94-68, take 2-0 lead in semifinal series
September 19, 2019
By The Associated Press

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) Jonquel Jones scored 27 points and Courtney Williams added 25 to help the Connecticut Sun rout the Los Angeles Sparks 94-68 on Thursday night and take a 2-0 lead in the WNBA semifinals.

Game 3 of the best-of-five series is Sunday in Los Angeles.

The Sun led by one at the half before Williams blew the game open. She scored 13 of her points in the third quarter to the delight of her dad, Don, who was courtside wearing her No. 10 jersey. He was jumping up and down on every one of her baskets and waving a towel and a cardboard cutout of his daughter's head.

Connecticut led 70-57 after three quarters and scored 10 of the first 12 points in the fourth to dash any hopes Los Angeles had of a comeback. Sparks coach Derek Fisher pulled his starters with 5:31 left and his team down 23 points.

Nneka Ogwumike scored 18 points and Riquna Williams added 14 for the Sparks, who will have to win three straight to make the WNBA Finals for the third time in five years.

MYSTICS 103, ACES 91

WASHINGTON (AP) - Emma Meesseman matched a career high with 30 points in her second consecutive exceptional performance, and Washington beat Las Vegas to take a 2-0 lead in the teams' semifinal series.

Natasha Cloud added 18 points and 11 assists for Washington, while Elena Delle Donne scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds on the day she was honored with the league MVP award.

The Mystics can wrap up the best-of-five series and seal a return to the WNBA Finals on Sunday in Las Vegas.

Liz Cambage had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Aces, who have lost four of five meetings against the Mystics this year between the regular season and playoffs.

Kelsey Plum added 19 points and 10 assists for Las Vegas, which fought back from an 11-point second-quarter deficit to take a brief lead in the third, only to fade late.

[StarDust Bum]

SCHEDULE FOR SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2019
Time (ET) Away Home Site
5:05 PM Washington Mystics Las Vegas Aces Mandalay Bay Events Center
7:05 PM Connecticut Sun Los Angeles Sparks Staples Center

SCHEDULE FOR TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 2019
Time (ET) Away Home Site
3:00 PM Connecticut Sun Los Angeles Sparks Staples Center
3:00 PM Washington Mystics Las Vegas Aces Mandalay Bay Events Center


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WNBA SEPT. PLAYOFFS OPINIONS AND BEST BETS: ALL BASED ON 5 UNITS

DATE W-L-T % UNITS RECORD

09/19/2019.......2-1-1........66.67%......+4.50
09/17/2019.......1-3-0........25.00%......-11.50
09/15/2019.......3-1-0........75.00%.......+9.50
09/11/2019...... 3-1-0 .......75.00% ......+9.50

Total.................9-6-1........60.00%.......+12.00


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BEST BETS:

DATE........................ATS............. ..UNITS...............O/U..............UNITS...........TOTALS

09/19/2019..............1 - 0................+5.00..............1 - 1..............-0.50............+4.50
09/17/2019..............0 - 2................-11.00..............1 - 1.............-0.50............-11.50
09/15/2019..............1 - 1................-0.50................2 - 0............+10.00..........+9.50
09/11/2019..............1 - 1................-0.50................2 - 0............+10.00..........+9.50

Totals......................3 - 4 ...............-3.00................6 - 2.............+19.00..........+16.00

[StarDust Bum]

Armadillo: Sunday's six-pack

Top six picks for Week 3 in Westgate Super Contest:

6) Colts -1.5 (674)

5) Ravens +6.5 (794)

4) Steelers +6.5 (934)

3) Lions +6 (937)

2) Seahawks -4 (974)

1) Rams -3 (1,474)

2019 record: 7-5


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Armadillo: Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports Saturday……

13) UCLA 67, Washington State 63:
— This amazing game ended at 2:27am here in the east.
— With 4:00 left in third quarter, Wazzu led 49-17; UCLA then scored 29 points in the next 7:24
— Bruins had a 100-yard kick return and a 69-yard punt return for TD’s.
— Both quarterbacks threw for 500+ yards.

— UCLA scored 50 points in the second half; Fifty!!!
— Coogs turned ball over six times (-5).
— Total yardage was 720-657, WSU.
— Wazzu QB Gordon threw nine TD passes, and his team still lost.

12) Toledo 41, Colorado State 35— At 2:34am, Colorado State’s receiver caught a pass on 2-yard line but was stopped on the 1-yard line as the game ended. Solid late night entertainment this week.

11) LSU 66, Vanderbilt 38— The most important new name in college football this season may wind up being Joe Brady, who is LSU’s passing game coordinator and receivers coach.

Brady came to LSU from the New Orleans Saints, where he worked the last two years; he has brought the Tigers’ offense into the 21st century, and he may wind up making QB Joe Burrow a very wealthy young man when the NFL Draft rolls around next April.

Burrow was 25-34/398 yards passing with six TD’s Saturday in Nashville; at one time a few years ago, he was the 3rd-string QB at Ohio State.

10) Wisconsin 35, Michigan 14:
— Rushing yardage: 359-40, Wisconsin
— Wolverines were minus-4 in turnovers, 0-10 on third down
— Michigan completed only 17 of 42 passes.

Under Jim Harbaugh, Michigan is:
— 1-3 in bowl games.
— 0-4 vs Ohio State (lost 62-39 LY).
— 2-2 vs Wisconsin.
— 2-4 vs spread as an underdog.

I’m guessing the natives are restless in Ann Arbor.

9) California 28, Ole Miss 20— Rebels got hosed by the replay official, who neglected to call for a replay review of a possible touchdown of their 3rd down play that may/may not have been a TD that could’ve tied the game in the last 0:10. Bad officiating.

Last nine Pac-12-SEC games, the SEC teams are 7-2 vs spread, but both the Pac-12’s covers were by Cal over Ole Miss.

8) Appalachian State 34, North Carolina 31— Tar Heels outgained ASU 469-385, but were minus-2 in turnovers— App State scored a defensive TD. UNC is now 2-2, with all four games decided by six or fewer points.

7) Upsets of the Week:
— San Jose State (+20.5) 31, Arkansas 24
— UCLA (+18.5) 67, Washington State 63
— Buffalo (+14) 38, Temple 22
— Pitt (+12.5) 35, UCF 34
— SMU (+9.5) 41, TCU 38

6) I-A teams who almost lost to a I-AA team:
— Eastern Michigan 34, Central Connecticut 29— EMU blocked a punt for a TD with 0:10 left, avoiding a horrendous loss after they upset Illinois last week.

5) Pittsburgh 35, UCF 34— Panthers scored on a “Philly Special” 4th down trick play with 0:56 left to hand the Golden Knights their first loss of the season. UCF had won its previous 27 regular season games; they rallied back from down 21-0 in this game, but couldn’t hang on.

4) Washington 45, BYU 19— BYU needs to get into a league; their schedule is stupid:

First 4 games: Utah, @ Tennessee, USC, Washington.
Next 8 games: @ Toledo, @ USF, Boise St, @ Utah St, Liberty, Idaho St, UMass, @ San Diego St.

Not a very well-balanced schedule. Most schools spread out their more attractive games.

3) USC 30, Utah 23— Trojans’ 3rd-string QB Matt Fink was 21-30/351 passing; USC has really good receivers, but they’re running out of quarterbacks.

2) Nebraska 42, Illinois 38- Illini led 35-21 with 3:00 left in third quarter, but couldn’t hold it.

— Total yardage: 671-299, Nebraska
— Illinois was +3 in turnovers (4-1).
— Illinois completed only 9-24 passes.
— Cornhuskers ran ball for 344 yards.

1) Scott Frost is the football coach at Nebraska; his brother Steve is the PA announcer at Stanford football games.

[StarDust Bum]

Semifinals have home squads up 2-0

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) Jonquel Jones and Courtney Williams got the Connecticut Sun going in the third quarter and the team never looked back.

Jones scored 27 points and Williams added 25 to help the Sun rout the Los Angeles Sparks 94-68 on Thursday night and take a 2-0 lead in the WNBA semifinals.

''I think we brought a different type of energy. LA came out and hit us in our mouth,'' Williams said of the Sparks' early lead. ''You know we had to come out and withstand their runs, stay mentally strong. We know basketball is a game of runs. We went on our run and kept our foot on the gas.''

Game 3 of the best-of-five series is Sunday in Long Beach, California, as the Sparks' normal home in Los Angeles isn't available.

''Right now at this time of the year our home court at Staples is prioritized with the Kings and their preseason games. So that's how it is,'' said Nneka Oguwmike, who led the Sparks with 18 points.

The Sun led by one at the half before Williams helped blow the game open. She scored 13 of her points in the third quarter to the delight of her dad, Don, who was courtside wearing her No. 10 jersey. He was jumping up and down on every one of her baskets and waving a towel and a cardboard cutout of his daughter's head. After the final buzzer, he ran on the court and picked up his daughter in a bear hug.

''Having my dad there is crazy. It's an amazing feeling to look over there and see someone bringing more energy than me,'' Williams said. ''He's been here since I was born, obviously. ... It takes me to another level to be able to look over to him and him telling me to stop turning the ball over. ... Telling me free throws are free, don't miss no free throws. Having him here, I love it.''

Connecticut led 70-57 after three quarters and scored 10 of the first 12 points in the fourth to dash any hopes Los Angeles had of a comeback. Sparks coach Derek Fisher pulled his starters with 5:31 left and his team down 23 points.

Riquna Williams added 14 for the Sparks, who will have to win three straight to make the WNBA Finals for the third time in five years.

''We weren't able to sustain the fight and energy it takes to win these games on the road,'' Fisher said. ''Credit them for how hard they were able to play.''

Riquna Williams had a dismal Game 1, missing eight of her nine shots and scoring just two points in the nine-point loss. She got out to a quick start on Thursday, scoring seven points in the first five minutes. Los Angeles led 16-6 midway through the period when Connecticut called timeout. The Sun then scored nine straight to get within one before the Sparks closed the quarter with the final six points.

The Sun battled back and took their first lead of the game with 1:04 left in the half on a basket by Jones. Connecticut led 41-40 at the half. Jones had 15 points for Connecticut while Ogwumike made all six of her shots and had 12 for Los Angeles.

IRONWOMAN

Alyssa Thomas played the first 74 minutes of the series before finally subbing out for the first time with 5:31 left in the game and her team up comfortably. She finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and four assists and helped hold Sparks star Candace Parker to just three points.

CHAIRWOMEN OF THE BOARDS

The 29 rebounds by Connecticut in the first half broke the WNBA playoff mark for a half. Four teams held the previous record of 28, most recently the 2017 Mystics. Connecticut finished the game with 46 to Los Angeles' 24.

''The rebounding is what stands out on the stat sheet tonight,'' Miller said. ''It carried us when we were struggling in the first half.''

[StarDust Bum]

WNBA
Long Sheet

Sunday, September 22

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CONNECTICUT (25 - 11) at LOS ANGELES (23 - 14) - 9/22/2019, 7:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
CONNECTICUT is 4-12 ATS (-9.2 Units) in road games this season.
CONNECTICUT is 4-11 ATS (-8.1 Units) in a road game where where the total is greater than or equal to 150 this season.
CONNECTICUT is 1-9 ATS (-8.9 Units) in road games after scoring 75 points or more this season.
LOS ANGELES is 6-0 ATS (+6.0 Units) as a home favorite of 3.5 to 6 points this season.
LOS ANGELES is 13-4 ATS (+8.6 Units) in home games this season.
LOS ANGELES is 12-4 ATS (+7.6 Units) in a home game where where the total is greater than or equal to 150 this season.
LOS ANGELES is 9-1 ATS (+7.9 Units) in home games in August or September games this season.
LOS ANGELES is 16-5 ATS (+10.5 Units) on Sunday games over the last 2 seasons.
LOS ANGELES is 8-1 ATS (+6.9 Units) in home games after a loss by 10 points or more over the last 3 seasons.
LOS ANGELES is 11-2 ATS (+8.8 Units) in home games when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
LOS ANGELES is 7-1 ATS (+5.9 Units) in home games when playing against a team with a winning record after 15+ games this season.
LOS ANGELES is 10-22 ATS (-14.2 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 77+ points/game after 15+ games over the last 2 seasons.
LOS ANGELES is 17-29 ATS (-14.9 Units) versus poor defensive teams - allowing 77+ points/game over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
LOS ANGELES is 6-5 against the spread versus CONNECTICUT over the last 3 seasons
CONNECTICUT is 6-5 straight up against LOS ANGELES over the last 3 seasons
8 of 11 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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WASHINGTON (27 - 8) at LAS VEGAS (22 - 14) - 9/22/2019, 5:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
WASHINGTON is 25-46 ATS (-25.6 Units) in road games on Sunday games since 1997.
WASHINGTON is 24-13 ATS (+9.7 Units) after a non-conference game over the last 2 seasons.
LAS VEGAS is 14-22 ATS (-10.2 Units) in all games this season.
LAS VEGAS is 7-19 ATS (-13.9 Units) after scoring 75 points or more this season.
LAS VEGAS is 8-18 ATS (-11.8 Units) in home games when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 3 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
LAS VEGAS is 6-3 against the spread versus WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
WASHINGTON is 6-3 straight up against LAS VEGAS over the last 3 seasons
6 of 9 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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WNBA

Sunday, September 22

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Trend Report
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Las Vegas Aces
Las Vegas is 3-7 ATS in its last 10 games
Las Vegas is 3-6 SU in its last 9 games
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Las Vegas's last 14 games
Las Vegas is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games at home
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Las Vegas's last 5 games at home
Las Vegas is 8-3 ATS in its last 11 games when playing Washington
Las Vegas is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing Washington
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Las Vegas's last 5 games when playing Washington
Las Vegas is 3-9 ATS in its last 12 games when playing at home against Washington
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Las Vegas's last 7 games when playing at home against Washington
Washington Mystics
Washington is 9-4 ATS in its last 13 games
Washington is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Washington's last 17 games
Washington is 10-3 SU in its last 13 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Washington's last 6 games on the road
Washington is 3-8 ATS in its last 11 games when playing Las Vegas
Washington is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing Las Vegas
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games when playing Las Vegas
Washington is 9-3 ATS in its last 12 games when playing on the road against Las Vegas
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Washington's last 7 games when playing on the road against Las Vegas

Los Angeles Sparks
Los Angeles is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games
Los Angeles is 16-7 SU in its last 23 games
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Los Angeles's last 6 games
Los Angeles is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games at home
Los Angeles is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Los Angeles is 2-6 SU in its last 8 games when playing Connecticut
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Los Angeles's last 5 games when playing Connecticut
Los Angeles is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against Connecticut
Los Angeles is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against Connecticut
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Los Angeles's last 5 games when playing at home against Connecticut
Connecticut Sun
Connecticut is 16-5 SU in its last 21 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Connecticut's last 7 games
Connecticut is 4-10-1 ATS in its last 15 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Connecticut's last 6 games on the road
Connecticut is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games when playing Los Angeles
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Connecticut's last 5 games when playing Los Angeles
Connecticut is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Los Angeles
Connecticut is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Los Angeles
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Connecticut's last 5 games when playing on the road against Los Angeles


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WNBA
Dunkel

Sunday, September 22


Washington @ Las Vegas

Game 621-622
September 22, 2019 @ 5:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Washington
121.478
Las Vegas
110.618
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Washington
by 11
179
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Washington
by 3
181 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Washington
(-3); Under

Connecticut @ Los Angeles

Game 619-620
September 22, 2019 @ 7:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Connecticut
108.590
Los Angeles
117.199
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Los Angeles
by 8 1/2
158
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Los Angeles
by 5 1/2
161 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Los Angeles
(-5 1/2); Under

[StarDust Bum]

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
GAME TIME(ET) PICK UNITS

WAS at LV 05:00 PM
WAS -3.0
O 181.5

CONN at LA 07:00 PM
LA -5.5
O 161.5

[StarDust Bum]

Sun advance to finals; Aces avoid elimination
September 22, 2019
By The Associated Press

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) Jasmine Thomas had 29 points and Courtney Williams added 17 points and 13 rebounds to lead Connecticut to a 78-56 win in Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals and give the Sun a sweep of the series Sunday.

Connecticut advances to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2005, where it will play either Washington or Las Vegas. The Mystics have a 2-1 series lead over the Aces.

Nneka Ogwumike had 17 points to lead the Sparks. Candace Parker was held to just four points. She played just 11 minutes in the game. She sat out the second quarter and took one shot in the third quarter before going to the bench with 5:54 left. She didn't return to the game.

Thomas scored 14 of her 29 points in the third quarter on 6-for-7 shooting to lead the Sun to a 63-44 lead heading into the final quarter. Thomas made big shot after big shot for the Sun. Connecticut led 40-32 at halftime. Thomas had a team-best 11 points in the first half on 3 of 4 shots - all 3-pointers. She took the Sun's first shot of the third quarter, a 3-pointer, and made it.

