A pair of games in the WNBA for Saturday and we’ll look at the late game between the New York Liberty (7-8) and the Atlanta Dream (5-8). Both teams enter this one having dropped their last two games.
New York at Atlanta Betting Odds
The Dream opened as 2-point favorites and the line is now Atlanta -3, while the total has remained pretty stead at 169.
New York Liberty
The Liberty were expected to be a better team this season, and they haven’t disappointed there with a 7-8 record so far. Betnijah Laney has led the team, scoring 19.4 points per game and is shooting over 50% from the field. One of the reasons the Liberty were expected to be better was the addition of Natasha Howard, from Seattle, but she’s only played in two games this season. Sabrina Ionescu missed a couple of games with an injury and hasn’t been herself since returning, so you have to wonder if New York brought her back too quickly.
The Liberty score 79.3 points per game and allow 87. They’re coming off a pair of 20-plus point losses to Chicago but did win their last road game at Los Angeles. For the season, New York is 4-4 on the road. New York is averaging 17.5 turnovers per game.
Atlanta Dream
The Dream are coming off a couple of close losses and have three players averaging over 15 points per game, so Atlanta is able to spread the ball around a little bit. The Dream scores 84.4 points per game, although that has more to do with forcing the pace, as opposed to being a great shooting team, as they shoot 42.7% from the field.
The Dream average 13.5 turnovers per game, while forcing 17, so they may be able to get some additional chances from the field against a New York team that has been prone to not taking care of the basketball at times this year.
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New York at Atlanta Pick
This is a pretty tough game to handicap. My numbers have it 83-81 for Atlanta, so I’m going to go ahead and take a stab on the under 169. Both teams like to play uptempo, although neither team shoots real well, but they’re not great at defense, either. They played earlier this season and the score was tied 82-82 at the end of regulation. With both teams going up-and-down, will need some sloppy play in this one, something both teams are capable of. Atlanta’s 3-point defense hasn’t been good and will need them to pick it up to keep this one under the number.