The Sparks are heading to Chicago to face off against the Sky. With the Sparks coming into this game a bit short-handed, it should still be a competitive match against the struggling Sky. Their season has not gone as planned, with only three wins so far. However, the Sparks aren’t much better, with just four wins. With both teams in desperate need of a win, we’ll see who can stop the slide in the standings.
Courtney Vandersloot Out
Cameron Brink Out
Odyssey Sims Out
Julie Allemand Out
Rae Burrell Out
We haven’t seen much inspiring basketball from these teams lately. The Sparks are still down, Cameron Brink, while the Sky are just in a rebuilding year. Only separated by a single win, it’s been a disappointing start to the season. That doesn’t mean either of these teams is out of it, but they’ll need to get to work soon, with tonight’s game being crucial.
The Sky’s biggest problem this year has been scoring. They simply don’t have anyone who can effectively get buckets inside or outside. Atkins leads the team with about 14 points per game, while the team as a whole averages only 76 points per game. That’s not the worst in the league, but that total isn’t enough to keep them competitive against the top-tier teams. Three-point shooting has become a major issue. The team is only shooting 30% from three-point range while attempting an average of 20 shots per game. That’s not an efficient enough split to justify that volume of shots. If the Sky are going to have a chance tonight, they need to attack the paint more. In their last game against the Sparks, they attacked the paint well, hitting 46% of their shots, but again, they went 4-for-20 from three. If they can reduce that number to even 12 attempts while finding more opportunities inside, they’ll be in a much better position. However, that’s a lot to ask from this team. They’re not taking threes because they want to; it’s because they have to. They’re continually chased out of the paint and forced into bailout threes. Overall, with where the Sky are right now, I’m having a hard time trusting them.
It’s not like the Sparks are doing much better. Only one game ahead of the Sky, things look bleak despite having a more talented team. Between Hamby and Plum, the Sparks have some serious offensive talent. Defensively, things look solid too with Stevens doing a solid job next to Hamby to keep things locked down. Really, I think the Sparks are an okay team, but their schedule so far has been brutal. They’ve only played four teams this year below .500; they’ve already faced the Lynx three times in 14 games—it’s been a tough time finding wins. Their team stats support this, too—they’re middle of the pack in most of the primary counting stats. They have efficient star players and a defense that doesn’t give up 90 points a game. All in all, this is a team I expect to improve, especially when Brink returns to action.
Given how mismatched the rosters look today, I have to go with the Sparks in this one. Their scoring ability and defense should be enough to keep the Sky well behind. That’s why I’m taking the Sparks moneyline, betting the under on the 167 points total, and giving the Sparks a -5.5 spread.
Money line: LAS (-230) / CHI (+190)
Total Points: 167
Spread: -5 LAS (-112) / +5 CHI (-108)
Plum is such a great player, especially when she's up against the Sky. She's been consistently scoring over 20 points, including an impressive 28 in her last game. It’s all about her three-point shots—if she can make at least three, she's likely to hit the over. Given her average of about 2.7 makes on 7.5 attempts, I feel confident she can do it.
Reese is still working hard offensively, which surprisingly gives her lots of chances to grab rebounds. She’s already averaging an impressive 11.5 boards per game, and in her last game against the Sparks, she even grabbed 13. With favorable odds on the over, it’s quite likely she'll perform well again tonight.
Even though Hamby has become the second leading scorer this season, she still faces some challenges from time to time. The last time Hamby played against the Sky, she finished with just 10 points. That game was partly due to limited minutes because the Sparks were ahead by a ton, and she also had some struggles with shooting. With Angel Reese guarding the paint, I expect a similar kind of game from her.