Is Brooklyn in the house?
Barclays Center will surely be rockin’ and rollin’ on Tuesday night as the New York Liberty host the defending champion Chicago Sky in a win-or-go-home Game 3.
How we got here is unexpected.
First, the Liberty used a late 13-0 run during the final 3:30 of play to come from behind and pull off a stunning Game 1 win over the Sky in Chi-town.
Then, with their season on the line, the Sky HAMMERED New York by a WNBA record 38 points in Game 2 to send the series back to Brooklyn for a deciding game.
So, here we have it. Much to the dismay of many, Tuesday night’s series finale will have the lower seed with the homecourt advantage. Will the Liberty capitalize? Or will the champs prevail?
Odds via Tipico Sportsbook
Game line bet: Liberty +7.5 (-112)
Are the Chicago Sky a better team than the New York Liberty? Yes. They have better vets, more championship experience and a deeper team from top to bottom.
Are the Sky 38 points better than the Liberty on a nightly basis? They are not. In fact, three of the six times the two squads have faced one another this year (playoffs included) the game has been decided by 7 or fewer points. A lopsided win is certainly possible for Chicago again, it’s hard to picture that being the case on New York’s court with the season on the line.
I can’t get a feel for who will win this contest, so I’ll bet on the Liberty covering the spread, which gives breathing room for a potential win.
Player prop bets: Kahleah Copper – O 19.5 pts (-114), Courtney Vandersloot – O 11.5 pts (-188)
There’s probably no safer bet in the WNBA at the moment than Kahleah Copper hitting the over on her scoring prop. The only thing that could have thrown her off her game was an ankle injury suffered at practice following Game 1, which turned out to be nothing (hence her 20-point performance in Game 2). New York hasn’t had answers for the reigning Finals MVP and they won’t on Tuesday night.
Courtney Vandersloot is possibly the best point guard in the W — she can shoot, run an offense, lead and defend and pass with the best of them. She isn’t known for scoring but she’s surprisingly seen a bump in the first two games of this series. Sloot had 13 points in Game 1 and 16 in Game 6, which are higher than her regular-season average (11.8) and her prop (11.5) for Game 3. Expect her to continue finding the bottom of the rim at Barclays Center.
