We are moving into the 2nd round of WNBA with New York Liberty hosting Minnesota Lynx at Madison Square Garden.
New York Liberty have started this season with a win over San Antonio Stars (73:64). The match was mostly one-sided, in favour of Liberty who got a 8 point lead by the end of 1st quarter and they went on to extend the lead to 17 points by then end of 3rd quarter. Despite their dominance throughout the match, New York Liberty failed to perform in the last quarter, when they were outscored by 8 points. In the end, the lead they accumulated throughout the match was enough to compensate the bad 4th quarter, but they should get used to underperforming when ahead.
The visiting team are well known Minnesota Lynx, who will try and improve their result from last season, so I expect them to give their all in every match they play. Same as New York Liberty, Minnesota also started their season with a W, against Chicago Sky (70:61). The match could easily be much closer if they had not got an early lead in first 2 quarters (44:35). Chicago Sky put up a good fight, but sadly that was not enough for them to get a win.
Looking at these two teams, Lynx is clearly a favourite. They have a strong team that is more than capable to win the league, whereas Liberty does not boast such a strong roster. At least for now. Looking at H2H matches between these two teams, there is no clear winner, but I can safely say Lynx have an upper hand in this match.
Prediction: Minnesota Lynx -5
Odds: 2.01 Pinnacle
