👀 Layup Lines: Lynx finally lose at home

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

• A good friend texted me yesterday asking, “What happens when you run out of money? Does Layup Lines end?” And then I went 3-0 with picks for the first time in almost a month.

• For the future of this newsletter, please keep the hate mail coming.

This 495 word newsletter should take about 2 minutes to read.

🤩 Three up, three down

One of Sunday’s five games was decided by less than 10 points, meaning we had some fantastic (and terrible) performances:

📈 Brittney Griner: The Lynx had to lose at home at some point, but Griner putting up a season-high 22 points to lead the Dream is still one of the biggest road performances of the year.

• Marina Mabrey: The Sun look competent offensively with their best scorer back from a knee injury, as her shooting gives Tina Charles (+39 yesterday) more room to work with inside.

• Phoenix: The Mercury’s core four still haven’t finished a game with everyone playing well yet still beat the Mystics by 16 thanks to Alyssa Thomas (27 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists).

📉 Washington: One game is not a sample size, but the Mystics scoring 46 in the first half and just 26 in the second could be a sign of tired young team.

• Coach Tyler Marsh: Yes, the Sky are banged up, but so are most teams — and no team is playing as badly after yesterday’s loss to Indiana. Chicago has now lost their last five games by an average of more than 25 points. Does this man inspire confidence?

• Golden State: Losing by 31 to the four-win Sun is the expansion franchise’s new low point.

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📺 Today’s games

• We’re 66-68 this season and have $549 remaining of our initial $1,000 budget to wager.

• There are two games tonight — Seattle @ Connecticut (7:00pm, ESPN3) and New York @ Dallas (8:00pm, ESPN).

  • This is the fourth time the Storm and Sun have played each other since June 27. The vibes in Seattle have gotten progressively worse and especially in the second half, when they’ve gone under this number in five of their last seven games.

    • Bet: Seattle 2nd Half total points scored under 43.5, $50 to win $44.

  • The Liberty are going to struggle defensively without Breanna Stewart or Nyara Sabally and the Wings always struggle defensively.

    • Bet: New York / Dallas over 172, $50 to win $45.

🤝 Trade deadline to go

• Worth a read: ESPN’s Kevin Pelton broke down four interesting trades that could actually happen ahead of the Aug. 7 trade deadline.

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