⭐️ Layup Lines: Thomas' triple-doubles

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

• The people have been yearning for my hot take on DildoGate, but even just typing that sentence was enough for me. We live in a very dumb timeline.

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

👋 Thursdays are for blowouts

• All three favorites won by double digits last night so we’re going to zoom through this recap:

  • It says something about how bad the Sky are without Angel Reese that they were beating the shorthanded Dream at half and ended up still losing by 20+.

  • The Sparks have now won eight of their last nine and have scored over 100 points in five of their last six. You’d have to be in a sea of fog to take the under in this game (me).

  • After dealing with even more backcourt injuries, the Fever limped to the finish here and could only watch DeWanna Bonner score a game-high 23 and Alyssa Thomas become the first player in WNBA history with three-straight triple-doubles.

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📺 Today’s games

• After going 1-2 again yesterday, we’re 71-78 this season and have $237 remaining of our initial $1,000 budget to wager. If I could find the panic button I would be hitting it, but I’m moving and it got stuck in a box somewhere. No choice but to just power through.

• There are three games tonight, all on ION — New York @ Dallas (7:30pm ET), Washington @ Minnesota (7:30pm) and Seattle @ Las Vegas (10:00pm). Let’s take the first two:

  • The Liberty and Wings are playing each other for the third time since July 28 and didn’t score much in their last matchup.

    • Bet: New York / Dallas over 173.5 total points scored, $50 to win $44.

  • The Mystics are shorthand, tired and organizationally aren’t trying to win games anymore this season.

    • Bet: Minnesota -10.5, $50 to win $47.

  • The Aces are one of the hottest teams in the league but are only a 1-point favorite tonight. This line is fishy and I am staying away.

👀 Take of the day

• The Aces and Sparks could absolutely still find a way to unravel again, but it’s starting to feel like the playoff field is set.

  • They’ve been two of the hottest teams in the league while the other five at the bottom of the standings — Golden State, Washington, Dallas, Chicago and Connecticut — all seem to be bottoming out.

💪 Photo to go

• This is arguably the best season of Alyssa Thomas’ career and it’s coming in year 12. Getting her out of Connecticut is turning out to be a real problem for everyone else.

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