Layup Lines: A good day to opt out

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to Layup Lines, your quick recap of what’s going on in the WNBA. There’s one mediocre game on tonight, so this newsletter is mostly focused on yesterday’s six-game slate (and not how we were one measly Fever point away from going 3-1 with our bets).

This 442 word newsletter should take less than 2 minutes to read.

5 takeaways from Tuesday

1. The Lynx and Fever qualified for the Commissioner’s Cup championship on July 1 with their wins last night. Minnesota hosts with $500k and $120k in crypto on the line.

2. If Napheesa Collier becomes the latest big-name star to miss time with the back injury she suffered last night, Minnesota will have a hard time defending its 2024 Cup title.

3. Not sure I have a fresh take on the Fever - Sun fight other than this is what happens with underpaid, shoddy referees. Bad teams get pissed off when they’re losing and start fights with stars. Happens in every sport and it won’t get fixed without investment in refs.

4. EuroBasket obligations might finally be catching up to the Valkyries, who handed the Wings their first home win of the season last night.

5. The Dream blew a 17-point lead and lost to the Liberty, but this is still a really good team. Guard Te-Hina Paopao has now scored 16 points in two straight games and looks like a perfect second round pick.

Top plays from last night

• Caitlin Clark makes this look easy

• Natasha Cloud on the fast break

• Back-to-back 30+ point games for Sabrina Ionescu

• Gabby Williams’ seventh steal of the game

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Today’s games

• We’re 36-29 this season with a $279 profit off an initial $1,000 budget.

• There’s one game tonight — Phoenix @ Connecticut at 7pm ET (League Pass).

  • The Sun were in Indiana last night and are now home for their third game in four days. Phoenix hasn’t played since Sunday and Alyssa Thomas returns to Connecticut for the first time after spending the first 11 years of her career there. We did just get burned by taking a lot of points against the Sun, so let’s do the smart thing and double down.

    • Bet: Mercury -14.5, $50 to win $45.

    • Bet: Under 158, $50 to win $44.

Card of the day

Thomas has played with two torn labrums for years and I think more people should know that.

Thanks for reading Layup Lines. You don’t need to bet for odds to be interesting, but if you do, please do so responsibly. We’ll see you back here tomorrow

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor