The Chicago Sky visit the Phoenix Mercury with both teams carrying early-season questions, but also enough offense to make this one look like a track meet. Chicago is 2-0 and the Mercury are 1-2, with Phoenix coming in after averaging 87 points per game through three games. The recommended play before tipoff is the over 166.5.
That total makes sense on paper because the Sky are expected to lean on both sides of the ball, while the Mercury have already shown they can score in bunches even in defeat. Phoenix lost its first two games to Golden State and Minnesota, then dropped to 0-1 at home, but it still reached the WNBA Finals last season before losing to the Las Vegas Aces. Chicago, meanwhile, has opened 2-0 and appears to have the interior edge in this matchup.
The game matters today because it arrives at a point when the season is barely a week old, and early numbers can shape how quickly bettors and fans reset their expectations. The Sky have also been described as one of the league’s least stable franchises, a team that has struggled to keep talent in place, while the Mercury are viewed as one of the better-run organizations and a club that wants to get back to the Finals. Those bigger judgments are tempting, but the sample is still small enough to keep them in check.
That is part of the friction here. Phoenix has looked more dangerous on offense than its record suggests, yet its 1-2 start is still a 1-2 start, and the home loss adds another layer of concern. Chicago has the cleaner opening, but the Sky have not yet been tested over the kind of stretch that reveals whether a fast start is real or just early noise. The interior edge should help them, but the Mercury have enough firepower to make sure that edge is not the whole story.
There is also a broader caution attached to this matchup: a week into the season, neither team has earned the right to be judged as finished product. The Sky can keep pointing to the undefeated start, and the Mercury can point to last season’s Finals run and this season’s scoring average. For now, the most concrete read is the one attached to the number on the board. If the pace and shot volume hold, over 166.5 is the side that fits the shape of the game.
Dan said of another player’s complaint about white privilege and marketing deals that if she wants to complain about how her white privilege leads to bigger marketing deals, she should turn them down and tell the brand to give it to a minority athlete.
