Liberty And Mercury Should Shoot Better In Second Matchup

Liberty vs. Mercury, 10:00 ET

The WNBA was a great area to wet my beak in last year, but I haven't been doing quite as much betting on it this year. The season still has a ways to go, and there is a new team in the league. These aren't the reasons I haven't been betting on it. The truth is that I need to get baseball rolling before I feel confident in taking too much time away with the WNBA. I love basketball more than any sport, but I recognize for the readers, women's basketball also isn't the top interest. Hopefully, winners are the only real interest and I hope to deliver one here as the Liberty take on the Mercury.

The Liberty are one of the best teams in the league, and if you looked at them roughly two weeks ago you would've said they were going to be repeating as champions or at least competing once again for the trophy. Right now, they have three losses in their past five games which account for all of the losses they've suffered this season. Are they brutal losses? Not really, they dropped a game on the road to the Fever. They then lost back-to-back games against the Mercury and the Storm. They did beat Golden State two days ago but really they shouldn't have even had struggles against that team. The Valkyries are better, but they aren't a top of the league squad. The Liberty seem to be missing Jonquel Jones pretty significantly, and she won't be available for this game after suffering an ankle injury the last time the two teams faced off.

Sabrina Ionescu vomits during loss to the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA Finals. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

The Mercury are looking like they will be one of the better teams in the league this season. They are not far behind the liberty in terms of record, sporting an 11-4 mark to this point in the year. They have a well-rounded roster, and there is a rumor that they will be adding DeWanna Bonner to the roster pretty soon as well. What was most impressive about the Mercury is that they handled their business without having Kahleah Copper on the floor. Copper is one of the most versatile guards in the league. She can get to the basket and arguably has the best finishing moves of anyone on any WNBA roster. The team has plenty of depth, though, and weather pretty much any storm. Beating the Liberty on the road was a good sign for the talent level of this team.

I think this game is likely to go over the total. I like the Mercury to win the game as well, but don't feel as confident. Sometimes the Liberty struggle with certain teams, but they are also a championship team with two really good players on the team. They won't lose to the same team very often so I'll stay away. Instead, I am taking the over. Both teams shot really poorly from deep in the first matchup and they still scored 170 points. Back the over. 

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