The WNBA season has entered the business end of the campaign with the final eight teams in the playoffs, and New York Liberty will be looking to get into the next round at the earliest opportunity against the Atlanta Dream.
Liberty claimed a big win in game 1 of the series to follow on from an excellent 32-8 regular season, and will come up against an Atlanta side keen to keep their season alive and avoid elimination.
We’ll take a look at the game between these two sides and provide you with our best free WNBA betting picks to try and earn you some extra cash while you take in the action on the court.
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New York come into this playoff section of the season as the number one seed and rightly so, after accumulating the best regular season record of anyone in the entire WNBA.
They opened the season back in May with four straight wins over Washington, Indiana (2) and Seattle, before suffering defeats to Chicago and Minnesota. They bounced back from that however with an eight-game winning streak, including a dominant 78-61 win over Atlanta.
Liberty lost three of their next seven before finding another winning run of seven, which took their record to 25-4. They finished the season by going 7-4 in their final 11 games, which included a 67-78 defeat to Atlanta in the final game with a playoff spot already sealed.
The Dream on the other hand had a poor season but managed to scrape into the playoffs late on despite their regular season record standing at 15-25.
Atlanta opened up with a 4-2 record including wins over Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington and Las Vegas, with defeats to Phoenix and Minnesota mixed in. But things went downhill after that, with the team picking up just three wins in their next 18 games.
In June they went 3-8 with their only wins coming against Chicago, Los Angeles and Connecticut, before losing all seven games they played in July against Chicago (2), Dallas, Connecticut, Las Vegas, Seattle and Minnesota. Atlanta bounced back with three wins in a row to open August against Seattle, Connecticut and Phoenix, before falling into another four-game losing run.
They ended the season going 5-4 in September, their first winning month since the opening month, and claimed a playoff spot on the final day.
The two teams met already in game one of this series, and the number one seeds New York Liberty showed why they’re so strong with a dominant 83-69 win over Atlanta Dream.
Leonie Fiebich top scored in the game with 21 points, while Breanna Stewart got 11 rebounds and Laney-Hamilton and Ionescu both claimed five assists each in a fantastic performance for the home team. Ryhne Howard managed 14 points for Atlanta, while Tina Charles got seven rebounds and Jordan Canada got four assists to lead the team, but it wasn’t enough.
New York won each of the first three quarters comfortably to build up a big lead, and they were able to take their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter to lead into a second game where they know victory will see them qualify with a game to spare.
These two teams have played each other three times so far this season, and New York were the dominant team with two victories and their only defeat coming when they had nothing to play for.
In the first game they won with a huge 17-point margin back in June, winning all four quarters and scoring pretty much at will, while in game one of this playoff series they claimed a 14-point win and cruised to victory while taking it easy in the fourth quarter.
They know that another big win at home will see them get extra rest time ahead of the next round in the playoffs, rather than having to take part in an emotional and difficult game three on the road. That should see them come out of the blocks fast, and with the quality of player they have in their team it would be a huge shock if they didn’t get a comfortable win.
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So far this season, the under seems to be a play that makes a lot of sense for New York Liberty.
New York and their opponents have combined to score more than 156.5 points in 25 of 41 games this season so far, with an average of 85.68 points scored themselves in each game. That is a big chunk of the total themselves, and Atlanta will have to be good to keep up.
However, New York take their foot off the gas early again, and the three meetings between these sides this season have failed to see the total hit every time so it makes sense that it will happen again.
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About the Author
Daniel is a football writer who has a great thirst for the Premier League and other major European leagues. A lover of the beautiful game and a firm believer that the eye test is better than statistics. Also an avid MMA fan.
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