Things have gone beyond just lukewarm in the last stretch of the WNBA season; this playoff race is red-hot. Going into Thursday’s game, the Phoenix Mercury will be tied for the No. 2 and No. 3 seed in the WNBA playoffs. With four games left to play, the stakes are incredibly high. And the Washington Mystics are standing in their way.
The Mercury are nine-point favorites on the road and hold -455 odds on the Moneyline at DraftKings Sportsbook. The total is set at 160.5 points. Let’s take a look at the best bets and predictions for this Mercury-Mystics matchup.
Mystics vs. Mercury prediction, pick
The Mercury picked a great time to get hot. Phoenix has won seven of its last eight games and has been collecting some impressive victories; five of those victories were against teams currently in the playoff picture. With Alyssa Thomas on an absurd hot streak, they’re rolling tons of momentum into the playoffs.
While Phoenix is clicking, Washington is falling apart. The losers of seven straight, Washington went from a playoff hopeful to a lottery-bound team. It’s not the worst thing ever since few expected them to even be in the race, but the excellence of rookies Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen catapulted them forward. Additionally, Brittney Sykes’ breakout led to the team acquiring a haul from the Seattle Storm around the trade deadline.
Nobody wants to miss the playoffs. But taking significant strides in the rebuild while adding more assets for the future was an important win. Still, it leaves them up a creek for this matchup with a scorching-hot Mercury squad.
There are numerous exciting individual matchups to keep an eye on. Iriafen will see a lot of time guarding Alyssa Thomas, and vice versa. Citron will have to contend with Kahleah Copper on the perimeter on both ends of the floor. And Washington big Shakira Austin will have her hands full trying to keep up with Satou Sabally. It’s not a good equation for Washington, but one that should produce some entertaining hoops.
