- What: WNBA Regular Season Game
- When: Tuesday, September 17
- Who: Las Vegas Aces vs. Seattle Storm
- Time: 10:00 p.m. ET
- Where: Climate Pledge Arena (Seattle, WA)
With a victory over the Seattle Storm on Tuesday night, the Las Vegas Aces can secure the No. 4 seed in the WNBA standings. Given their 25-13 record, Las Vegas can not enhance their playoff seeding.
Las Vegas Aces
The Las Vegas Aces currently hold the fourth seed and are 2 games behind the Connecticut Sun in the standings. The intrigue in this matchup is that the Storm and the Aces will likely face each other in the first round of the playoffs.
Tonight will determine which team gets home-court advantage. The Aces are finding their rhythm just in time for the postseason. They are set to play against a depleted Storm team missing two key starters.
A-one of ONE, who stands in no one’s shadow!! Your LIGHT, GIFTS and CALLING can’t be contained and are irrevocable!! You are a RIDICULOUS basketball player ???????????? and A-One kind and beautiful person!! CONGRATS ON 1K !! ???? ya !! @_ajawilson22 pic.twitter.com/MOcR7qjV05
— Becky Hammon (@BeckyHammon) September 17, 2024
The Aces enter this game with a three-game winning streak, and A’ja Wilson has been delivering MVP performances during the final stretch of the 2024 season, propelling her team to contention and a top-four seed.
The Storm are missing two key players, Jewell Loyd and Ezi Magbegor. The Aces have held their opponents to an average of only 73 points in their last eight games.
Considering that Seattle is without its top scorer and another important starter, it will be challenging for them to break this defensive trend.
Seattle Storm
With Jewell Loyd sidelined, Skylar Diggins-Smith is expected to take on a significant offensive role against Las Vegas.
Diggins-Smith has been performing exceptionally well following the Olympic break, averaging 18.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game.
Tonight's five ⛈️ pic.twitter.com/umxUskRI4p
— Seattle Storm (@seattlestorm) September 18, 2024
The Storm are also coming into this game with momentum, having secured four consecutive victories. They have had difficulty maintaining consistency, especially when playing against top-tier teams like the Aces.
Although their defense is generally reliable, it has shown vulnerabilities against high-scoring opponents. Their success in this upcoming game will largely depend on their capacity to limit A’ja Wilson and the formidable offense of the Aces.
Aces-Storm Best Bet
The Aces are catching a break here with 2 key starters being out for the Storm. Despite this one being on the road for them, the Storm had no answers for A’ja Wilson when they were healthy.
The spread opened at Aces -4.5 and has ballooned all the way up to 8.5 points. The spread feels like it has been hit by Aces bettors already, so I’d avoid that.
However, the total has dropped from 165 to 162, which seems interesting to me, because I’m expecting the Storm to increase their pace of play in an attempt to negate the injuries to their starters.
The Under has hit in 7 of the last 8 Aces games, but in this matchup I’m actually backing the Over. Over 162.5 is the best bet in this one.
We should be in for a high-scoring game and I wouldn’t be surprised if A’ja scored 30+ points again.
Aces looking to secure the fourth seed with a win against Storm
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Tony Reyes is a sports betting analyst and reporter for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X @TonyParlay.
