WNBA Betting Conference Semifinals Preview

It is time for the 2011 WNBA Playoffs with series in both the Western and Eastern Conferences beginning Friday.

First up on the Conference Semifinals slate will be the (3) Atlanta Dream taking on the (2) Sun in Connecticut at 7:00 p.m. (ET), followed by the (1) Minnesota Lynx hosting the (4) San Antonio Silver Stars at 9:00 p.m. (ET). Each Game 1 will be televised by NBA TV.

In the 2010 Playoffs, the Dream got all the way to the WNBA Finals before being swept by the Seattle Storm. This year they begin their quest having the league’s leading scorer in Angel McCoughtry. She tied Diana Taurasi from Phoenix at 21.6 points per game but scored 20 more points overall to become the scoring champion.

Connecticut is returning to the playoffs for the first time since the 2008 season when the Sun dropped the opening-round series to New York. Center Tina Charles leads the team in scoring (17.6 ppg) but maybe more importantly brings a rebounding presence as she topped the whole WNBA with 11 boards a game.

The No. 1 pick overall in the 2010 WNBA Draft is living up to expectations.

It is important to note that this season series was split at 2-2 with each team sweeping their home floor. That looks to be an advantage for the Sun as they would be at Mohegan Sun Arena in a potential Game 3.

The Dream are 1-4 against the spread in their last five games in Connecticut and the ‘over’ is 6-2 in their last eight meetings overall.

What a regular season it has been for the Minnesota Lynx, grabbing the league’s best record by far at 27-7. Seimone Augustus led the team in scoring (16.2 ppg), Maya Moore had a great rookie year, and Lindsay Whalen led the WNBA in assists dishing out 5.85 per contest.

The Lynx swept the Silver Stars in the regular season 4-0 so San Antonio better start figuring out a way to beat them and quick.

Becky Hammon led the Stars in scoring and was just behind Whalen for the top spot in assists with 5.82 per game. San Antonio does have the worst record out of all the 2011 playoff teams but that is just by one game.

This just appears to be a mismatch in about all facets of the game.  But to be fair, that could be the case when Minnesota plays anybody. The Lynx rank in the top-3 in scoring, defense and rebounding and the Silver Stars do not crack the top-5 in any of those critical categories.

The ‘under’ is 5-2 in these two team’s last seven meetings overall.