The Phoenix Mercury are getting into postseason form with just four games left on the schedule. But now face the best team in the East with the WNBA’s top seed and home-court advantage for the entire playoffs on the line.
Heading into Tuesday’s game with the Detroit Shock, the Mercury took back-to-back wins over the Sun and Sparks to put some space between them and the Seattle Storm in the Western Conference standings. They are 8-3 SU and ATS against the Eastern Conference this year, as of Tuesday.
"We have a goal to have the best record, we fought this far to get to a position where we have an opportunity to do something really good in the regular season," leading scorer Diana Taurasi told the media following Saturday’s win over Connecticut. "I think that always carries over into the postseason, but we still have a lot of work to do."
Wednesday’s games pit the Mercury’s top-ranked offense against the premier defensive club in the WNBA. The Fever are allowing a league-low 72.1 points per game this season and held Phoenix to 83 points – almost 10 points below their season average – when the teams met in Arizona in early August. Indiana won that matchup 90-83 as a 4-point road underdog.
"We're not going to get the same Phoenix team we got out in Phoenix," Fever guard Katie Douglas told the Indianapolis Star. "We're not going to be assured that just because we're playing them at home that we're going to get a win. We know they're an explosive team."
The Fever have won and covered in the last three clashes with the Mercury and have a covered the spread in seven of their last 10 meetings going back to 2004. Indiana owns a 13-2 record at home and has covered in 10 of those games.
PHOENIX (20 - 9) at INDIANA (20 - 8) - 9/2/2009, 7:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
PHOENIX is 19-9 ATS (+9.1 Units) in all games this season.
PHOENIX is 74-51 ATS (+17.9 Units) in August or September games since 1997.
INDIANA is 8-17 ATS (-10.7 Units) against Western conference opponents over the last 2 seasons.
INDIANA is 8-17 ATS (-10.7 Units) in non-conference games over the last 2 seasons.
Head-to-Head Series History
INDIANA is 4-1 against the spread versus PHOENIX over the last 3 seasons
INDIANA is 3-2 straight up against PHOENIX over the last 3 seasons
3 of 5 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons
Lady luck 9/2
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