✈️ Layup Lines: Another Finals rematch

Happy Saturday and welcome back to Layup Lines, your quick recap of what’s going on in the WNBA. Treat yourself to a solid breakfast today — you earned it.

This 497 word newsletter should take about 2 minutes to read.

⛈ Big Friday night

• Every road team won last night — even Seattle, the technical away team for the league’s first-ever regular season game in Canada. From the most to the least surprising wins:

1. Yes, the Fever are trying to run their guard-first offense with all of their guards injured, but the Mystics are also still playing really hard for a young team.

2. Thanks to Skylar Diggins’ 21 points and 11 rebounds, Seattle snapped a six-game losing streak by ending the Dream’s six-game winning streak. The Storm have what should be an easy stretch coming up and really needed that win.

3. The Wings kept it shockingly close against the Sparks, who are scoring points in droves and winning games but also rarely blowing teams out.

4. There just aren’t many centers in the league who can guard A’ja Wilson. When she’s putting up 30 point, 16 rebound nights, the Aces don’t need much else to win.

5. The Valkyries set a league record for the most wins by an expansion team by beating a Chicago team that is ready to go on vacation.

Top plays from last night: Sonia Citron’s impossible shot, crazy Skyler triple, perfect Chelsea Gray pass … and Dominique Malonga easily dunking in warmups.

Thanks to Masters in Marketing for sponsoring this newsletter.

How 15 Small Brands Achieved Remarkable Marketing Results

Stop believing you need a big budget to make an impact. Our latest collection highlights 15 small brands that transformed limited resources into significant market disruption through innovative thinking.

• Case studies revealing ingenious approaches to common marketing challenges

• Practical tactics that delivered 900%+ ROI with minimal investment

• Strategic frameworks for amplifying your brand without amplifying your budget

These actionable insights can be implemented immediately, regardless of your team or budget size. See how small brands are making big waves in today's market.

Get the case studies for free here.

📺 Today’s games

• Last night was a debacle for our picks (0-3).

  • The Fever missed a layup late in the 4th quarter, the Aces and Mercury missed the under by a single point and the Dream made just 2-13 3-pointers. Not great!

• We’re now 77-88 this season and have a measly $50 remaining of our initial $1,000 budget to wager. Do or die, thy name is Saturday.

• There’s only one game today — New York @ Minnesota (2:00pm ET, CBS).

  • I previously wrote about how this travel schedule is brutal for the shorthanded Liberty, so Minnesota only being favored by a point seems fishy. Instead, if this is our last game to bet, let’s swing for the fences.

    • Bet: Under 166, $30 to win $26.

    • Bet: Emma Meesseman Double-Double, $10 to win $75.

    • Bet: DiJonai Carrington 5+ rebounds, $10 to win $12.

💩 Quote to go

Layup Lines is written 100% by a human being with visual assistance from AI tools. I very much appreciate you reading and will see you back here tomorrow.

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor