WNBA betting analysis. Page 7.
Every piece the desk has published on the WNBA: what moved, what it means for the number, and the read.
The close made the Lynx a 61% favorite in New York and they lost by 16. I beat the number by eleven cents and still went 0-1, which is a different lesson than a bad beat.
Caitlin Clark's 27 points and 15 assists became the first first-half points-assists double-double in playoff history, and the No. 1 Lynx became the first top seed ever swept in round one.
The pitch in Columbia was never the trophy case. It's the tape of A'ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso walking out of that program and straight into the WNBA lottery.
No top seed had ever been swept out of the opening round until now. The Liberty did it as the No. 8 seed, and Cheryl Reeve went straight past the tactics to the roster itself.
Clark became the first player in WNBA history to post a points-assists double-double by halftime of a playoff game, and Indiana's 99-89 win sends this series back to Las Vegas.
A technical, no ruling from the league, and a Game 2 board that ran from a coin flip to Indiana -9.5 with the total climbing nine points. The one input that matters now is a statement I do not have yet.
Las Vegas opened -102 at Indiana in a must-win. By 8:33 ET the Aces were +1300, the number stretched to Fever -9.5, and the total had climbed seven full points.
The 6-foot-1 guard from Lynden, Washington said no to Stanford, UConn and her home-state Huskies. Cori Close is now winning rooms she used to lose.
Minnesota swept the big hardware, the league posted its most-watched regular season ever with five games past 2 million viewers, and Golden State set a franchise playoff scoring record.
A conference rule barring pro returnees reshapes the college pipeline, Auburn loses a guard for the season, and the WNBA playoff slate resumes with two on the card.
A torn knee ligament costs Auburn a full year of its guard, and the calendar, not the depth chart, is the hard part: ACL rehab is measured in seasons, not weeks.
Every ballot came back with the same name. Miles becomes the sixth rookie in Lynx history to take the award, and she gets to carry it into New York on Tuesday night.
Las Vegas won the opener with defense, not fireworks, on the same day Wilson took a third straight AP Player of the Year and Clark and Mitchell made First Team.
Stewart's 34 and 12 knocked Minnesota off its pedestal, A'ja Wilson did something nobody in league history had done, and the league goes dark until Tuesday night.
Bonner signed in Atlanta on Aug. 27. Roughly a month later she was the oldest, calmest thing on the floor in a 92-77 playoff opener, and Game 2 heads to D.C. on Wednesday.
35 points, 15 rebounds, 75 percent from the floor. Thirty seasons of WNBA basketball and no one had ever done all three in one night. The series moves to Indianapolis Tuesday.
Breanna Stewart went for 34 and 12 in Minnesota, and a best-of-three first round means the league's top seed now plays an elimination game Tuesday in New York.
Wilson's third consecutive AP Player of the Year is unprecedented, but the ballot that says the most is the one Angel Reese took from her: Defensive Player of the Year.
Aliyah Boston's status arrives 24 hours before the opener in Las Vegas, on the same weekend Nneka Ogwumike walks away after 15 seasons and the Aces start counting to nine.
An NCAA title at UConn and FIBA World Cup gold is a real postseason education. Series basketball is a different exam, and Dallas is about to find out how much of it transfers.
The Fever lose a guard to a broken left leg and the number goes the other way: +4.5 shaved to +3.5 while the moneyline, once you strip the vig, barely twitched.
Four openers in seven hours, and the bracket handed us Lynx vs. Liberty again. Golden State hosts postseason basketball in the Bay while the Sparks start a coaching search.
New York's moneyline slid 30 cents to +250 while the 6.5 never moved and the dog's juice tightened to -105. Two numbers telling two different stories.
Minnesota goes into the eight-team field as the reported title favorite with two Lynx atop the Finals MVP board, while Los Angeles cut its coach loose Friday morning after a second straight October off.
Eight teams, four openers, one Sunday that runs from 2 p.m. to the West Coast nightcap. Minnesota hosts New York again, and Golden State hosts a playoff game in year two.
GET BIG MIKEThe WNBA plays behind this analysis are on his board.
His whole board live, your bets graded against the close, and the best number on every play. 61.5% on the moneyline board · 808 picks graded in public.