💭 Layup Lines: Moral victory?

Happy Monday and welcome back to Layup Lines, your quick recap of what’s going on in the WNBA.

• Programming note: We’ll be back in your inbox Friday morning to recap what could be a great New York - Golden State game.

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🤏 Dream take Aces to the brink

• A loss is a loss, but in May, almost beating the defending champs on national TV is as close as it gets to a moral victory.

  • The Dream showed the country why they could be a real problem this season by narrowly losing to the Aces, 85-84, at home on Sunday. Chelsea Gray made both the go-ahead shot and the game-winning steal to help Vegas overcome a real clunker from Jackie Young (0 points on 0-12 shooting).

  • Atlanta roared back from a 17-point defecit in the 4th quarter even with Rhyne Howard (concussion), Brionna Jones (meniscus tear) and Angel Reese (1-8 shooting, 8 turnovers) on the bench. The Dream also made just five 3-pointers and missed 12 free throws. If those shooting numbers average out, this is going to be a very hard team to beat in a playoff series.

• I was also really impressed with the NBC / Peacock broadcast. The production value added a real gravitas to the game and it was cool to see a new league broadcast partner really take it seriously.

  • The opposite of ESPN, if you will.

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👀 Quick standings peek

• We’re less than two weeks into the season and most of the below will change dramatically over the summer.

  • Still, point differential is a major indicator of how teams are playing, and some of these are wild. The Sparks are allowing 98 points per game right now!

📆 Games of the week

• The beginning of the week is, candidly, light on games I want to watch. But tonight’s Washington @ Dallas matchup (8pm ET, Peacock / NBCSN) is stuffed with young talent.

  • Washington is coming off a 104-102 OT win over Indiana on Friday and Dallas hasn’t played since being called selfish by new coach Jose Fernandez.

    • *Bet I like: Sonia Citron to score 20+ points (+125)

• The best game of the week is Thursday night, with Golden State traveling to Brooklyn to play the Liberty (8pm, Prime Video).

  • Both teams are well-rested, plus this might be the best defense in the league (GSV) vs. the best offense (NYL).

*Record this season on bets I like: 2-0

🩳 Shorts to go

• There’s probably something smart to say about A’ja Wilson passing her coach, Becky Hammon, on Sunday for 19th on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list. But I, personally, am just unable to get over the differences in shorts here.

Layup Lines is written 100% by a human being. I very much appreciate you reading and will see you back here Friday.

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor