Copper Is Gold Tonight As Mercury Take On Sky

Sky vs. Mercury, 10:00 ET

I kind of hate baseball at the moment. I've lost my past four plays on the diamond, which followed up a pretty nice stretch. Maybe I need a break from the games. Luckily, we have some alternatives to enjoy - the WNBA, College Football returns, and the NFL Futures are popping off at the moment. So, instead of focusing on baseball, I'm shifting over to the WNBA to take on the game between the Sky and Mercury.

The Sky are having a tough season, and honestly, this is a really bad year to be bad. There are players who are talented enough to want to grab them in the draft, but Chicago doesn't have their own draft pick in the first round. So, as bad as they are, they will not even get that much better for next year unless they add to the team through free agency. Interestingly enough, the pick will go to Minnesota who is the best team in the league, and that could create bigger problems for the entire league if Minnesota were to get the first overall draft pick. Chicago went 7-13 to start the season, which wasn't terrible, but obviously, they were underperforming. It has been since about the middle of July that the team has really struggled. They have won just two games since then, and overall are 2-15 in that stretch, only beating Washington and, somehow, New York. They have been reasonably competitive over the past four games, losing by six, winning, then losing again by 10, and by five in the last matchup against the Aces. They've played the Mercury three times this season, with only the first matchup being close. 

(David Gonzales/Imagn Images)

The Mercury are going to the playoffs this season. They've looked great much of the year, but are really coming along lately. Their team is built around a three-headed monster of Satou Sabally, who leads the team in points, Alyssa Thomas, who could arguably be the MVP with or without Naphessa Collier in the league, and Kahleah Copper, one of the best finishers and scorers in basketball. She is shooting 43% from the field, almost 40% from deep, and 86% from the free throw line. Copper missed a good chunk of the beginning of the season. They have been good in August, now that the team has had time to gel and get everything going. They are 7-4 in August, but they aren't really blowing anyone out, except the one win over Chicago. Over the last five games, they have been under double-digits for victories. They were blown out by the Aces, though. One thing the Mercury haven't struggled much with against the Sky this season is scoring, having gotten to 83 or more in each of the three games.

Tonight, the Mercury have a total of 88.5 for them to try and get over. I wouldn't be overly surprised if they get over the total. I don't know that the full game total gets there. This, though, is one of those games where the Mercury are going to get going. They have little resistance when they play the Sky. The thing is that Chicago has been competitive lately, and the Mercury haven't been destroying teams. This should be a game where Copper gets going since the Sky have no one on defense that can stop her. I'll take her to go over her point total at 16.5. I also wouldn't be surprised if Thomas gets a triple-double at +200, but there isn't all that much value there. 

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