Down the stretch of this WNBA season, there will be a lot of games with huge playoff implications. Saturday’s contest between the Seattle Storm and Washington Mystics is one of those games.
At 15-10, the Storm are comfortably in a playoff position. Currently, they’re fighting to secure home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Fueled by their excellent defense and 1-2 offensive punch of Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins, they’re dangerous come playoff time.
The Mystics are squarely on the bubble. At 11-12, they’re sitting in the eighth and final WNBA playoff spot. It will be a battle down to the wire to secure those last spots. Washington didn’t fully expect the rebuild to move this quickly, so it’s playing with house money, in a sense. A postseason appearance would be a big leap forward.
The Storm are five-point favorites on the road at -205 on the moneyline on DraftKings Sportsbook. The total is set at 156.5 points. Let’s look at the best bets and predictions for this contest.
Storm vs. Mystics prediction, pick
The strength of these two squads lies in their defense. And they’ve arrived in different ways.
It’s no surprise that the Storm boasts an excellent defensive unit. Gabby Williams, Nneka Ogwumike, and Ezi Magbegor all have serious defensive chops. Even with Magbegor managing an injury all season long, they’re holding a top-three defensive rating in the WNBA. Things could get scarier if second overall pick Dominique Malonga starts to get more minutes. The athletic 19-year-old center got serious run in their blowout victory over the Sky, and showed why she can be a game-changer.
Washington’s defense isn’t on Seattle’s level. Being eighth in defensive rating is impressive with the transitory nature of the roster. Brittney Sykes and Sonia Citron have proven to be a great two-way backcourt, chasing ballhandling guards to the ends of the Earth. With Kiki Iriafen inhaling boards the way Galactus inhales planets, it’s a formula that has kept them competitive all season long.
The strength of these two defenses and the relative weakness of the offenses give us a low over/under of 156.5. Even at that low number, I’m banking on a rock fight.
