🎉 Layup Lines: HBD, A'ja

Happy Saturday and welcome back to Layup Lines, your quick recap of what’s going on in the WNBA. As a personal favor to me, please call an old friend this weekend.

This 414 word newsletter should take less than 2 minutes to read.

A’ja scores 29 on her 29th birthday

• I was surprised that the Mystics kept it as close as they did, but no real surprises with the Liberty and Lynx both winning.

  • Emma Meesseman is already rounding into form as one of those basketball players who just makes everyone around her better.

• The Aces pulled off a road win in the game of the night almost exclusively due to A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young, who outscored the Storm's entire starting five by combining for 55 points, 17 rebounds and 8 assists.

  • The Storm got a career-high 22 points and 12 rebounds from 19-year-old Dominique Malonga but have now lost four in a row and five of six.

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😬 Today’s games

• We went 0-2 last night and are now 71-80 this season with just $137 of our initial $1,000 budget remaining to wager. Would you believe that I hit over 60% of my WNBA bets in 2021 and have never lost money on a season before? And that as soon as I start publishing picks, I might not even make it to mid-August before emptying my budget? Me neither!

• There are two games today — Chicago @ Indiana (8:00pm ET, CBS) and Los Angeles @ Golden State (8:30pm, League Pass). Let’s take a deep breath and hit them both!

  • The Fever got more brutal injury news last night with Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald both ruled out for the season. Indiana is down to three guards and is only dressing nine players tonight, which means slowing things down.

    • Bet: Indiana / Chicago under 163, $50 to win $44.

  • This line opened at -1, and while Ballhalla is a tough road environment, the Sparks are the hottest team in the league and have been scoring at will.

    • Bet: L.A. -4, $50 to win $45.

Pic to go

• A’ja Wilson is averaging 23 points, 11 rebounds and three stocks (steals / blocks) over Vegas’ last three games — all wins.

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