Williams scored the first seven points for the Sun. The Sparks starters combined for just seven points in the first quarter and were a combined 3-for-15 from the field.

The Sun shot 43.8 percent in the first half while Los Angeles was just 34.9 percent from the field. The Sparks made just 1 of 13 3-pointers in the first half.

The game was played at Long Beach State because the Sparks' normal home Staples Center wasn't available.

ACES 92, MYSTICS 75

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Liz Cambage scored 28 points to lead the Aces to a victory over the Mystics in Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals.

The fourth-seeded Aces staved off elimination after losing the first two games of the series in Washington D.C. The Mystics had their eight-game winning streak snapped, as they hadn't lost a game since dropping an 85-78 decision in Chicago on Aug. 23.

A'Ja Wilson added 21 points and eight rebounds, while Kayla McBride had 18 points.

League MVP Elena Delle Donne led the Mystics with 22 points. Kristi Toliver added 14 points, while Aerial Powers chipped in 13.

After falling behind 33-31 midway through the second quarter, the Aces used a 12-0 run in a four-minute span to open up a 10-point lead and never looked back.

The Aces carried the momentum into the second half, opening the third quarter on a 13-6 run.

The Mystics, who set a franchise high with 103 points in Game 2 and had scored at least 90 points in eight of their last 10 games, fell to 0-6 when scoring less than 79 points this season. Washington which is 26-0 when scoring 85 or more points this season, finished the game hitting just 38.6 percent (27 of 70) from the floor.

The Aces, who had lost seven of nine prior to their series-saving win, finished 35 of 72 (48.6 percent) from the floor, including 6 of 14 from 3-point range.

[StarDust Bum]

SCHEDULE FOR TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 2019
Time (ET) Away Home Site
3:00 PM Connecticut Sun Los Angeles Sparks Staples Center
3:00 PM Washington Mystics Las Vegas Aces Mandalay Bay Events Center

SCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2019
Time (ET) Away Home Site
12:00 PM Las Vegas Aces Washington Mystics The Entertainment and Sports Arena
12:00 PM Los Angeles Sparks Connecticut Sun Mohegan Sun Arena


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WNBA SEPT. PLAYOFFS OPINIONS AND BEST BETS: ALL BASED ON 5 UNITS

DATE W-L-T % UNITS RECORD

09/22/2019.......0-4-0........0.00%.......-22.00
09/19/2019.......2-1-1........66.67%......+4.50
09/17/2019.......1-3-0........25.00%......-11.50
09/15/2019.......3-1-0........75.00%.......+9.50
09/11/2019...... 3-1-0 .......75.00% ......+9.50

Total.................9-10-1.......47.36%......-10.00


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BEST BETS:

DATE........................ATS............. ..UNITS...............O/U..............UNITS...........TOTALS

09/22/2019..............0 - 2................-11.00.............0 - 2..............-11.00...........-22.00
09/19/2019..............1 - 0................+5.00..............1 - 1..............-0.50............+4.50
09/17/2019..............0 - 2................-11.00..............1 - 1.............-0.50............-11.50
09/15/2019..............1 - 1................-0.50................2 - 0............+10.00..........+9.50
09/11/2019..............1 - 1................-0.50................2 - 0............+10.00..........+9.50

Totals......................3 - 6 ...............-14.00................6 - 4...........+8.00............-6.00

[StarDust Bum]

Armadillo: Tuesday's six-pack

Six interesting spreads for this week’s college football card:

— Penn State (-6.5) @ Maryland

— Arizona State @ California (-4.5)

— Wake Forest (-6.5) @ Boston College

— Iowa State (-2.5) @ Baylor

— Minnesota @ Purdue (-1)

— Washington State # Utah (-5)


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Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but……

13) Bears 31, Redskins 15:
— Trubisky was 20-23/173 passing in first half.
— Chicago led 28-3 at half, but it was 28-13 and Redskins had ball on Chicago’s 15-yard line before Keenum lost a fumble.


— If Keenum isn’t going to protect the ball, might as well start rookie QB Haskins now; Redskins’ bye isn’t until Week 10. Haskins needs to learn; you learn by doing.
— Last 18 times Redskins hosted Monday Night Football, they lost 17 times.

12) San Diego Padres fired manager Andy Green Saturday, but they probably fired the wrong guy. GM AJ Preller has been GM of the Padres since August 2014; since ’15, San Diego is 338-454, their last playoff appearance was in 2006.

