Storm And Sparks Won't Bother With Defense Today

Storm vs. Sparks, 3:30 ET

Last week there were a number of games that happened during the early afternoon in the WNBA. The complaint from some was that it makes no sense why they do that. I find it a bit comical because baseball has day games all the time and most soccer games people are betting on happen in Europe, which means we are betting on them in the afternoon. Personally, I prefer games that are early because we have a chance to bet all day! More betting, more better! Either way, the reason for the early starts have been because of summer camps. It doesn't matter the start time, I've crushed the WNBA this season, and hopefully can get this one after a last-minute scratch from the lineup threw off my last one. I'm 11-3 in Outkick articles for WNBA plays and putting that on the line as the Storm take on the Sparks in an early afternoon game.

The Storm are a team that have rebuilt themselves a bit this season. We've seen them add two big names this season after they lost their two best players over the past couple of years. Sue Bird retired last season and Breanna Stewart traveled across country and went to the New York Liberty. They've replaced them with Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike. The Sparks should be familiar with Ogwumike as she played the first 12 seasons of her career with Los Angeles. This season has been much of the same production from her with 17.1 points per game and 7.6 rebounds. She is shooting 52% from the floor, 43% from three (even though she doesn't shoot many), and 84% from the charity stripe. Diggins-Smith made some noise last season about hating being on the Mercury. She didn't get along with the coach or something. I really am not sure what the issue was, but you can look up the stories yourself if you truly care. What matters is that this year she is still playing well. Her scoring totals are down, in fact this is the lowest point total (13.3 per game) that she has produced since her 2016 season. She has increased her assists though and is averaging more (6.5 assists) than she has ever at any point in her career. Jewel Loyd continues to be a major fixture for the team, and leads them in scoring this season. Overall, this is a well-balanced team that is of to a nice start at 16-8 for the season.

Jul 9, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; LA Sparks forward Dearica Hamby (5) shoots the ball against the Minnesota Lynx in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Sparks are on the opposite side of the spectrum for the WNBA. They are in need of a bit of a rebuild, and they did try to start that by drafting Cameron Brink before the season began. Unfortunately for them, she tore her ACL and is out for the season. To be honest, she was having a very mixed result. As far as the team, Dearica Hamby is the main fixture on the roster and the only player on the team that is scoring more than 12 points per game.  She has led the team in scoring in the past four games, six of the past seven, and 13 of the 23 games overall. What stands out to me about the team is allowing opponents to score at least 80 points in eight consecutive matchups. They are playing better basketball lately, as they have won two of their past five games.

Looking at the line, I'd be a bit weary of taking the Storm to cover, but you also can't trust the Sparks. This game feels more like we should be betting the over. We've seen that the Storm will likely be scoring 80 or more points that's half of the posted total. They aren't the best defensive team and because of the how the Sparks have played lately I think we should trust that they can put up points. Back the over 161.5 in this one. 

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