The Lynx were so bad Saturday that I forgot whatever it was that made me think they were a promising team even without Augustus and Wiggins.
The Lynx are even making Lindsay Whalen look like a rotten floor leader.
Yuck, my first losing day of the season.
Saturday 1-1
Season 12-5
Connecticut at Washington
Two teams that might be in the middle of fooling me yet again. The Mystics never seem to be as much as the sum of the parts, while the Sun could be kidding about that ‘rebuilding with youth’ thing and secretly planning to win the East.
The safest numbers for the book are like Washington -2 and 156.
Mystics -4 and 150.5; that total is sensible, but I still think Washington is capable of bigger things. Also, if Connecticut is in some place where they don’t know how young they are yet, go with it.
Pick: Over
Atlanta at Los Angeles
Against the Mystics on Friday, the Sparks looked like the team they’re planning to be, but then, uh huh, it was the Mystics.
Who thought Atlanta would be the last unbeaten? Who thought Indiana wouldn’t be in the top four in the East at any point of the season? How about the West being better on the road (5-6) than at home (7-10)?
Sparks -1 or -2, maybe as much as 160.
Los Angeles -2 and 163. We shouldn’t even think it weird that the 5-0 team is a dog against the 1-3 team. I like the Sparks to win the game, but it always feels peculiar to wager against teams in forward motion like Atlanta. I tend to think they’ll want to get up and down with the Dream, too.
Pick: Over
