With only a handful of games remaining in the WNBA regular season, everything is on the line. For the Seattle Storm and the Washington Mystics, their seasons could come down to this game. No pressure, right?
The Storm are 8.5-point favorites on the road and hold -455 odds on the moneyline on DraftKings Sportsbook. The total is set at 158.5 points. Let’s look at the best bets and predictions for this Mystics-Storm contest.
Mystics vs. Storm prediction, pick
The Seattle Storm didn’t expect to be here. With Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, Ezi Magbegor and talented breakout star Gabby Williams in the fold, nobody could have predicted they’d be under .500 so late into the season. But that was where they were on Aug. 13, after a six-game losing streak put them at 16-17. Their backs were against the wall, their playoff hopes jeopardized. It seemed like the season was going off the rails.
Since then, Seattle has managed to win three of its last four. The Storm pulled off a big win against the Dream to end the losing streak and took care of business against Chicago and Dallas. The big revelation has been Dominique Malonga in the past few games. The rookie went bananas against the Wings, and could bring an extra dimension to their playoff rotation.
It’s tough to get as excited about their hopes as a playoff upset candidate. But if they get there, they can pose a threat as a physical defense with great scoring talent.
Washington still clings to playoff hopes. Two games back of the eighth seed, a hot streak at the end of the season could launch them back into the picture. A win against Seattle drags them closer to the field while pulling down one of the teams ahead of them. But they’ll have to buckle down defensively while riding their rookies offensively. Luckily for them, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen have been up to the task recently.
But their depth will be tested on this back-to-back. They lost to the red-hot Aces (who can fault them for that?) on Saturday, and now they get another tough matchup on Sunday. I’m not confident in this shallow group being able to get up for a second grinding matchup in a row.
