Diana Taurasi 18+ Points (-160)
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- Taurasi is 18 points away from becoming the first player in WNBA history to score 10,000 points for their career, and will hit it at home here.
- Brittney Griner is out for the Mercury for this game, which will mean more possessions ending in Taurasi shots.
- The Dream play at the fastest pace in the WNBA, which will mean more possessions as a whole in this contest.
No player in WNBA history has scored 10,000 career points, but that could change on Thursday night. When the Atlanta Dream face the Phoenix Mercury, Diana Taurasi is 18 points away from 10,000, and will look to hit that milestone in front of a home crowd in Phoenix. Here, we look at Dream vs Mercury and make our WNBA betting picks for this potentially historic occasion.
Dream vs Mercury Betting Pick
Diana Taurasi 18+ Points (-160)
Why Bet on 18+ points for Diana Taurasi:
✅ Brittney Griner is out for the third straight game for Phoenix here, and Taurasi should once again benefit from her absence. Taurasi has averaged 26.5 points per game over the last two games, and will once again score in the 20s to hit her historic milestone.
✅ The Atlanta Dream play with the fastest pace in the WNBA, which will inflate the number of possessions that Phoenix gets in this game, helping Taurasi to hit her mark.
✅ The Mercury have been much better at home than on the road, and Taurasi will help that trend to continue against Atlanta.
This game will be played at Footprint Center at 10:00 PM ET on Thursday, August 3, 2023.
Atlanta Dream
Coming into this Dream vs Mercury matchup, the Atlanta Dream will look to rebound from their loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday night. The offense of the Dream never really got going in that game, while their defense was powerless to stop the outside shooting of the top team in the WNBA. Here, the Dream are heavy favorites on the road against Phoenix, but their defense will need to come to play in order to avoid an upset.
Atlanta will also need more from Rhyne Howard than they got in their last outing in order to win here in Phoenix. Howard scored just six points on 3/10 shooting against the Aces earlier this week, with Vegas really focusing their defensive attention on Atlanta’s top gun. A bounce back game from Howard is certainly possible here, against a Mercury team that is among the worst in the WNBA defensively.
Phoenix Mercury
The Phoenix Mercury have the second-worst record in the WNBA coming into Thursday’s action, sitting at 6-19 on the season. But there could be cause for celebration in Phoenix on Thursday night, as Diana Taurasi needs just 18 points to become the first player in league history to hit 10,000 points. While that milestone won’t help the Mercury win more games, it could be a rare bright spot in the Mercury season.
Brittney Griner’s mental health absence has cleared the runway for Taurasi to make a run at the 10,000 point mark over the last few games for the Mercury. Taurasi has scored 53 points in the team’s last two games to set up a chance to hit the 10,000 point mark at home in this game. While defending the Dream will be an issue for the Mercury here, the Phoenix legend reaching 10,000 points in this game should be no trouble at all.
