The Seattle Storm will be looking to extend a four-game winning streak when they host the Chicago Sky on Friday night.
Seattle is coming off consecutive victories over Connecticut, Indiana and Dallas twice, all at home. Chicago snapped a two-game skid by prevailing at Atlanta earlier this week.
The Storm are sizeable favorites so it might not be a close game, but this should be a fun one.
Chicago has been making headlines this season thanks primarily to star rookie Angel Reese, while Seattle is led by Jewel Lloyd, Nneka Ogwumike and Skyler Diggins-Smith and is without question one of the best teams in the WNBA.
Let’s take a look at the odds and best bets to be made on Friday.
Seattle is on a roll, currently holding off a red-hot Las Vegas squad for second place in the Western Conference while gaining ground on Minnesota. In fact, the Storm are within a half-game of the Lynx while boasting a 13-6 overall record.
They should be able to remain in fine form at the expense of a Chicago team they beat 77-68 on the road in late May. It was competitive for one half, but Seattle dominated the third quarter and led by as many as 19 points early in the fourth.
Four different players scored in double-figures, led by Skyler Diggins-Smith with 21 points, to go along with three assists and three steals.
Storm forced 21 turnovers and limited the Sky to a modest 4-for-12 effort from three-point range.
Seattle is playing even better basketball now. During its current four-game surge Lloyd is averaging 26.5 ppg, including 30.0 in the last three.
In turn, the Storm have won their last four contests all by double-digits, most recently dominating Dallas 97-76 and 95-71 on back-to-back occasions.
With Chicago struggling to the tune of six losses in its last nine outings, expect Seattle to pick up another dominant win.
It is true that Chicago has played plenty of high-scoring affairs, but Seattle boasts a stout defense that will likely prevent a track meet from taking place on Friday.
Storm have held their last four opponents to 77 points or fewer, including Connecticut to 61. In seven of their last eight victories the Storm’s opposition has stayed below the 80-point mark.
It’s also worth noting that a mere 145 points were scored in the previous meeting between the two teams.
Neither team shot better than 43.8 percent from the field in that game and they went a combined 9-for-27 from downtown. There were a whopping 39 total turnovers committed - 21 by Chicago.
Storm are the superior side and therefore should dictate that pace of this game. That means it will likely be marked by defense.
Reese scored a modest 11 points in the previous head-to-head matchup between these two teams, but she logged just 30 minutes of playing time.
The latter is not a miniscule number, but Reese has been getting more time of late. The former LSU standout has logged at least 35 minutes in three of the last four games.
After all, she is playing too well to be on the bench. She has scored at least 16 points in five of the last 10 games and she has grabbed at least 16 rebounds in four of the last five.
A number of 13.5 points is not particularly big, so taking the over on Reese’s points prop is the way to go.
Chicago Sky | +375 ML |
Seattle Storm | -500 ML |
Spread | SEA Storm -9.5 |
Total Points | O/U 161.0 |
Chennedy Carter (CHI) | O/U 17.5 |
Marina Mabrey (CHI) | O/U 14.5 |
Angel Reese (CHI) | O/U 13.5 |
Jewel Loyd (SEA) | O/U 21.5 |
Nneka Ogwumike (SEA) | O/U 16.5 |
Ezi Magbegor (SEA) | O/U 13.5 |
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.