Liberty vs Fever Over 169 (-110)
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- These teams combined for over 180 points in three of their four meetings last season.
- Defense is clearly the weak point for both of these teams, which should lend itself to a high-scoring affair in Indianapolis.
The New York Liberty and Indiana Fever had very different results to start their 2024 WNBA seasons on Tuesday night. While the Liberty got a win on the road in Washington, the Fever dropped their highly-anticipated opener in Connecticut. On Thursday, the two teams face off looking for a win in the lone WNBA game on the Thursday schedule. Here, we make our WNBA betting picks for Liberty vs Fever in the home opener of the season for the Fever and of Caitlin Clark’s pro career.
This game will be played at 7:00 PM ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse
New York Liberty
The New York Liberty got a win on the road against the Washington Mystics to start their 2024 WNBA campaign. But it was not as convincing a victory as they were expected to earn, as they only won by five despite being favored by double-digits. Here, the Liberty will look to put together a more convincing performance against a Fever team with a ton of hype surrounding it early in the season.
New York did a decent job of defending the three-point line in their season opener, as the Mystics shot 31.3% from distance in that game. But the Liberty allowed the Mystics to shoot over 45% from two-point territory. They will need to clean up their defense at the rim and around the mid-range, especially with Aliyah Boston ready to score in the paint early and often for Indiana.
It will also be interesting to monitor the three-point shooting for New York in this contest. The Liberty shot just 8/28 from three-point range in their opener, with Sabrina Ionescu shooting just 1/7 from deep in that matchup. If the Liberty want to avoid an upset loss in this game, their trademark outside shooting has to be better than it was on Tuesday.
Indiana Fever
The Indiana Fever were underdogs in their season opener against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday despite around half of the crowd at Mohegan Sun Arena supporting the visitors. And in the fourth quarter, the Fever showed why they were underdogs in that game, as they were blown out in the final 10 minutes of play in what ended up being a resounding victory for the Sun. Caitlin Clark scored 20 points in her pro debut, but turned the ball over 10 times as well, in a dubious double-double debut.
Indiana will be at home in this game and the atmosphere is likely to be electric, as the home fans in Indianapolis get to cheer for their new star for the first time. But the key to this game might not be Clark and instead will be the battle in the paint between Indiana’s Aliyah Boston and New York’s Jonquel Jones. Jones has the height advantage in that matchup, but Boston’s strength and physicality will give her a chance to have success often against the more experienced Jones.
As for Caitlin Clark, the key for her in this game will be to play within herself. She should have more room to operate against a Liberty defense that is just not as good as that of the Sun. Avoiding reckless passes and letting the game come to her is something we can expect to happen in this game, which could help the Fever upset last year’s WNBA runners-up.
