WNBA Semifinals Preview

 The WNBA Semifinals starts today with the top four seeds advancing. The New York Liberty will play against the Las Vegas Aces.  The Liberty swept the Aces in the regular season 3-0. TheAces are the two time defending WNBA Champions.The Liberty have the homecourt advantage with the first two games being played in the Barclays Center. 

The Aces are led by 2024WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson. She was sekected as a unanamous choice.The Liberty are led by last year's MVP Breanna Stewart. The Aces led the WNBA in point average per game at 86.4.The Liberty weresecond with 85.6. The Liberty were in the top 5 of the following statistical catagories. New York was 2nd in rebounds and assists.

The Liberty are the betting favorite. They open at -160 to win the series and the money moved to -170. The game one odds are the Liberty favored by 4.5 and the total at 163.5.

The Minnesota Lynx are going against the Connecticutt Sun. The Lynx advanced to this round by defeating the Phoenix Mercury in two high scoring games. The Sun adavamced by defeating the Indiana Fever. The Sun were able withstand a 25 points performance from Caitlin Clark. 

The Sun and the Lynx met last year in the playoffs with the Sun winnig the series 2-1. The Sun also won the 2024 season series against Minnesota. Two of the games wee decided by less than 3 poinus.

The Lynx is led by Napheesha Collier while the Sun is led by Alyssa Thomas. Both plauers have finshed in the top 4 in the WNBA MVP voting in 2024. They were also members of the 2024 USA Womens Basketball team that won the gold medal in Paris,France.

The Lynx are the series favorite qith the listed odds on FanDuel at -198.The Sun odds for winning the series are +166.The Sun made a mid season trade to acquire Marina Mabrey,an outstanding 3 point shooter. They also have DiJonai Carrington,who was voted the WNBA Most Improved Player in 2024.

The Lynx is favored in game one by 4.5 and the total is 154.5

Predictions- Aces in 4 and Sun in 5. A'ja can will her team to win. Collier will put up impressive numbers but Sun plays defense and gets balance scoring from 6 players.

Enjoy Collier and Stewart as they play in the Unrivaled League.Here is a clip!

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WNBA- ALL Star Game and Mid Term News

 The WNBA All Star Game featured the USA Womens Basketball against Team WNBA last weekend. Team WNBA defeated USA Basketball 117-109.Team WNBA was led by Arike Ogunbowale with a WNBA All Star record 34 points. Ogunbowale was named MVP. Breanna Stewart led USA Basketball with 31 points and 10 rebounds.Caitlin Clark finished the game with 10 assists, one short of the WNBA record in an ALL Star Game held by Sue Bird. Angel Reese became the first WNBA rookie to record a double double performance in an ALL Star Game. The WNBA All Star Game drew a record number of viewers. Over 3.44 milion people watched the game. The previous record was set in 2003.

The WNBA embraced the history of the league in having Cheryl Miller, Hall of Fame Basketball player and WNBA legend coached Team WNBA. She invited Ann Meyers Drysdale to assist her when she spotted saw Meyers, a fellow Hall of Famer sitting in the crowd. This connected the current players to the previous generation that started the idea of the WNBA,

The top teams in the WNBA at the midway of the season are the New York Liberty,Connecticutt Sun,Minnesota Lynx,Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces. If the playoffs started right now,the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever would qualify. Imagine the first round ratings with Clark and Reese participating in seperate matchups.

The growth of interest in the WNBA has added endorsement opportunities. The players are now wearing design outfits, getting shoe deals and appearing in major periodicals. There will be a 3-on-3 league,founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier ,starting in January 2025. This will allow the players another option to playing overseas  in the off season. Angel Reese has committed to playing in the league. The games will be played in Miami in a 10 week window. Several high profile investors are involved and the league will pay 6 figure salaries to the participants. The timing of the league is as the NFL is winding down and as March Madness is heating up. 

Here is a clip about the new league.

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WNBA-Week Eight

 The news of thd week is centered around an injury to Minnesota Lynx Star Forward Napheesa Collier. Collier injured  her foot during a 78-63 loss to the Commecticut Sun.Collier was the MVP of the Cmmissioner's Cup Final,beating the New York Liberty. She is already a member of the USA Womens Olympic 5-5 team.The speculation has already started about who would replace her if she is out for an extended period and not able to go to the Oympic Games in Paris.

The alternates are Indiana Fever Guard Caitlin Clark and Sun Forward Brionna Jones. The popular choice would be Clark for obvious reasons. Much of the attention the WNBA has recieved this season was predicated on Clark.Jones is a perennial All Star and plays the same position as Collier. If thechoice is based on fit,Jones is the choice. If the dynamics of economics,marketing and media are involved,Clark gets the nod. Here's hoping Collier can participate and make this a mute point.

Two streaks ended on Friday as the Los Angeles Sparks defeated the Las Vegas Sun in overtime by a score of 98-93,The victory snapped a 6 game winning streak for the Aces. The Sparks ended a 8 game losing streak. The Sparks were led by Dearica Hamby with 28 points and 14 rebounds. A'ja Wilson led the Aces with 35points and 12 rebounds.

Chicago Sky's forward Angel Reese, continued her record shattering double-double streak.In the Sky's upset 88-84  road win over the Seattle Storm,Reese scored 27 points and had 10 rebounds in the victoty.Reese notched her 12th consecutive double-double,tying her with Candace Parkerfor the WNBA record. Reese holds the rookie record that was 7 straight prior to this season. Reese will be in the WNBA All Star Game on 7/20 in Phoenix,Arizona.

Here are the WNBA Weekend Selections. 

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