Preller was once suspended by MLB for a month in the late 2000’s when he worked for the Texas Rangers in their international operations department; MLB later suspended Preller for another 30 days without pay in 2016 following an investigation into his trade of P Drew Pomeranz from San Diego to the Red Sox.

The guy is a cheater who got caught by MLB twice; he hasn’t improved the Padres very much, despite San Diego’s ownership shelling out major money on free agents Eric Hosmer and Manny Machado. How does he keep his job?

11) Royals’ manager Ned Yost, who won a World Series title four years ago, will retire after this week’s games wind up. Yost managed the Royals since 2010.

10) When Buffalo Bills scored a TD early in their game Sunday, Cincinnati jumped offsides on the PAT, so Buffalo took the penalty, went for two points and grabbed an early 8-0 lead. Not a lot of coaches do that.

9) SouthPoint posts a fun prop on football days; which team will score the first TD in the early games? Green Bay (8-1) was Sunday’s winner this past week.

8) Milwaukee Brewers are averaging 35,870 fans per home game; Minnesota Twins are averaging 28,191, even though they’re having a great breakthrough season. Milwaukee has a dome at Miller Park, so fans never have to worry about the weather; Minnesota doesn’t.

Why didn’t the Twins build a retractable domed stadium? They cost themselves a lot of money both in April and September, when the weather is often dicey.

7) Last week, NBA changed a rule, making teams set their starting lineup 30 minutes before tip-off, as opposed to 10 minutes before tip-off, which helps coaches and gamblers.

6) On April 10, the Indians lost 4-1 in Detroit; it was the only time in 19 meetings this season that the hapless Tigers beat Cleveland. Indians are in a dogfight for the AL Wild Card; they’re 18-1 vs Detroit, 74-63 vs everyone else.

5) Baltimore Orioles have lost 100+ games for the second year in a row for the first time ever; hard to believe that they were in the playoffs three short years ago, losing the Wild Card game 5-2 to Toronto in 11 innings.

4) Handicapping is difficult: we mentioned the other day how seven QB’s started in NFL’s Week 3 who didn’t start in Week 1; you figure those teams might be at a disadvantage, but the seven teams went 6-1 against the spread in Week 3.

3) World Series starts the same night as the NBA regular season, which is a little bit odd on the NBA’s part. Maybe they figure the same people aren’t watching both sports.

2) Miami Dolphins are 17-point home underdogs agains the Chargers Sunday; this is only the fifth time since 1980 that an NFL team was a road favorite of 17+ points.

Biggest NFL pointspread ever? The winless ’76 Tampa Bay Buccaneers were +27 at Pittsburgh and lost 42-0, but they were an expansion team, and a very bad one.

1) Tip of the cap to the people at the Apple Store in Crossgates **** here in Albany; picked up a new iPhone Friday, and as usual, their service was excellent. Scott was very patient and answered all my questions; he roots for the Dolphins, so he has to be patient.

[StarDust Bum]

WNBA
Dunkel

Tuesday, September 24


Washington @ Las Vegas

Game 625-626
September 24, 2019 @ 9:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Washington
116.763
Las Vegas
115.333
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Washington
by 1 1/2
177
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Washington
by 4
180 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Las Vegas
(+4); Under




WNBA
Long Sheet

Tuesday, September 24

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WASHINGTON (27 - 9) at LAS VEGAS (23 - 14) - 9/24/2019, 9:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
WASHINGTON is 24-14 ATS (+8.6 Units) after a non-conference game over the last 2 seasons.
LAS VEGAS is 17-33 ATS (-19.3 Units) in home games on Tuesday since 1997.
LAS VEGAS is 18-36 ATS (-21.6 Units) in home games off an upset win as an underdog since 1997.
LAS VEGAS is 1-7 ATS (-6.7 Units) after a win by 10 points or more this season.
LAS VEGAS is 8-19 ATS (-12.9 Units) after scoring 75 points or more this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
LAS VEGAS is 7-3 against the spread versus WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
WASHINGTON is 6-4 straight up against LAS VEGAS over the last 3 seasons
6 of 10 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

