New York Liberty (21-4) vs. Los Angeles Sparks (6-18)
With the 2024 Summer Olympics behind us, the WNBA season will continue on Thursday, August 15th with three games starting at 9pm ET, including an inter-conference showdown at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California.
The Liberty will face the Sparks for the third time this season. New York is looking for a seventh straight win over Los Angeles, with the Liberty opening the game as an 11.5-point favorite with a 166.5-point total.
Let's take a look at our favorite free WNBA picks for tonight's matchup between New York and Los Angeles.
New York Liberty leads WNBA
The New York Liberty are unbeaten in four straight games, including two wins over the Connecticut Sun (71-68, 82-74) and the Chicago Sky (91-76, 81-67).
New York leads the WNBA standings by 2.5 games over the Sun. The Liberty has the league's best offensive team, scoring 110.0 points per 100 possessions, and also leads the WNBA in three-pointers made per game (10.3) and is second in assists per game (22.8).
Sabrina Ionescu leads New York with 19.8 points and 6.1 assists per game. She is averaging 3.0 three-pointers per game and hitting 35.6 percent of her shots. Breanna Stewart is averaging 19.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists and Jonquel Jones is averaging 15.3 points and 9.1 rebounds.
The Los Angeles Sparks are looking to the future
The Los Angeles Sparks have won just two of their last 13 games. One of those wins came against the defending WNBA champions, when the Sparks beat the Las Vegas Aces, 98-93 in overtime on July 5. In their last game, Los Angeles was trailing by 9.5 points at home in an 89-83 loss to the Seattle Storm on July 16.
The Sparks fell to 6-18 on the season after the loss to Seattle and are four games out of the eighth seed. Los Angeles is 10th in the league in adjusted offensive efficiency (99.9 points per 100 possessions) and seventh in 3-pointers made per game (7.5).
Dearrica Hamby leads the Sparks offense with 19.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, while Azura Stevens is adding 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Los Angeles can't count on Lexi Brown (8.1 points, 3.3 assists) and Cameron Brink (7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds per game), and the Sparks will likely miss the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
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Best bets on New York Liberty vs Los Angeles Sparks
Full Game Side Bets
Insider Status:
evaluation:
Interestingly, the Liberty are 0-6 ATS in their last six games against the Sparks, and since New York has beaten Los Angeles by double digits in each of their last two meetings in 2024, I expect the ATS winning streak to end sooner rather than later.
Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones will dominate the Sparks in the paint. With Cameron Brink out, Los Angeles will struggle to rebound in this matchup, so I project the Liberty to cover the spread by 11.5 points. Additionally, the Sparks are last in the WNBA in opponents' 3-point shooting percentage (36.9%).
Prediction: New York Liberty to win at -11.5 (-110)
Full Game Total Picks
Insider Status:
evaluation:
As mentioned above, the Liberty lead the league in 3-pointers made per game, while the Sparks rank last in opponents' 3-point shooting percentage. Los Angeles ranks 10th in points allowed per 100 possessions (108.0), while New York ranks 4th in that category (98.4). I expect the Liberty to score over 90 points in this game, so I'm going to go over the point total.
New York's 3-point percentage (.435) is by far the best in the league. The Liberty faced the Sparks twice in June, both of which were high-scoring games (93-80 and 98-88), so it would be surprising if a different scenario plays out this time around.
Prediction: Over 166.5 points (-110)
Victor Alencon “Vikings”
