Just a single game in the WNBA tonight, as the Phoenix Mercury (5-6) travel to Los Angeles to face the 4-5 Sparks.
Phoenix at Los Angeles Betting Odds
The Mercury are now favored by 4.5 (-118) points after opening as 5.5-point favorites, while the total climbed slightly 153.5 at FanDuel. Phoenix is -215 on the moneyline.
Phoenix Mercury
The Mercury have been a tough team to figure out this year, as they’ve played much better on the road than they have at home, although Phoenix has traditionally been a pretty solid team in front of the home fans. They’re missing Diana Turasi for a few more weeks, but have gotten decent play from Skylar Diggins-Smith, who has been in the league for a while but can still bring it.
Along with Brittney Griner, Diggins-Smith gives the Mercury a solid 1-2 punch, but as I say in every Phoenix write-up, the Mercury need more from the other players. In the team’s 85-83 loss to Dallas they got 54 points from those two and no other player had more than 9 points, although Kia Nurse needed 15 field goal attempts and four foul shots to get those points. When you go 3 for 15 from the field and you lose by 2, you need to look into the mirror as to why you lost.
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Las Angeles Sparks
The Sparks are playing just their fourth home game of the season tonight and only their 10th game overall, while some teams have already played 13 games. LA is 2-1 at home and have gone just 2-4 on the road this season. It’s hard to tell much about them at home, as thy have just the three games to draw numbers from.
The Sparks are a little banged up themselves and they’re a bit like the Mercury in that they have players who should be doing more than they are. There’s no excuse for somebody with the talent of Brittney Sykes to be scoring 5.6 points per game and shooting less than 30% from the field.
Phoenix at Los Angeles Pick
As I mentioned when our winning streak came to an end, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a bit of a skid and unfortunately was proven right, having dropped two of the last three games. My numbers have Phoenix winning this one 82-80, so will follow the numbers here and take the over 153.5. The Sparks have scored more at home in their limited games, while Griner should have another decent game for the Mercury. If Nurse can actually hit a few shots in this one to open up the inside we should see more points than are being predicted.