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The Seattle Storm take on the Las Vegas Aces. Our WNBA Playoffs odds series has our Storm Aces prediction, odds, and pick. Find out how to watch Storm Aces.
The Las Vegas Aces, for the first 30 games of the 40-game WNBA season, looked like a team which was laboring under the burden of being the two-time defending WNBA champions. The Aces were taking every opponent's best shot, night after night. Playing that random Thursday game in early July was a huge deal for a Vegas opponent. The Aces were trying to manage their energy. It makes sense on a general level. Still, it was surprising to see the Aces continuously not find big surges in a lot of their games. Everyone would wait for a five- or seven-minute sequence in which the Aces would, like any great basketball team, uncork a 17-4 knockout punch and take control of a game the way the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx have been doing for most of the season.
Through 30 games this season, the Liberty were 25-5. The Lynx were 22-8. The Aces were just 18-12, often closer to the middle-tier teams in the league (Seattle, Indiana, Phoenix) than to the top three of New York, Minnesota and Connecticut. Coach Becky Hammon knew her team was not going to have it easy this season with every other WNBA squad gunning for the Aces. However, it was time to either put up or shut up, to make a statement that the rest of the league was going to have a hard time dethroning Las Vegas. The Aces needed to remind everyone how good they are, and that the playoffs are going to be a time when the WNBA's reigning champions will once again be a handful.
Las Vegas, at 18-12 through 30 games, made that closing argument. The Aces went 9-1 in their last 10, the only loss being at New York with A'Ja Wilson — the best player in the WNBA — unavailable due to injury. Vegas began clamping down on opponents and displaying the defensive energy of an elite team. We know Vegas has a lot of capable scorers; the Aces sent five players to the Paris Summer Olympics. It seemed that after the Olympic break, the Vegas Olympians other than Wilson began to find their footing, and the pieces of the puzzle came together. Vegas finished 27-13, fourth in the league and not far behind third-place Connecticut.
The Aces are ready to make a run at a three-peat. Their quest begins against the Seattle Storm on Sunday night, the last of four WNBA playoff games on Sept. 22.
Here are the Storm-Aces WNBA Playoffs odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
WNBA Playoffs Odds: Storm-Aces Odds
Seattle Storm: +7.5 (-110)
Moneyline: +265
Las Vegas Aces: -7.5 (-110)
Moneyline: -350
Over: 163.5 (-110)
Article Continues Below
Under: 163.5 (-110)
How To Watch Storm vs. Aces
Time: 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT
TV: ESPN, ESPN Plus
*Watch sports LIVE with fuboTV (Free Trial)*
Why The Storm Can Cover The Spread/Win
The Storm have a loaded roster. Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Jewell Loyd, Gabby Williams, Ezi Magbegor, the list goes on. Seattle does not lack talent. The regular season was uneven, but now that the playoffs are here, expect the Storm to significantly elevate their game. If Loyd, who has struggled as a shooter, starts hitting 3-pointers, everything changes for this team.
Why The Aces Can Cover The Spread/Win
The real Las Vegas Aces, the champs, showed up in the last 10 games of the regular season. It's pretty simple: If that team shows up in this game, the Aces will win big.
Final Storm-Aces Prediction & Pick
We are convinced that Las Vegas is back to being itself, namely, a great team. We think the Aces will roll here. Take Vegas.
Final Storm-Aces Prediction & Pick: Aces -7.5
