Portland at Minnesota

We backed the Sparks as a shorthanded underdog against this same Minnesota team Wednesday and cashed comfortably, Los Angeles keeping it within nine despite carrying a spread built for a runaway. That number problem hasn't gone away. The Lynx enter tonight at 19-6 and riding a four-game winning streak, but look at how those four wins actually finished: six points over Connecticut, five over New York, four over Phoenix, nine over the Sparks. Minnesota has built the best record in the league without Napheesa Collier ever suiting up this season, leaning on Olivia Miles and Kayla McBride to win with efficiency rather than separation, not on nightly blowouts. Portland is no juggernaut itself, sitting near the bottom of the league defensively and coming off a 33-point beatdown from this same Minnesota team back in June, but the Fire did bounce back from a rough stretch with a comfortable road win at Washington Thursday, and sharp money has already found its way to Portland's side of this number. Eleven and a half points is more cushion than I need against a team that hasn't separated from anybody lately, and it's the best spot on the board tonight. At a payout of better than 6-to-1, the moneyline is worth a small flyer too: the Lynx don't need to slip up often for that price to pay off over time. Take the Fire as my WNBA Game of the Week on the spread, and grab a flyer on the moneyline tonight.