Who will WIN this matchup?
Seattle Storm (5-3)
@ Connecticut Sun (7-1)
Current odds:
Seattle Storm: (+400)
Connecticut Sun: (-500)
• The line for this game is Connecticut by 9 points.
• The Storm (5-3) will be without star forward Breanna Stewart this year due to an Achilles injury, and fellow starter Sue Bird remains sidelined indefinitely following knee surgery. Seattle, though, has found other sources of offense — primarily Natasha Howard and Jewell Loyd — and has shown greater cohesion with each passing contest on this trip, a feat all the more impressive considering coach Dan Hughes has yet to be on the sidelines for a game after being treated to remove a cancerous tumor from his digestive tract.
• Loyd’s go-ahead jumper with 8.6 seconds to play lifted the Storm to a 74-71 victory over the Washington Mystics on Friday night in a rematch of last year’s WNBA Finals. Seattle closed the game on a 10-0 run over the final 2:47 and erased a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit as both Howard and Mercedes Russell posted double-doubles, with Russell finishing with career highs of 15 points and 11 rebounds.
• Howard, who had 19 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double, is third in the league in scoring (19.5 ppg) and fourth in rebounds (9.4). She will meet her equal in current two-time WNBA Player of the Week Jonquel Jones, who is fifth and first in those respective categories with 17.8 points and 12.1 rebounds per game.
• Jones notched her fifth double-double in Connecticut’s 85-81 victory over Minnesota on Friday night, totaling 16 points and 12 rebounds. After entering the game 10th in the league in shooting at 39.1 percent, the Sun (7-1) knocked down 50 percent of their attempts against the Lynx and Shekinna Stricklen hit 4 of 5 from 3-point range wile also finishing with 16 points.
• Connecticut, which has won five straight overall, is trying to break the franchise record of 11 consecutive home victories originally established from Sept. 19, 2004-July 28, 2005. The Sun made their only two WNBA Finals appearances in those seasons, losing to the Storm in 2004.
• The Storm are the last opposing team to leave Mohegan Sun with a victory, winning 78-65 on July 20 as Loyd scored 20 of her season-high 31 points in the second half. That completed a season sweep of the series for Seattle, which won the three games between the teams by a combined 38 points.
StreakSmarter Pick
Connecticut Sun