Layup Lines: Ending the week strong

Happy Sunday and welcome back to Layup Lines, your quick recap of what’s going on in the WNBA. We went 2-0 last night thanks to Chicago running through Dallas for the second time in three days. We’ll see if the Sky have figured things out or if the Wings are just that bad soon enough.

• Programming note: The W is off tomorrow and so are we. Have a tremendous Monday and we’ll see you back here Tuesday.

This 452 word newsletter should take about 2 minutes to read.

Bets of the day

• We’re 16-18 this season and have $886 of our initial $1,000 remaining to wager.

• There are four games today, all on League Pass — Connecticut @ New York (3pm ET), Phoenix @ L.A. (6pm), Las Vegas @ Seattle (6pm) and Minnesota @ Golden State (8:30pm). We’re going after three of them:

  • I’m tempted to take the Sun +18.5 here, as the Liberty are playing their third game in four days and the Sun have scored 85+ in their last two. But it’s also Ellie the Elephant’s birthday and those are the kind of vibes you can’t quantify with numbers.

    • Bet: New York / Connecticut over 164 total points scored, $50 to win $46.

  • With Alyssa Thomas out with a calf injury, the Mercury don’t have enough healthy players who can create their own shot.

    • Bet: Phoenix / L.A. under 164 total points scored, $50 to win $44.

  • I’m sick of losing money by underestimating the Valkyries’ defense and think they should be able to keep it close enough at home, especially if Napheesa Collier is still out.

    • Bet: Golden State +11.5, $50 to win $44.

Take of the day

• Attendance in the WNBA historically hasn’t correlated strongly to game results, mostly because numbers were low across the board for most of the 2010s. In 2019, for example, three teams averaged over 9,000 fans per game. That’s up to nine teams so far this season, with three over 15,000 (albeit with a small sample size).

• My hunch is that the wider the attendance gap gets for certain home teams, the more we can capitalize. If the Wings and Mystics are used to playing in front of 6,000 people and then have to deal with the noise of 16,000 on the road, they should have a harder time keeping things close at the end of games.

Card of the day

Treat yourself to some highlights of Maya Moore, your favorite basketball player’s favorite basketball player.

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If you bet, please do so responsibly, and we will see you back here Tuesday.

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor