The Connecticut Sun will look to further its standing in the WNBA playoff picture with a home win against the lowly Seattle Storm.
Seattle is in the early stages of a rebuild and are losers of five of six, including one to the Sun last month. Connecticut lost a pair of measuring stick games against the class of the WNBA, the Aces and Liberty, but will look to get back on track as double digit home favorites.
Here's how we're eyeing this Thursday night WNBA matchup:
Storm vs. Sun odds, spread and total
Storm vs. Sun prediction and pick
The Sun are third in both offensive and defensive rating, per WNBA.com, but I have my eye on the team's defense locking down the Storm and leading this to be an under game.
Connecticut generates a ton of offense through second chances, not potent shooting, the team is sixth in effective field goal percentage, but rebounds more than 30% of its misses. We saw in the first meeting this game sneak over the total of 160.5 due to a ton of free throws form both sides, a combined 50 attempts.
However, this total is now up six points from the meeting less than a month ago and I'll play back against it.
Seattle is 11th out of 12 teams in the WNBA in effective field goal percentage and will struggle to keep up with the Sun. If Connecticut is going to dictate the terms of this game, I expect a lower scoring affair, especially considering that Connecticut takes the second fewest three's in the league.
The first meeting featured 164 points, and this updated total is reflecting some updated numbers that feature Connecticut playing the two best offenses in the league in the Liberty and Aces. However, that's not relevant in this matchup as the team faces a far worse offensive team in the Storm.
I'm going under on Thursday.
