Washington at Phoenix

Washington and Phoenix are meeting for the third time this month, and the first two both blew well past the total: a 95-75 track meet on August 9 and a 94-84 rematch two days ago, which combined for 178 points and cleared the number by a wide margin. Phoenix's defense is the throughline in both, a unit that allowed close to 88 points a night this season and gave up points from the opening tip, not just when games got out of hand late. Washington plays a deliberate, half-court identity most nights, but that tempo hasn't shown up in either of these head-to-head meetings, where the Mystics have gotten out and scored freely against a defense that can't match their pace when motivated to push it. A third meeting this close together usually means less of the feeling-out process that slows down a first quarter between two teams seeing each other for the first time, and more clean, early offensive execution from a group that already knows exactly what it wants to run. The first-half OVER is the play tonight.