Connecticut Sun vs. Seattle Storm Prediction and Odds - 8/12/21
After a near month-long layoff for the All-Star break and the Tokyo Olympics, the WNBA gets back on the hardwood with the final of the Commissioner’s Cup with half a million dollars up for grabs. The Connecticut Sun are on the road as they travel to face the Seattle Storm Thursday night on a neutral floor in Phoenix. Connecticut dropped New York 71-54 on the road back on July 11 in their most recent contest. Seattle dropped Phoenix 82-75 at home on July 11 in their most recent contest. The Storm have taken seven of the last 10 meetings, including each of the last four. That includes a 90-87 home win on May 25 and an 89-66 road victory June 11 in the two meetings this season.
Connecticut Sun Looking to Win Commissioner’s Cup
Connecticut took care of business against New York in their last game before the All-Star break to head into the break with six wins in their seven previous contests. The Sun enter the second half of the season with a four-game lead over the Sky for the best record in the Eastern Conference. In the WNBA playoff standings, they were third, 1.5 games behind the league-leading Storm. Against the Liberty, Connecticut used a 12-0 run in the opening quarter to turn an 8-7 deficit into a 19-8 advantage and never looked back. The Sun led by 10 after the opening quarter, by nine at the half and by 18 after three quarters en route to the victory. Connecticut shot 37.9% from the field, including 11 of 30 from three-point range and held a 42-34 advantage on the glass in the contest. Jonquel Jones led the Sun with 17 points, 17 rebounds and five assists in the victory.
The Sun is 9th in the league in scoring offense as they put up an average of 79.4 points per game so far this season. Connecticut is second in the league in rebounding (37.3 boards a night) while they stand 10th by dishing out 17.9 assists a game on the year. The Sun have been good defensively as they are first in scoring defense by allowing an average of 73.2 points per game. DeWanna Bonner is second on the Sun with 15.8 points, seven rebounds and 3.6 assists a game. Jonquel Jones (team-high 21 points, 11.1 rebounds), Natisha Hiedeman (8.2 points) and Brionna Jones (15 points, 6.9 rebounds) each are valuable contributors. Jasmine Thomas (11.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists), Briann January, Beatrice Mompreier, Stephanie Jones, DiJonai Carrington and Kaila Charles are important pieces for coach Curt Miller. Connecticut is fourth in the league in field goal percentage as they shoot 43.8% as a team. The Sun are fifth in three-pointers per game (7.3) and fifth in three-point percentage (35.7%) on the year. Connecticut has been mediocre at the charity stripe as they convert on 79.7% of their attempts, which is 7th in the league. Alyssa Thomas is questionable as she recovers from offseason surgery for a torn Achilles.
Seattle Storm Seeking to Drop Sun for Fifth Straight Time
Seattle headed into the All-Star break winners of four of their previous five games as they split a home-and-home set with Phoenix in their last two contests. The Storm enter the second half of the year with a one-game lead over the Aces for the top spot in both the Western Conference and the WNBA playoff picture. In their home tilt with the Mercury, the Storm trailed by four with 1:12 to play in the first quarter before going on a 13-0 run over the next four-plus minutes to take a 32-23 lead. Seattle never let Phoenix closer than three the rest of the way en route to the victory. The Storm shot 48.4% from the field, including 10 of 27 from three-point range, and limited the Mercury to 40.3% shooting in the game. Epiphanny Prince led Seattle with 15 points off the bench in the win.
The Storm comes into this contest second in the league in scoring offense with an average of 86.4 points per game. Seattle is fourth in rebounding (36.4 boards per contest) and is first in the league in assists by dishing out 21.6 dimes per night this year. The Storm are 3rd in scoring defense as they allow 79.6 points a game so far this year. Breanna Stewart leads the team with 20.6 points and 9.6 rebounds per contest. Jewell Loyd (17.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists) and Sue Bird (10.9 points, 5.5 assists) are solid secondary options. Coach Noelle Quinn has a solid group to work with as her team can get production from Katie Lou Samuelson, Jordin Canada, Ezi Magbegor, Stephanie Talbot, Kennedy Burke, Epiphanny Prince and Kiana Williams. The Storm are third in the league in field goal percentage as they convert 45.7% of their shots from the floor this year. Seattle is third in the league in three-point field goals made per game (9.1) and first in three-point percentage as they knock down 39.2% percent from beyond the arc. The Storm are above average at the line, ranking third in the league by converting 82.9% of their chances. Mikiah Herbert Harrington is out for the year as she is pregnant. Magbegor and Talbot are questionable as they return from representing Australia in the Olympics.
Connecticut started to get back on track once Jonquel Jones returned to the mix, winning six of their final seven games before the break. The problem for the Sun is that even when she was in the mix, they were unable to best the Storm. Connecticut was in a much closer game in the contest Jones played in but they still couldn’t come up with the victory. Seattle had several players that took part in the Olympics and will have Samuelson back after she missed the Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19. As Ric Flair used to say in the prime of his career, “To be the man, you have to beat the man.” In this case, Seattle is Flair and until Connecticut shows they can climb the mountain, you have to fade them a bit. Give the Storm the nod in what should be a very good contest.
Seattle Storm
Connecticut is a stingy defensive team, leading the league in scoring defense while ranking second in field goal percentage defense (41.2%) on the year. The Sun have seen the under hit in 13 of their 20 games on the season, including five of their previous seven heading into the break. Meanwhile, Seattle has seen the under hit in 12 of their 21 games this year. With two of the top three teams in the league in scoring defense, the potential for a lower scoring tilt is there. With that said, five straight meetings had gone over the mark before the meeting in Connecticut in June ended up three points short of the mark. There’s going to be some rust issues as both teams try to get back to playing with each other and getting reacclimated after the break. This one ends up falling short of the total.
Under
