Unrivaled Championship at +250<\/a> on DraftKings Sportsbook. No one on this roster is averaging 20+ points per game, but that\u2019s kind of the point \u2014 this team wins with depth. They\u2019re tied for third in the league in scoring at 71.9 points per game, and in their last outing, all five players scored in double figures in a 74\u201370 win over the Lunar Owls.<\/p>\nAnd let me give the reigning Unrivaled champion her flowers. Brittney Sykes has been consistently excellent, averaging 18.9 points per game and hitting double figures in every contest this season. But it\u2019s not just the scoring \u2014 she\u2019s been a menace defensively, averaging 1.6 steals per game, second in the league. Pair that with Jackie Young\u2019s ability to get a bucket and create for others, plus Alyssa Thomas\u2019 all-around physicality and work on the glass, and the Laces start to look like one of the most complete teams in the field.<\/p>\n
The Hive, meanwhile, just haven\u2019t been able to put together a complete performance this season. They rank last in points per game (65.7), second-to-last in rebounds (6.2), and last in assists (9.4). The offense has stalled more often than not, and the lack of cohesion shows up in the numbers.<\/p>\n
The one clear bright spot? Rim protection. The Hive lead the league in blocks at 3.8 per game, which at least gives them a defensive backbone. There is scoring on the roster \u2014 Kelsey Mitchell, Monique Billings, and Sonia Citron are all averaging 14.5+ points per game \u2014 but there isn\u2019t a true takeover option who can consistently bend a defense or control late-game possessions. And against a Laces team that can get double-digit scoring from multiple players on any given night, that lack of depth becomes a real concern.<\/p>\n
Laces vs. Hive Pick<\/p>\n
The Laces have already clinched a playoff spot with eight wins this season, but that\u2019s no excuse to get comfy. I\u2019m backing the Championship favorites to have a hot hand tonight against a struggling Hive squad.<\/p>\n
Best Bet: Laces -6.5 (-120)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meghan Townsley breaks down her prediction and pick for Tuesday\u2019s Unrivaled matchup between the Laces and the Hive.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-474169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}