I am going to be rolling with the Sky playing at home against the Mystics tonight. The Sky are 4-6 so far this year and 3-2 at home, while losing 5 of their last 6 games. The Mystics are 2-6 this year and losers of 5 of their last 6 games as well.
I really don’t see the Mystics in a good spot to cover this game. They have been playing terribly and can’t even win at home. Home court advantage is huge in the WNBA and the Mystics are so bad that even home cooking isn’t working for them. To then make matters worse, their star player Crystal Langhorne injured her back and is questionable. Their lone win in this 1-5 stretch came against Tulsa, the worst team in the WNBA. I don't see this team coming up with a big effort on the road if they haven’t even been winning at home with their best player healthy.
Not to mention that Mystics already have two good players OUT in Alana Beard and Monique Curry. The WNBA is not at all like the NBA where you have a lot of talent past your starting five. The teams play small rotations due to the lack of depth. Trying to plug in one player is hard enough in this league let alone three key players. The injuries have really hurt the Mystics bench. It is now comprised of three rookies and 2nd year forward Joy Cheek. In their last game, the Mystics bench scored 1 point on 0-8 shooting. The fact is that their bench is jut not good at all and there is no reason to believe that if they couldn't play well at home, where benches usually play very well, that they will bring it on the road.
The Mystics are currently rated the 10th worst offense (12 teams in the WNBA). They shoot 40.5% from the field and average 75.5 points per game. Of their top 6 players in terms of MPG played, only one of them shoots a good percentage and that is Langhorne (56%) who is questionable tomorrow. The other 5 players shoot 43%, 29%, 41%, 37%, 37.5%. Those are really horrible shooting numbers that average out to 37.4%. To put that number into perspective, the Mercury as a team shoot 36%… from 3PT range.
Chicago hasn’t been playing a whole lot better losing 5 of 6 as well but three of the games were on the road and every game was against a tough opponent except Atlanta. Chicago is 3-0 ATS when playing teams .500 or below so far this year. They beat Washington by 7 already this year, beat NY by 12 and lost @Atlanta by 3 but covered the spread.
This should be the game to get Chicago back on track. They will have had a nice four days of rest and should have a ton of confidence playing a team they already beat by 7 on the road. Sylvia Fowles should have a big game as the Mystics will be weak inside. Langhorne may not play so that leaves Anosike as basically the only other F/C to really try and D up on Sylvia. The only other option they have is rookie Victoria Dunlap. Sylvia was 8-12 from the field with 23 points last game @ Washington and I see no reason not to expect an even bigger game from her tomorrow night playing at home.
I really don’t see the Mystics in a good spot to cover this game. They have been playing terribly and can’t even win at home. Home court advantage is huge in the WNBA and the Mystics are so bad that even home cooking isn’t working for them. To then make matters worse, their star player Crystal Langhorne injured her back and is questionable. Their lone win in this 1-5 stretch came against Tulsa, the worst team in the WNBA. I don't see this team coming up with a big effort on the road if they haven’t even been winning at home with their best player healthy.
Not to mention that Mystics already have two good players OUT in Alana Beard and Monique Curry. The WNBA is not at all like the NBA where you have a lot of talent past your starting five. The teams play small rotations due to the lack of depth. Trying to plug in one player is hard enough in this league let alone three key players. The injuries have really hurt the Mystics bench. It is now comprised of three rookies and 2nd year forward Joy Cheek. In their last game, the Mystics bench scored 1 point on 0-8 shooting. The fact is that their bench is jut not good at all and there is no reason to believe that if they couldn't play well at home, where benches usually play very well, that they will bring it on the road.
The Mystics are currently rated the 10th worst offense (12 teams in the WNBA). They shoot 40.5% from the field and average 75.5 points per game. Of their top 6 players in terms of MPG played, only one of them shoots a good percentage and that is Langhorne (56%) who is questionable tomorrow. The other 5 players shoot 43%, 29%, 41%, 37%, 37.5%. Those are really horrible shooting numbers that average out to 37.4%. To put that number into perspective, the Mercury as a team shoot 36%… from 3PT range.
Chicago hasn’t been playing a whole lot better losing 5 of 6 as well but three of the games were on the road and every game was against a tough opponent except Atlanta. Chicago is 3-0 ATS when playing teams .500 or below so far this year. They beat Washington by 7 already this year, beat NY by 12 and lost @Atlanta by 3 but covered the spread.
This should be the game to get Chicago back on track. They will have had a nice four days of rest and should have a ton of confidence playing a team they already beat by 7 on the road. Sylvia Fowles should have a big game as the Mystics will be weak inside. Langhorne may not play so that leaves Anosike as basically the only other F/C to really try and D up on Sylvia. The only other option they have is rookie Victoria Dunlap. Sylvia was 8-12 from the field with 23 points last game @ Washington and I see no reason not to expect an even bigger game from her tomorrow night playing at home.
