New York Liberty vs Phoenix Mercury Prediction, 9/23/2021 WNBA Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: New York Liberty vs Phoenix Mercury

Date: Thursday, September 23, 2021

Location: Grand Canyon University Arena in Phoenix, AZ

TV: ESPN2

Odds/Point Spread: New York (+9.5)

Grand Canyon University Arena is the venue where and the Phoenix Mercury (19-13) will take on the New York Liberty (12-20) on Thursday. The odds on this contest have Phoenix as 9.5 point favorites. The total opens at 162.5.

The New York Liberty faced off with the Washington Mystics and earned the victory with a final of 91-80 in their last game. New York ended having earned a 51.6% field goal percentage (33 out of 64) and knocked down 10 out of their 22 three-point shots. From the free throw line, the Liberty buried 15 of their 18 shots for a rate of 83.3%. When it comes to pulling down boards, they earned 34 with 7 of them being on the offensive end. They also distributed 24 assists in this game while forcing the other team into 11 turnovers and having 5 steals. In regard to the defense, New York allowed the other team to go 40.3% from the floor on 27 of 67 shooting. Washington doled out 6 dimes and had 6 steals in this contest. Additionally, Washington pulled down 28 rebounds (6 offensive, 22 defensive) and got 4 blocks. Washington went 77.8% from the charity stripe by knocking down 14 of 18 tries. They converted 12 of their 33 attempts from long range.

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Betnijah Laney is someone who played a role in the matchup. She recorded 10 points on 3 out of 13 shooting. She played for 35:33 mins and grabbed 3 boards. Laney finished the game at 23.1% from the floor and dished out 11 assists. An additional player that came through in this game for the Liberty was Sabrina Ionescu. She snagged 5 rebounds in her 33:07 min played. She ended up going 46.7% from the floor in this contest by connecting on 7-of-15 (22 points). In all, Ionescu earned 9 assists.

New York enters this contest with a win-loss record of 12-20 for the year. The Liberty are connecting on 36.2% from downtown (321 of 887) and 81.3% from the charity stripe. They currently have an average of 78.5 pts per contest (10th in the league) while connecting on 42.8% from the field. They turn it over 16.2 times per game and as a team they are committing 17.9 personal fouls per game. As a team, New York is snagging 33.3 boards per contest and has 615 assists for the campaign, which has them ranked 6th in the WNBA in terms of passing the rock. Defensively, the Liberty are forcing 12.2 turnovers per game while drawing 17.2 fouls. They are relinquishing 33.3% from beyond the arc and they are ranked 12th in the league in PPG allowed (85.5). The Liberty are giving up a field goal percentage of 43.8% (390 of 549) and they relinquish 36.6 boards per contest as a group. They are 9th in basketball in giving up assists with 635 relinquished this year.

The last time they took the court, the Phoenix Mercury took a defeat with a final score of 84-83 when they faced the Las Vegas Aces. The Mercury earned 26 defensive rebounds and 7 offensive rebounds totaling 33 for this contest. They turned it over 10 times, while earning 7 steals in this matchup. The Aces had 9 fouls for the game which got the Mercury to the free throw line for 10 shots. They were able to knock down 7 of the free throw tries for a clip of 70.0%. With respect to shots from beyond the arc, Phoenix buried 14 out of 30 tries (46.7%). When this game wrapped up, the Mercury went 31 out of 69 from the field which had them shooting 44.9%. The Mercury permitted the Aces to knock down 32 out of 69 tries from the field which had them at 46.4% in the matchup. They wrapped up this game 35.3% from beyond the perimeter by going 6 out of 17 and walked away from this one shooting 14 of 15 from the charity stripe (93.3%). When talking about how they rebounded, Phoenix permitted Las Vegas to collect 33 overall (6 on the offensive glass).

Shey Peddy pitched in for the Mercury for the game. She converted 4 of 9 in this game for a field goal rate of 44.4%, and earned 5 rebounds. Peddy earned 10 points in her 30:46 mins of playing time and earned 6 assists for the contest. An additional player who came through for Phoenix was Skylar Diggins-Smith. She ended up walking away with 7 assists in her 24:30 minutes played, and she converted 6 of 10 from the field. Diggins-Smith ended up shooting 60.0% from the field while totaling 17 points and 2 total rebounds.

Phoenix has a win-loss mark of 19-13 on the season. Phoenix has tallied 2,626 points for the campaign (82.1 per contest) and they average 36.2 rebounds per game. The Mercury are committing 16.3 personal fouls per contest and they shoot 79.8% from the charity stripe. On the offensive side of the court, the Mercury are hitting on 45.0% from the floor, which ranks them 4th in the WNBA. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 19.7 times per contest (5th in the WNBA) and they are losing possession via turnover 12.8 times per contest. The Mercury on defense are ranked 4th in the WNBA in points allowed per game with 79.5. The Phoenix defense concedes 32.2% on shots from behind the 3-point line (227 of 705) and opponents are knocking down 81.3% of their shots from the charity stripe. They have given up 17.1 dimes and 34.9 total rebounds per game, which ranks them 3rd and 5th in the league. They are forcing 10.1 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 41.7% from the field (3rd in the league).

Who will win tonight's WNBA game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Phoenix (-9.5)

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