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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid. I'm Craig Misch. We'll be joined by Gilbert McGregor of
00:08Sporting News as we review the latest in the WNBA and go over whether or not Kaitlyn Clark
00:14is going to be an impact player in tonight's game. She'll win the rookie of the year, we know that
00:18Gilbert, but how much will she be able to play tonight is the question. Thanks for coming on the show.
00:23Absolutely, Craig. Excited to talk about some WNBA hoops. Yeah, and I think people may be surprised
00:28to see this line. The Sun are three-point favorites tonight against the Indiana Fever,
00:31total of 164, and I'm guessing the injury has something to do with this line. Now, you know,
00:38naturally we still have hours before this game tips off, but what do you make of this line and
00:41maybe the potential result? You know, it's actually a little closer than I expected. The
00:46Fever haven't had much success against the Sun this season. They opened the season in Connecticut,
00:52and they've lost all three games against them this year, and Kaitlyn Clark actually is averaging
00:57fewer assists against Connecticut than any other team in the WNBA. She's also averaging six
01:02turnovers per game against Connecticut. So, it's a very tough defensive team. They're second in the
01:07WNBA standings right now. Actually, if the season ended right now, these would be the two teams that
01:12met in the first round of the playoffs. So, maybe we get a postseason preview here, but maybe we see
01:16the Fever maybe get over that hump. They've played better basketball since the Olympic break came to
01:21an end. So, I think the Fever can hang around, but I still think the Sun are the better team,
01:25and they had their eyes and sights set on the postseason. All right. So, now the New York Liberty
01:30have been a better best friend. I know they didn't cover a spread the other day, but generally
01:34speaking, what they're doing is winning games by 15, 20, even 30 points. They take on the Sparks
01:39tonight. I don't know what has happened to the Sparks, but they have been rough since opening up
01:44the, I guess, second half since the Olympics. New York, 12 and a half point favorites tonight,
01:48Gilbert, 163 and a half is the total there. Since Brianna, since they returned to play,
01:56they basically have been five and one. So, that's a really good record covering the spread mostly,
02:03but this is a big line again on the road. I think the last time these two teams played,
02:06the Liberty won by 30. Yeah, I was going to say last time these two teams played, it actually was
02:12in LA and they won by 35. So, it wasn't even remotely close. The Sparks have dealt with a
02:17lot of injuries this year, including a one-to-star rookie, Cameron Brink. Rekia Jackson has stood out
02:23for the Sparks team, but they're building for the future. They just blew a huge lead their last time
02:28out. So, they're trending downward and the Liberty are trending upward. They're doing everything they
02:33can to secure the number one seed in the WNBA standings going into the playoffs, avenge their
02:38loss in the WNBA finals last year. So, it does make sense that they are favored by this much,
02:42even though they're on the road, they're a much healthier team and they really are playing with
02:47a bigger picture in mind. I think that they won't take their opponents lightly. Yeah, I would agree.
02:52And look, it's time now for, you know, the WNBA playoffs are coming soon. The Liberty are going
02:58to be one of the favorites, if not the favorite to win it all. Las Vegas is saying, don't forget
03:02about us. In terms of tonight, let's see if we can throw a prop out there, folks, for Gilbert.
03:07We've got Brianna Stewart minus 120. This is to score 20 plus points in the game tonight. Sabrina
03:12Inescu minus 106. And then on the Sparks, we have the Erica Hamby, Rekia Jackson,
03:20and John Quell Jones. Those are the names tonight. A couple of plus 360s I see there,
03:27the favorite to score 20 plus. Gilbert, that's minus money. Anything you like there?
03:33You know, it's really tricky when you talk about games like this because there is that blowout
03:37potential. So how long will the Stars actually play for the Liberty? But at the same time,
03:43I look at a team like the Sparks, who are an injury-riddled team. They have a much tighter
03:48rotation. Rekia Jackson had a huge game on Sunday in Dallas and couldn't miss. I think she made her
03:54first eight shots of the game. So if you're really intrigued and want to get adventurous there,
03:59there might be some real value in Rekia Jackson, if you believe that she can pick up where she
04:04left off on Sunday. Otherwise, I understand Brianna Stewart is pretty tempting, but if she
04:09plays limited minutes in a big-time blowout and they empty the bench earlier than we expect,
04:13I don't know if there's much value there for the Liberty players.
04:15All right. Now let's get into the trophy here. To use basically the term favorite is using it
04:25lightly. The Liberty and Aces minus 230. You can't even get good odds. If one of those teams wins the
04:32championship. Gilbert, can you sell me on anyone else out of those two teams winning the WA
04:40championship? If so, I can get plus 184. This is two against the field. We haven't even started
04:45the playoffs yet. I think I'd make a case for the Connecticut Sun. We talked about them right now.
04:50They are the second seed in the WNBA standings. They have some star power with Alyssa Thomas.
04:56They made a big trade to get Marina Mabry on their roster as well. And they kind of check
05:00all those boxes. If people always say defense wins championships, well, they are a defensive team.
05:04Another one could be another shot for the Minnesota Lynx. They're kind of quietly
05:08hanging around there and they could finish third or second. They have Nafisa Collier, who
05:12is another WNBA MVP candidate. She probably won't win it over Asia Wilson. But those two teams,
05:19they have the star power. They have the identity. And I think they've been more consistent than the
05:23Aces. I'm pretty concerned about this stage of the season. I feel like they haven't shaken past
05:27some of the issues that they've shown throughout the year. Yeah. And Gilbert, you know, I think as
05:31we kind of come to a close here, the bottom line for me is as we enter the end, do you think that
05:36the WNBA scheduling had anything to do with the way that the season is finishing? Because we're
05:41definitely seeing some more lopsided results since we've got out of the Olympics. And do you think
05:46that has anything to do with the break or not? Or is it just commonplace for the end of the WNBA
05:51season? I think it's a mix of both. It's been interesting to see how the Olympic break
05:57has impacted different teams. Like we've seen Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and some of the
06:01rookies actually find a second win because they didn't really get much of a break after the NCAA
06:06season. Now they get an extra month to kind of refresh and recharge. You can kind of see in their
06:11play. But you think about teams like the Aces, teams like the Seattle Storm, who had multiple
06:15Olympians. It was nonstop for them. So they're coming out of the break, having played, having
06:20traveled to and from Paris. And I think that that's impacted a lot of some of the letdowns
06:26that we've seen with these teams. I know the Storm just had a pretty surprising loss at home
06:31to the Washington Mystics. So I see with less than I think three or four weeks left in the year,
06:37maybe we'll see some people shake the rust off and kind of break through that last win to close
06:42the season. But it's really interesting to see how that plays. All right. Well, Gilbert, great
06:47to catch up with you once again. Thanks for coming on Newswire. Absolutely.