Layup Lines: We live on Planet Clark

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

• If you missed the Fever - Liberty game yesterday, Caitlin Clark returned from a quad injury and was completely electric. She scored nine points in 33 seconds, made this beautiful behind the back pass and helped hand New York its first loss of the season with a 32 point / 9 assist / 8 rebound stat line. Just a complete superstar. More on Clark below.

•  In other news, the Lynx blew out the Sparks, Golden State pulled off yet another shocking upset at home by beating the Storm, and we went 3-0 with our bets.

Scheduling note: The WNBA is off tomorrow and so are we. We’ll see you back here Tuesday, when there are six (!) games.

This 462 word newsletter should take less than 2 minutes to read.

Today’s games

There are three games today — Chicago @ Connecticut (12pm ET, CBS), Atlanta @ Washington (2pm, CBSSN) and Phoenix @ Las Vegas (6pm, League Pass). We’re going to hit all of them:

• Whoever decided the Sky and Sun should be playing on national TV might not need to be employed anymore. These are two of the three worst teams in the league and both can’t score.

  • Bet: Sky / Sun under 157.5 total points scored, $50 to win $45.

• The Dream are on fire, with one of their three losses so far coming on opening night to the Mystics. That’ll even out.

  • Bet: Atlanta -6, $50 to win $45.

• The Mercury should be getting former Finals MVP Kahleah Copper back from an injury for the first time this season but are also missing starting center Kalani Brown to an illness. With A’ja Wilson still out for the Aces with a concussion, expect minimal interior defense on both sides.

  • Bet: Mercury / Aces over 164.5 total points scored, $50 to win $45.

Top plays from yesterday

• Napheesa Collier scores as many points in the first half as the Sparks

• Great Golden State ball movement

• Stewie and CC

Wild stat to go

It’s not hard to find Caitlin Clark facts that melt the brain, but here’s another: between scoring and assists, she accounted for 54 of the Fever's 102 points yesterday. That’s her ninth career game with at least 50 points scored or assisted on, per ESPN, which is one shy of tying Diana Taurasi for the most in WNBA history.

• Taurasi career games played: 565.

• Clark career games played: 45.

Thanks for reading Layup Lines. You don’t need to bet for odds to be interesting, but if you do, please do so responsibly. We’ll see you back here Tuesday.

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor