Monday Betting Recaps
Monday was a mixed bag in the sportsbooks as dogs continued to bark in MLB and with the Golden Knights upsetting the Oilers in the NHL playoffs, but NBA favorites went 2-0 SU and ATS.
Well, that last one is debatable. We graded the Lakers as closing at -2.5 vs. the Warriors and covering in their 104-101 victory, but as we point out below in our recaps, there were plenty of early bettors who either won on the underdog Warriors +3.5 as that was the opening line at a lot of books on Saturday night and still available at some books well into Sunday night before a lot of bettors (including yours truly) grabbed +3 and ending up with a push.
But as I’ve written many times in my columns over the years, I grade these betting results on Twitter @ViewFromVegas and here at VSiN vs. what I call my VFV Consensus Closing Lines that I get from the average of the Vegas sportsbooks on the Don Best Odds screen. I don’t think it’s right to use just one book and instead we’re looking for the best representative number for the overall betting market. Now, some say we should use the “most common” number that everyone was able to get, but we still believe the best number for our purposes is the consensus closing line as it includes input from everyone – oddsmakers that set the opening line, bookmakers that might tweak the line and post openers, early sharp bettors, the betting public as a whole, the late bettors, etc.
But enough of that. Let’s get to the specific details from Monday with our daily sports recaps and also update the side and total records in each sport.
NBA: Lakers (-2.5) covered vs. the closing number in their 104-101 win vs. the Warriors Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series. Early Golden State backers cashed on +3.5 or pushed on +3 (game stayed Under betting total of 228 points). Earlier, Heat (-4.5) covered in their 109-101 win vs. the Knicks to also take a 3-1 lead (pushed on closing total of 210). The "zig-zag" (aka “loser of the last”) went 0-2 ATS on the night with the Knicks and Warriors both coming up short after losing the previous games.
More NBA: Faves lead 12-3 SU & 11-4 ATS in this round with 1 pick-’em. Home teams lead 12-4 SU & 11-5 ATS. Overs still lead 8-6-2. Overall in the playoffs, faves lead 40-18 SU and 34-23-1 ATS (59.6%) with 1 PK. Home teams lead 38-21 SU and 35-23-1 ATS (60.3%%). Overs lead 29-28-2. The "zig-zag" dropped to 6-6 ATS in this round and 25-21-1 ATS (54.3%).
NHL: Golden Knights (+160 road underdogs) upset Oilers 5-1 to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series (game stayed Under betting total of 6.5). Dogs improved to 7-5 this round. Home teams dipped to 7-5. Overs also dipped to 7-5. Overall in the playoffs, dogs lead 33-27 with 2 PKs. Road teams lead 36-26. Overs dipped to 33-29. The "zig-zag" improved to 5-3 in this round and 29-21 overall.
MLB: Dogs came out ahead again on Monday as they went 6-5 (54-42 in the last 7 days) with the biggest upsets by the Nationals (+191 in 5-1 win at Giants), Tigers (+175 in 6-2 win at Guardians) and Rangers (+153 in 2-1 win at Mariners). Home teams went 6-5 while Unders led 6-5. On the season, faves lead 307-215 with 7 PKs. Home teams 274-253 with 2 neutral sites. Overs 259-248-22 (51.1%) with 1 no-action.