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WNBA

Tuesday, September 24

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Las Vegas Aces
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Las Vegas's last 5 games
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Las Vegas's last 7 games at home
Las Vegas is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games when playing Washington
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Las Vegas's last 5 games when playing Washington
Las Vegas is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games when playing at home against Washington
Las Vegas is 4-9 ATS in its last 13 games when playing at home against Washington
Las Vegas is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against Washington
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Las Vegas's last 8 games when playing at home against Washington
Washington Mystics
Washington is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Washington's last 18 games
Washington is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
Washington is 10-4 SU in its last 14 games on the road
Washington is 2-6 ATS in its last 8 games when playing Las Vegas
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games when playing Las Vegas
Washington is 9-4 ATS in its last 13 games when playing on the road against Las Vegas
Washington is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Las Vegas
Washington is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Las Vegas
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Washington's last 8 games when playing on the road against Las Vegas

[StarDust Bum]

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
GAME TIME(ET) PICK UNITS

WAS at LV 09:00 PM

LV +4.0

O 180.5

[StarDust Bum]

Mystics Top Aces 94-90, Advance To WNBA Finals

LAS VEGAS (AP) Elena Delle Donne scored 25 points, and the Washington Mystics earned a return trip to the WNBA Finals, outlasting the Las Vegas Aces 94-90 to close out their semifinal series on Tuesday night.

The Mystics, who eliminated the Aces in four games, will host the Connecticut Sun in Game 1 of the Finals on Sunday. Washington was swept by Seattle in last year’s Finals.

Emma Meesseman bounced back from her dismal performance in Game 3, when she was held to just six points, by scoring 22 points for Washington. Kristi Toliver added 20 and Natasha Cloud chipped in with 11.

Las Vegas built a 10-point lead midway through the second quarter, but the Mystics quickly turned things around. Toliver, Delle Donne, Cloud and Meesseman scored consecutive buckets to ignite a 16-4 run that closed the half and gave the Mystics a 45-43 lead at the break.

Washington carried its momentum into the second half when Toliver opened the quarter with a 3-pointer in front of the Aces bench and went on to score 10 of the Mystics’ first 15 points in the third.

Las Vegas wasn’t done, though, as it erased a seven-point deficit and closed the third quarter on a 15-7 run that included five points each from Plum and WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby and gave the Aces a 68-67 lead.

League MVP Delle Donne and Meesseman took over in the fourth quarter. They scored 21 of Washington’s 26 points in the period to seal the win.

Hamby had a chance to tie the game with 3.4 seconds left but missed a 3-pointer from the corner.

TIP-INS

Mystics: It won’t show on the stat sheet, but Aerial Powers gave Washington the blue-collar support it needed, including a spark just before its second-quarter run. Powers, who finished with seven points and five rebounds in 16 minutes, stood her ground against a driving Hamby and took the charge on the baseline with 5:40 left, with the Aces leading 34-27. The Mystics outscored Las Vegas 18-9 from there.

Aces: Kayla McBride, who averaged 7.5 points over the last six games of the regular season, came in averaging 14.7 per game on 50% shooting in the playoffs. But she went just 2 of 10 from the floor Tuesday night, including 1 of 5 from 3-point range.

NBA INVASION

LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma and Quinn Cook of the Los Angeles Lakers were sitting courtside. Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green also attended.

UP NEXT

Washington will host Connecticut in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday.

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FINALS: BEST-OF-FIVE SERIES

Mystics, Sun Set To Clash In 2019 WNBA Finals Presented By YouTube TV

The No. 1 Washington Mystics will face the No. 2 Connecticut Sun starting Sunday, September 29th in an East Coast WNBA Finals showdown. The Sun see their first Finals since 2005 while the Mystics look to take home the hardware a year removed from falling to the Storm in the championship round.

Finals Schedule

Game 1: Sun. Sep. 29, CON at WAS, 3:00PM, ESPN

Game 2: Tue. Oct. 1, CON at WAS, 8:00PM, ESPN

Game 3: Sun. Oct. 6, WAS at CON, 3:30PM, ABC

Game 4*: Tue. Oct. 8, WAS at CON, 8:00PM, ESPN2

Game 5*: Thu. Oct. 10, CON at WAS, 8:00PM, ESPN2

*if necessary

Season Series (CON Won 2-1)

May 25: Sun 84, Mystics 69

June 11: Sun 83, Mystics 75

June 29: Mystics 102, Sun 59

[StarDust Bum]

Wednesday’s 6-pack

Six biggest NFL point spreads, all-time:

