Category: Diana Taurasi

Mercury vs. Wings Prediction, Odds and Key Players for WNBA Commissioner's Cup
9 Jun 24 Jimm Sallivan

Mercury vs. Wings Prediction, Odds and Key Players for WNBA Commissioner’s Cup

The Phoenix Mercury are healthy for the first time this season after Brittney Griner and Rebecca Allen returned to action in the team’s upset win over Minnesota Lynx on Friday night.

Now, the Mercury find themselves as slight favorites on the road against the Dallas Wings, who are still down Satou Sabally, Natasha Howard and Jaelyn Brown due to injuries, which has led to a subpar 3-6 start to 2024. 

If there’s one thing going in the Wings’ favor, it’s that Phoenix has struggled on the road in 2024, going 1-5 straight up in six games. Can the now-healthy Mercury turn that narrative around on Sunday?

Let’s break down the odds, key players to watch and a best bet for this Western Conference clash.

Spread

Moneyline

Total

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.

Mercury Injury Report

Wings Injury Report

Phoenix Mercury 

Brittney Griner: Phoenix’s star center returned from a toe injury to make her 2024 season debut in a win over the Minnesota Lynx on Friday night. Griner looked like her usual self, scoring 11 points, grabbing four boards and blocking a shot in just over 21 minutes of action. Griner gives the Mercury a true presence in the middle, and it allows them to move one of their great guards to the bench (in this case Sophie Cunningham), which gives them a lot more depth. 

Dallas Wings

Arike Ogunbowale: With Sabally and Howard out, Arike Ogunbowale has a huge load to carry for the Dallas Wings. The star guard is averaging 26.6 points per game – scoring 20 or more in every matchup this season – but she enters Sunday’s game shooting just 36.4 percent from the field. 

The Wings have dropped four games in a row, and they lack the offensive firepower after Ogunbowale to compete with a fully healthy Mercury team in my eyes.

Even though Ogunbowale is scoring the ball at a high rate, she’s not shooting it efficiently, and neither are the Wings as a whole. They rank eighth in the league in effective field goal percentage, and that’s not the worst part of their advanced numbers in 2024. 

Dallas is also 10th in the league in defensive rating, which is a major concern given the weapons (Griner, Diana Taurasi, Kahleah Copper) that the Mercury have on offense. 

Now, I don’t want to act like Phoenix has been elite this season. It actually ranks 11th in defensive rating and 10th in net rating in 2024, but we have to remember that two starters were out for the first 10 games of the season.

The first game they came back? 

Phoenix promptly beat the best team in the Western Conference right now as a 5.5-point underdog. 

The Mercury have some big wins (over Minnesota and Las Vegas) and their defense should improve with Griner protecting the rim. Before Phoenix was running an extremely small four-guard lineup. 

I think this is a buy low spot on the Mercury before oddsmakers realize how deadly this team can be at full strength. 

Pick: Mercury Moneyline (-120)

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

Find Peter Dewey's betting record here You can also follow my daily plays on BetStamp here.

Arike Ogunbowale, Brittney Griner, Dallas Wings, Diana Taurasi, Kahleah Copper, Phoenix Mercury, Sophie Cunningham, WNBA
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Kahleah Copper Thanks Diana Taurasi for Classy Move Before Mercury's Game-Winner
8 Jun 24 Jimm Sallivan

Kahleah Copper Thanks Diana Taurasi for Classy Move Before Mercury’s Game-Winner

Guard Kahleah Copper was the hero Friday night in the Phoenix Mercury's 81–80 victory over the Minnesota Lynx at Footprint Center.

The Mercury trailed 80–78 with 5.1 seconds left when Phoenix coach Nate Tibbets drew up a play for the potential game-winner. Guard Sophie Cunningham inbounded the ball to center Brittney Griner, who handed it off to Copper for an open look from three. Copper swished it. Ball game.

After the game, Copper revealed the original play Tibbetts drew up was designed for Taurasi to take the last shot. But the 41-year-old veteran told the coach that Copper should take it instead.

"It means a lot," Copper said of Taurasi's unselfish gesture. "What she is for this for this franchise, what she is for women's basketball, what she's done in her career. Clearly, she's a winner. She could have easily been like, 'O.K., cool, let's run it for me.' But it speaks to her character being unselfish and, like I said, being a winner."

Copper scored a game-high 34 points on 13-of-23 shooting against the Lynx. It was Copper's fourth 30-piece in 11 games this season and just four points shy of her career high of 38 points—achieved against the Atlanta Dream on May 18.

