It’s a battle of two Western Conference teams, as the Las Vegas Aces are on the road at the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday. The Las Vegas Aces, despite being the defending league champion, have gotten off to a slow start this season. Las Vegas is just 5-5 on the season, and fourth in the West. The Aces have dropped three straight games. Las Vegas is coming off a home loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday.
For Phoenix, they are 6-6 on the season. The Mercury are coming off back to back wins. Phoenix beat the Dallas Wings on the road in overtime on Sunday. That was their last time out. With their 6-6 record, they are currently third in the Western Conference standings.
Phoenix comes into this game as the home underdog. Las Vegas is still the favorite here. The Las Vegas Aces are -5.5 over the Phoenix Mercury in this tilt. The total for the game is set at 166.5.
Phoenix Wants to Keep Rolling
In the double overtime win for Phoenix, they saw three players score 20+ points. Brittney Griner played 38 minutes, and scored 24 points in the game. The top scorer was Kahleah Copper. She scored 29 points, despite going 9 for 22 from the field. The other was Diana Taurasi, with 20 points in the game.
The Mercury are up to 7th in the league in scoring. They are scoring 80.3 points per game. Phoenix is the second best three point shooting team in the league. They are averaging just shy of 10 made three point shots per game. Phoenix is fifth in rebounding, as they are ripping down 35 per game.
Phoenix will remain at home for their next two games. The Mercury will host the Seattle Storm on Sunday, and then the New York Liberty on Tuesday. After that, the Mercury will go to Minnesota next weekend.
Odd Play for Aces
Las Vegas comes into the game third in the league in scoring. The Aces are scoring 85.7 points per game. During their three game losing streak, the Aces have allowed more than 91 points per game. That is something they will have to get figured out if they want to get back to their greatness of a season ago.
The top scorer for the Aces has been A’ja Wilson. She has been great with more than 28 points per game, and 11.4 rebounds. Kelsey Plum has been solid for the Aces as well with 18.7 points per game, while Jackie Young is third with 16.9 points per game. In the recent loss, the Aces saw Wilson go for 28 and Plum for 13. Young scored just 6.
The Las Vegas Aces will head home after this game and play three in a row. First is the New York Liberty on Saturday. Next, the Aces will host the Seattle Storm on Wednesday. Finally, they will see the Connecticut Sun on Friday.
Aces Top Mercury
Las Vegas is going to get back on track here. Despite being on the road, they are still the better team. The Aces win this game by 6 points and cover the spread. Our final bet for this game is the Las Vegas Aces -5.5 over the Phoenix Mercury.