Los Angeles Sparks vs. Seattle Storm Preview, Prediction and Odds - 7/7/21
A pair of Western Conference teams lock up on the parquet floor in a WNBA tilt coming to you from the Pacific Northwest. The Los Angeles Sparks are on the road as they close out a home-and-home set with the Seattle Storm Wednesday night. In the front half of this home-and-home series in the City of Angels Sunday night, it was Seattle picking up an 84-74 victory on the road. That extended the Storm’s win streak in the series to three games though the Sparks had taken the three meetings prior to that.
Los Angeles Sparks Hoping to Get Back on Track
Los Angeles suffered their fourth straight loss and their sixth defeat in the last seven games as they were dropped by Seattle in their most recent contest. The Sparks fell to 6-11 on the season and entered Tuesday 10th in the WNBA playoff picture, 1.5 games behind the Mercury for the final playoff spot. Los Angeles trailed by five after the opening quarter against Seattle, went down as many as 12 in the first half and the margin was nine at the half. The Sparks opened the second half on a 26-9 run to take an eight-point lead with 2:13 to play in the third quarter but that was their high-water mark. Los Angeles saw the lead trimmed to two after three quarters before getting outscored 28-16 in the fourth quarter to wind up with the loss. Erica Wheeler and Brittany Sykes (10 rebounds, five assists) each had 19 points in the loss to lead the Sparks.
On the season, Los Angeles is 11th in the league in scoring offense as they average 74.5 points per game. The Sparks are last in rebounding (29.9 boards per game) and 12th in assists (14.8) this season. Los Angeles is 3rd in scoring defense as they give up an average of 80 points a night. Nneka Ogwumike leads the team with 16.4 points plus seven rebounds a game this season. Chiney Ogwumike (nine points, 5.7 boards) and Kristi Tolliver (9.8 points) are solid secondary scoring options. Derek Fisher hopes to get more from role players like Brittney Sykes, Nia Coffey (7.6 points), Erica Wheeler (13.5 points, 4.4 assists), Te’a Cooper (10.3 points), Amanda Zahui B. (11.6 points, 6.1 boards) and Arella Guirantes. Los Angeles is 12th in field goal percentage on the season as they shoot 39.9% from the field as a team on the year. The Sparks are fifth in three-pointers per game (7.5) and 7th in three-point shooting as they convert 34.2% from beyond the arc this season. Los Angeles is 11th in success at the charity stripe as they cash in 75.9% of their attempts on the year. Jasmine Walker was lost for the season with a torn ACL that she suffered against Las Vegas May 21. Chiney Ogwumike missed the last 14 games with a knee injury and is out indefinitely. Nneka Ogwumike is expected to miss four to six weeks with a knee sprain sustained against the Wings June 1. She is expected to be out until mid-July. Kristi Toliver (eye) is questionable here after missing the last two games.
Seattle Storm Looking to Keep Pace With Aces
Seattle won their second straight and seventh in the last nine games as they took the front half of this home-and-home set with the Sparks on the road. The Storm improved their mark to 14-4 on the year and are tied with Las Vegas for the top spot in the league though they sit second as the Aces own the head-to-head tiebreaker. In Sunday’s game, Seattle closed the first quarter on a 7-2 run to break a 13-13 tie, led by as many as 12 in the first half and by nine at halftime. The Storm were blitzed in the beginning of the second half to trail by eight with 2:13 to play in the third quarter before regrouping. Seattle closed the third quarter on an 8-2 run to get within two after three quarters before outscoring the Sparks 28-16 in the fourth quarter for the win. The Storm shot 46.9% from the field, including eight of 20 from three-point range, and won the rebounding battle 33-30. Breanna Stewart led Seattle with 21 points in the victory.
The Storm comes into this contest second in the league in scoring offense with an average of 88.1 points per game. Seattle is fourth in rebounding (36.6 boards per contest) and is first in the league in assists by dishing out 22.7 dimes per night this year. The Storm are 5th in scoring defense as they allow 80.7 points a game so far this year. Breanna Stewart leads the team with 21 points and 9.5 rebounds per contest. Jewell Loyd (18.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists) and Sue Bird (11.2 points, 5.7 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, Candice Dupree, Ezi Magbegor, Stephanie Talbot, Kennedy Burke, Epiphanny Prince and Kiana Williams. The Storm are second in the league in field goal percentage as they convert 46.4% of their shots from the floor this year. Seattle is third in the league in three-point field goals made per game (9.3) and first in three-point percentage as they knock down 40.7% percent from beyond the arc. The Storm are average at the line, ranking sixth in the league by converting 82.1% of their chances. Mikiah Herbert Harrington is out for the year as she is pregnant. Loyd missed Sunday’s game with an ankle injury and is questionable here.
Pick: Seattle Storm
Seattle picked up the win in the first game of this home-and-home series even with Loyd out of the mix. The Storm still put up 84 points against a tough Los Angeles defense to get the victory. Los Angeles hasn’t been the same without the Ogwumike sisters and the potential that Toliver could be missing deals another blow to the Sparks. As it stands, Los Angeles is trying to rely too much on their work on the defensive end of the floor as their offensive production is putrid to say the least. When you rank last in scoring offense, rebounding, assists and field goal percentage while ranking second-worst in free throw shooting, it’s tough to have faith in the Sparks. Seattle sweeps the home-and-home set by prevailing here.
Total: Over
The meeting Sunday night ended up just half a point short of the total when all was said and done. With that in mind, Seattle had gone over the mark in each of their three previous contests and enter this one with the over hitting in half of their 18 games. Los Angeles has split the last 10 games in regards to the total and have seen the under hit in 11 of the 17 games so far this season. Most of that is due to the lack of capable offensive weapons to help them push the total. While Sunday’s game missed the mark, four of the last six meetings between the teams have gone over the total. Look for this one to follow suit as it edges over the mark by a couple points.
