We’ll get our first look at these two teams facing off this year. With Indiana starting this road trip on a rough note, they’ve already fallen to the Aces and Valkyries. Now, they’ll finish their three-game road trip in Seattle, which is never an easy place to play. While the Fever is still trying to find consistent success, the Storm’s aspirations are higher as they ride a three-game winning streak into this game. Sitting at 9-5 on the season, they’re aiming to climb the rankings and keep the streak alive!
DeWanna Bonner Out
Lexie Brown Out
Katie Lou Samuelson Out
The Fever haven’t been as dominant as many expected coming into the season. A big part of that was losing Clark early in the season for some time, but even with her back, this team is struggling. Sitting just below 500 at 6-7 on the season, they’ve struggle against even the bottom half of the league. With Seattle being firm in the top half of the league, it’s going to be a challenge. This Fever still looks young, anre are prone to some inconsistency, but with the lows come the highs, which look incredible. When Clark is feeling it, hitting from range, while Boston is down low dominating, you can see the vision of this team. It’s just that it has only been happening every four games. We’ll see if they can muster one of those games or if they’ll come out flat again.
For the Storm, they’re a unique team. Diggins is the closest thing I’d call a star, but they’re still more of a role player team. They just have a lot of players I enjoy, and they’ve become quite resilient as the season has gone on. They have depth in the right areas, their scoring is solid, and they have defenders who work well together. Overall, the Storm are a strong team. I really like them heading into this matchup. Even against the star power of Clark, they have the tools to really bother her. Especially given the streak the Storm are on right now, coming off a win over the Liberty, it’s not hard to see how they might take this one.
That’s why I’m picking the Storm to win this game. I think they’ll put more scoring pressure on, and be able to disrupt the Fevers’ perimeter shooting. So I’m taking the Seattle moneyline, the Over on the 168 total points line, and the +3.5 spread for Indiana.
Money line: IND (+140) / SEA (-166)
Total Points: 168
Spread: +3.5 IND (-112) / -3.5 SEA (-108)
Even with Clark leading the Fever in points at 19.8 a game, she’s been a little off in the last few games. Since the Storm has a strong squad, Caitlin might find it more difficult than usual to get to her spots. Especially with her three-point shot fading lately, I think it might be tough for her to reach 20 points tonight.
Diggins continues to be outstanding for the Storm. She has been leading the team almost every night in scoring. She’s not posting crazy stats, but she’s consistent. She has scored over 18 points in five of her last six games. Although the Fever have some excellent perimeter defenders, Diggins' ability to get into the paint and hit tough shots gives me a lot of confidence tonight. I believe we’ll see her attacking the rim and drawing fouls plenty tonight.
Boston has been excellent on the boards this year, especially in competitive games. We’ve seen her average about 8.5 boards per game, but those numbers have been inflated by blowouts. In games where she plays more than 30 minutes, she consistently exceeds the over. I believe this game will stay close down the stretch, giving Boston a good chance to hit this line.