Seattle Storm vs. Los Angeles Sparks Prediction, Preview and Odds - 7/4/21
A pair of Western Conference teams lock up on the parquet floor in a WNBA tilt coming to you from the City of Angels. The Seattle Storm are on the road as they travel to face the Los Angeles Sparks Sunday night. Seattle hosted Atlanta in an interconference matchup on Friday night and picking up a 91-88 victory in their most recent contest. Los Angeles closed out a two-game set at home against Las Vegas in their previous game Friday night, falling 66-58 to end up being swept. The Storm won both meetings in the bubble last season, including a 90-89 win as the “road” team in the most recent meeting on September 4, 2020. In the last 10 meetings, the teams have split down the middle with five victories apiece.
Seattle Storm Looking to Keep Pace With Aces
Seattle snapped a two-game slide as they held off a charge from the Dream down the stretch to earn the home victory. The Storm improved to 13-4 on the year and sat tied with Las Vegas for the top spot in the WNBA playoff picture though the Aces own the top seed due to head-to-head victories. Seattle trailed by one after the opening quarter, led by three at the half and by eight after three quarters. The Storm saw the Dream charge within one on multiple occasions in the final quarter but managed to hold them off to earn the victory. Seattle shot 48.4% from the field, including a sizzling 14 of 22 from three-point range, and knocked down 17 of 22 free throws in the contest. Sue Bird led the Storm with 15 points and five assists in the win.
The Storm comes into this contest second in the league in scoring offense with an average of 88.3 points per game. Seattle is fourth in rebounding (36.8 boards per contest) and is first in the league in assists by dishing out 22.9 dimes per night this year. The Storm are 4th in scoring defense as they allow 81 points a game so far this year. Breanna Stewart leads the team with 21 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest. Jewell Loyd (18.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists) and Sue Bird (11.1 points, six assists) are solid secondary options. Coach Noelle Quinn has a solid group to work with as her team can get production from Katie Lou Samuelson, Jordin Canada, Candice Dupree, Ezi Magbegor, Stephanie Talbot, Kennedy Burke, Epiphanny Prince and Kiana Williams. The Storm are second in the league in field goal percentage as they convert 46.3% of their shots from the floor this year. Seattle is third in the league in three-point field goals made per game (9.4) and first in three-point percentage as they knock down 40.7% percent from beyond the arc. The Storm are average at the line, ranking sixth in the league by converting 81.4% of their chances. Mikiah Herbert Harrington is out for the year as she is pregnant.
Los Angeles Sparks Trying to Maintain Playoff Position
Los Angeles turned in a stellar defensive showing against the Aces but couldn’t generate enough offense to get the win. The Sparks dropped to 6-10 on the year with their third straight loss and entered Saturday 10th in the WNBA playoff picture, 1.5 games behind the Mercury for the final playoff spot. Against Las Vegas, Los Angeles trailed by four after one quarter, by eight at the half, by as many as 12 in the third quarter and by seven after three quarters before rallying. The Sparks took a 56-54 lead with 4:43 to play in the contest before getting outscored 12-2 the rest of the way to end up with the defeat. Los Angeles shot 35.5% from the field, including six of 21 from three-point range, and hit eight of 10 free throws in the loss. Erica Wheeler had 15 points plus five assists to lead the Sparks in defeat.
On the season, Los Angeles is 11th in the league in scoring offense as they average 74.6 points per game. The Sparks are last in rebounding (29.9 boards per game) and 12th in assists (14.6) this season. Los Angeles is 6th in scoring defense as they give up an average of 79.8 points a night. Nneka Ogwumike leads the team with 16.4 points plus seven rebounds a game this season. Chiney Ogwumike (nine points, 5.7 boards) and Kristi Tolliver (9.8 points) are solid secondary scoring options. Derek Fisher hopes to get more from role players like Brittney Sykes, Nia Coffey (7.4 points), Erica Wheeler (13.2 points, 4.3 assists), Te’a Cooper (10.7 points), Amanda Zahui B. (11.9 points, 6.2 boards) and Arella Guirantes. Los Angeles is 12th in field goal percentage on the season as they shoot 40% from the field as a team on the year. The Sparks are fifth in three-pointers per game (7.5) and 9th in three-point shooting as they convert 34% from beyond the arc this season. Los Angeles is 12th in success at the charity stripe as they cash in 74.2% of their attempts on the year. Jasmine Walker was lost for the season with a torn ACL that she suffered against Las Vegas May 21. Chiney Ogwumike missed the last 13 games with a knee injury and is out indefinitely. Nneka Ogwumike is expected to miss four to six weeks with a knee sprain sustained against the Wings June 1. She is expected to be out until early to mid-July. Kristi Toliver (eye) is questionable here after missing Friday’s game against the Aces.
Pick: Seattle Storm
We saw Los Angeles get housed by Las Vegas in their last couple of games. Some of that is the fact that the team is shorthanded but some comes down to the fact that the Sparks simply aren’t good on the offensive end of the floor, putting too much pressure on the team to excel on the defensive end. After dealing with the league’s top scoring offense for the past two games, Los Angeles now has to contend with another dangerous team in Seattle. The Storm are the defending champs for the reason and led by their star trio of Stewart, Bird and Loyd, they are poised for another big offensive showing. Give the edge to Seattle in this one.
Total: Over
For all their offensive firepower, Seattle has been an under machine of late. The Storm went over the total in each of their first five games this season but enter this one going over in just four of their last 12 games. Los Angeles tends to lean on their defense, mainly due to their offensive struggles, and have gone under the total in 10 of their 16 games this season. We’ve seen the teams go over the mark in four of the last five meetings and we know that Seattle can pile up the points on any given night. The Sparks are caught in a no-win situation as the Storm pushes the tempo and puts this one over the mark.