The Mercury (5–6) sit in fourth place in the Western Conference after 11 games. Winners of two of their last three games, the Mercury will visit the Dallas Wings on Sunday.

Diana Taurasi, Kahleah Copper, Phoenix Mercury, WNBA
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Pat McAfee Defended Caitlin Clark’s Popularity in a Controversial Rant
3 Jun 24 Jimm Sallivan

Pat McAfee Defended Caitlin Clark’s Popularity in a Controversial Rant

Caitlin Clark has the entire sports talk industry turned upside down right now. Clark and the Indiana Fever have been playing nonstop since the season started and between the attention and pressure, she has struggled out of the gate. On top of that there's how she's being treated by other teams, which has not been very nicely, culminating in a cheap shot from Chennedy Carter over the weekend.

On Monday's episode of The Pat McAfee Show, the eponymous host got out from behind the desk and did a whole presentation about how important Clark is and how jealous all the haters are. He did this is in a McAfee-specific fashion as he swore on ESPN and identified Clark as the "white b----" who has lifted the entire sport.

"I would like the media people that continue to say this rookie class, this rookie class, this rookie class. Nah. Just call it for what it is," said McAfee. "There's one white b---- for this Indiana team who is a superstar. And is it because she stayed in Iowa, put an entire team on her back, took a program from nothing to a multiple-year success story?"

"Is it because she would go on to break the entire points records in the history of the NCAA? Not just the women's by Kelsea Plum - shout out - but also "Pistol" Pete Maravich's. The dude's record as well. Is there a chance that people just like watching her play basketball? Because of how electrifying she is. What she did. What she stood for. How she went about going what she went for? Maybe. But instead we have to hear people say that we only like her because she's white. And she's only popular because the rest of the rookie class is doing what they're doing. That's a bunch of bulls----. And we think the WNBA, more specifically, their refs, need to stop trying to screw her over at every single turn. What you have is somebody special. And we're lucky to have her in Indiana."

McAfee also discussed the "Eminem effect," playing a clip of 50 Cent saying people didn't want to give Eminem credit because he was white. "Let's just take that into the WNBA situation," said McAfee. "That it is just a bunch of racist people who will only watch if a white superstar is there." Then the show put up pictures of Diana Taurasi, Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart. "I think what we're trying to say is what the WNBA currently has is what we like to describe as a cash cow. There is a superstar."

All-in-all, a very colorful presentation by McAfee, who continues to make it clear that he can do whatever he wants on ESPN. Including defending Clark by trying to make sense of why so many people apparently hate her. By whatever means necessary.

Breanna Stewart, Caitlin Clark, Diana Taurasi, ESPN, Kelsey Plum, Pat McAfee, Sabrina Ionescu, WNBA
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Diana Taurasi's Friends Call Her 'Sick in the Head' as She Returns for 20th Season
3 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Diana Taurasi’s Friends Call Her ‘Sick in the Head’ as She Returns for 20th Season

Diana Taurasi may never retire. Many expect her to retire after she plays in her sixth Olympics and 20th WNBA season this summer, but who really knows. Last year, as she turned 41, she averaged 16 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 rebounds, which are all numbers very close to her career averages. If she's slowing down, you haven't been able to see it in the box score.

It takes incredible gifts and hard work to maintain such a high level of play for such a prolonged period of time, but it also takes a certain mentality. The kind of mentality that earns you a legitimate comparison to Kobe Byrant. And most of all, in a way that makes loved ones tell you to retire while calling you a "psycho" and "sick in the head." According to CT Insider, those are the kinds of text messages Taurasi's been getting as she prepares for season 20.

Her response? "I am."

It's also the kind of thing you say about someone who is playing in her sixth Olympics. If Taurasi makes the team this summer, she'll break the record for most Olympic appearances by a basketball player. Between 1896 and 2022, only 211 people have made six or more Olympic appearances.

For a true psycho, that's just another milestone. Last August, Taurasi became the first player in WNBA history to eclipse the 10,000 career points mark. That puts her about 2,500 points ahead of second place, held by Hall of Famer Tina Thompson. It could be some time until any other woman matches that mark, let alone catches Taurasi after she adds another season's worth of points to her total.

So go ahead and keep telling her to retire. See how much farther that gets her.

Diana Taurasi, Olympic, Olympics, Phoenix Mercury, WNBA
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