Have the Fever caught a cold? The league’s best team (according to the standings) has dropped four of five games including Wednesday’s showdown with the West-leading Mercury.
Of course it wasn’t a fair fight. The Fever were missing their leading scorer Katie Douglas because of a sore ankle. Her status is day-to-day and it’s unclear whether she’ll be ready to go for Friday’s game against the Shock.
Mercury coach Corey Gaines says the difference is night and day for Indiana without Douglas in the lineup.
“She stretches the defense a little bit,” Gaines told the Indianapolis Star. “She handles the ball a lot. But hopefully, we’ll meet again and we’ll see.”
Indiana won’t get any favors from the surging Shock. Detroit, which started out the year 2-7, has won five of its last six, including a win Tuesday over the Mercury.
The seats will be packed for this matchup. Detroit handed out 2000 free tickets to the public in hopes of getting some fans interested in the club again.
Pick: Shock
Atlanta Dream at Sacramento Monarchs (+1, 170)
At 11-20 and with just four games left on the schedule, you would probably guess that the Monarchs would be thinking about the offseason already.
But two wins in a row has put the club just 2.5 games back of San Antonio for the final playoff seed in the West.
Monarchs coach John Whisenant knows his team’s chances are slight, but he also knows his group won’t give up.
“We’ve got a shot, we’ve got a chance, with all the problems and issues we’ve had.”
The problem Whisenant is talking about is his team’s lack of depth at point guard. Backup point guard Kara Lawson is out for the season with tendinitis and starting PG Ticha Penicheiro is fighting through a sore left hamstring.
“I want to help the team so I’m really frustrated,” Penicheiro told the Sacramento Bee. “This is the most important part of the season and we’ve still got a shot at the playoffs and I’m just frustrated that this has happened.”
She only played four minutes in Saturday’s win over the Fever because of the injury.
Kristin Haynie, who was acquired in a trade a few weeks back, has been doing the heavy lifting at the point. Look for the Dream to exploit the Monarchs’ short guard rotation.
Lady Luck 9/4
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