The Boston Celtics, who defeated the defending champion Golden State Warriors 92-88 on Thursday, have the league’s best record against the spread at 13-2-1. The Philadelphia 76ers are second with an 11-3 ATS mark.
Todd Dewey
Todd Dewey covers sports betting for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
tdewey@reviewjournal.com … @tdewey33 on Twitter. 702-383-0354
The other lesson we learned was that it’s better to be called a square than a loser.
In what shapes up as a virtual College Football Playoff elimination game, Notre Dame is favored by 3 to 3½ points over Miami at Las Vegas sports books.
If not for a pair of great escapes by Atlanta (4-4) in wins at Chicago and Detroit, its season could be classified a disaster.
Houston furniture store owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale said he’ll refund about $10 million to customers who cashed in on a promotion offering refunds of any mattress purchase of at least $3,000 when the Astros won the World Series.
Perpetually dour-looking Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s trademark blank facial expression can double as his Halloween mask.
Facing a liability of about $5 million if the Astros upset the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston furniture store owner Jim McIngvale hedged a promotion through insurance policies and bets on the Astros at Las Vegas sports books.
After a NFL Week 6 dominated by underdogs and Las Vegas sports books, the betting public bounced back a bit in Week 7, when Sunday favorites went 8-3-2 ATS.
Cleveland moved from a 1-2 favorite to win the NBA’s Eastern Conference to a 1-3 favorite after Celtics forward Gordon Hayward’s gruesome injury.
The Astros are a minus-175 series favorite over the Yankees (plus-155) and a minus-160 favorite in Friday’s Game 1, which pits Dallas Keuchel against Masahiro Tanaka (plus-150).
Steelers quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger was picked off four times in the second half and two were returned for touchdowns as Jacksonville burned the betting public in the best decision of the day for Las Vegas sports books.
Stanford opened as a 6½-point favorite over No. 2o Utah, but sharp money on the home underdog has since moved the line to 4½.
While we tore up our two-team teaser on Atlanta and New England over a plate of cold nachos, a CG Technology bettor cashed a $2,000 two-team money-line parlay on the Bills (plus-340) and Panthers (plus-400) that paid $42,000.
The Trojans have won 13 straight games — the nation’s second-longest streak — and are 4½-point favorites over Washington State, which is 4-0 for the first time since 2001.
Atlanta escaped with a 30-26 win and cover when Matthew Stafford’s apparent winning touchdown pass to Golden Tate was overturned to end the game.
