Friday's Best WNBA Bets
Phoenix Mercury at Connecticut Sun (-4.5, 186.5)
The defending WNBA champs will be out for revenge when they visit the Connecticut Sun Friday. The Mercury lost 96-94 to the Sun in their most recent outing Sunday, failing to cover as 5-point favorites.
Phoenix battled back from being 21 points down in that game, scoring 27 points in the fourth quarter. The loss dropped the Mercury to 5-7 with a 4-8 mark against the spread on the year.
"We lost because we didn't come out hard in the first half and third quarter," head coach Corey Gaines told reporters. "It's funny, I think it was just getting the rebounds and going. Just straight solid defense. Get the stop, get the rebound and go instead of them getting a put-back after the first stop."
Phoenix has lost back-to-back games and has watched their defense slip to 12th in the WNBA. The Sun, on the other hand, are one of the best defensive teams in the league and have been solid inside Mohegan Sun Arena.
Pick: Connecticut
Indiana Fever at Seattle Storm (-6, 143)
The Seattle Storm haven’t lost in seven games inside Key Arena, picking up win No. 7 over the San Antonio Silver Stars Sunday night.
However, they welcome the Fever to the Emerald City Friday – a team that handed the Storm just their second loss of the season a little over a week ago.
"Their defense is good and I think we started off the game great, but then they kind of turned it up a little bit and it kind of frustrated us and put us back on our heels," Seattle guard Sue Bird told the Seattle Post Intelligencer. "Whenever you're playing tentatively, you're going to have turnovers because you're not aggressive and that's what happened."
Bird was back at practice this week after injuring her knee Sunday. Bird is averaging 12 points and six assists this season. She and her teammates are set on revenge Friday night.
Pick: Seattle