Last night, the Indiana Fever lost by 17. The spread was 15.5. They also missed 11 free throws. They also had the ball with 15 seconds left and a chance to cover when guard Victoria Vivians passed it to forward Lauren Cox under the basket…except Lauren Cox wasn’t looking. This vexed me. I suppose it was approximately 180 degrees away from the feeling I described having on Sunday. I’m guessing that at the moment, I found this more vexing than Lauren Cox did, which is the problem with society today…(I still find it vexing, which I concede might be my problem.)
Next, in the Chicago Sky/Minnesota Lynx game, the Lynx had 20 turnovers. Every time I looked up, Chicago was racing unguarded for another fast-break basket off one of those turnovers. I say, “Every time I looked up,” because I spent a great deal of time during this game with my face buried in my hands. The only way to describe the expression on my said face, in said hands? Vexed.
Finally, as for the New York/Las Vegas matchup, the best part of that game was my realization that no matter what happened, I couldn’t go 0-5. Now, winning both my parlay and having the Liberty cover at the same time, leaving me a respectable 2-3? That was waaayyy too much to ask. The Liberty made seven 3-pointers in the first half to trail by a mere three points at the break, but a mere two in the second half when the Aces blew them off the floor with a hundred-spot. As Shakespeare once wrote in one of those sonnets about love, “Everything is awful.”
So I ended the evening 1-4 and vexed, simply vexed: a tough loss for me with the Fever, an ugly loss for me with the Lynx, and a gross split with the Liberty. I got the full gamut of gambling misery.
Seattle O’Sullivan so far: 27-19
Phoenix Mercury at Los Angeles Sparks, 10:30 pm EDT
The Pick: Los Angeles +5.5 (-118)
This line moved from Los Angeles +2.5 to +5.5 based on the news that Sparks guard Te’a Cooper would serve a suspension for leaving the check-in area to an on-court altercation during Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Lynx. I’m still taking the points. Cooper is a loss, obviously, but Los Angeles’ defense is unrelenting, particularly guard Erica Wheeler. I predict head coach Derek Fisher puts Wheeler on Phoenix point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith, who is good but tends to try to do too much. I feel there's a greater-than-zero chance Wheeler drives Diggins-Smith insane. The Sparks are 8-2 against the Mercury in their last 10 matchups, including 6-4 against the spread. They’re returning home after two smack-down losses, and I think they’ll be fired up. Phoenix is 1-4 straight up in June, and the one win was on a half-court heave in a game they should’ve lost. They simply haven’t shown the fight the Sparks have to this point in the season. I’ll take the home dog with a chip on its shoulder.