1976— Steelers (-27) W42-0 vs Tampa Bay

2013— Broncos (-26) W35-19 vs Jacksonville

2007— Patriots (-25) W31-28 vs Philly

1993— 49ers (-24) W21-8 vs Cincy

1977— Cowboys (-23) W23-7 vs Tampa Bay

2019— Cowboys (-22.5) W31-6 vs Miami

Quote of the Day
“I don’t think I ever saw a case where he threw a player under the bus. As a player, we knew he had our back.”
Ian Kennedy, talking about manager Ned Yost, who is retiring

Wednesday’s quiz
Mark Wahlberg starred in a 2006 movie called Invincible, about a 30-year old bartender who made the ’76 Philadelphia Eagles as a special teams player; who coached the ’76 Eagles?
(Hint: he won a Super Bowl as a head coach)

Tuesday’s quiz
Mark Rypien was QB the last time the Redskins won a Super Bowl.

Monday’s quiz
Jim Mora Sr coached the Saints and the Colts.

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Wednesday’s List of 13: Mid-week musings……

13) If Tony Romo makes the cut at the Safeway Open PGA event this week, then Boomer Esiason will move from the NFL Today studio to the broadcast booth to call the Bears-Vikings game Sunday afternoon with Jim Nantz.

12) Steelers’ QB Mason Rudolph completed 14 of 27 passes Sunday in San Francisco, wth TD passes of 76-39 yards; those two TD passes were the only Rudolph completions that traveled more than one yard downfield in the air.

Will be interesting to see how opponents react to playing these new QB’s once they have more film to study on them.

11) Cam Newton is dealing with a Lisfranc (foot) injury and is out indefinitely; Kyle Allen is now Carolina’s starting QB for the foreseeable future.

10) Golden Nugget posted a pic last week of someone winning $20,000 at video poker; he had four deuces and an ace- the problem is, the person was playing $125 a hand— I can’t even imagine playing that much money on video poker.

$1.25 a hand is my limit on video poker; then again, I’m a nickel/dimer, but still……video poker goes pretty fast. $125 a hand can get expensive pretty quickly.

9) Cleveland Browns opened at +5 vs Baltimore Sunday but were quickly bet up to +7; four of their next five games are on the road. Lot of pressure on a rookie head coach to live up to expectations that may not have been realistic.

8) Orioles drew 1.31M fans in 80 home games this year, the lowest in Camden Yards history, and lowest for Baltimore in a non-strike season since 1978 at old Memorial Stadium.

7) Good news: San Francisco Giants finished 42-39 on the road this year, after going 57-105 on foreign soil the last two years combined.

Bad news: This will be the first season since 1940 where the Giants posted a winning road record but had a losing overall record.

6) In Buster Olney’s baseball column on ESPN.com this week, he describes the Mets as “……..the team generally regarded by rival executives as baseball’s model for dysfunction.” Not good.

5) Calvin Johnson was a great WR for the Detroit Lions; when he was in high school, he finished 2nd in the voting for 2003 Georgia 4A High School Offensive Player of the Year.

Who won the award that year? Rams’ head coach Sean McVay.

4) Modern baseball announcers on local TV:
— Home team hits a homer: Player A has great power!!! Look how far he hit that ball the other way. He worked out all winter to get stronger.

— Visiting team hits a homer: Did you know homers went up 57% in AAA this year? Why is baseball using a juiced ball this season? Player B lunged at the ball and still hit it out!!!

3) So far this month, college football teams who were voted into the AP top 25 for the first time this season are 1-6 vs spread in their next game. Kansas State fits into that category this week.

2) RIP Texas/Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead, who died Saturday at age 32; he was found dead overnight on Saturday in Austin. Police are investigating the death but do not suspect foul play.

Snead competed with Colt McCoy for the Longhorns’ starting job in 2006 after Vince Young’s departure; he played in eight games in 2006, completing 26-of-49 passes for 371 yards, but then transferred to Ole Miss, where he started for two years (2008-09).

Snead skipped his senior season at Ole Miss to enter the 2010 NFL draft; he went undrafted and was later cut after signing with Tampa Bay.

1) Are podcasts replacing reading as a way of getting information? If so, that is kind of sad, because writing is such a cool thing to do. Seems like podcasts are a much lazier way of getting information out. You really have to spend your time wisely, and pick podcasts that are well thought out and informative, not just people running their mouths and getting paid for it.