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San Antonio Silver Stars vs. Detroit Shock
Slowed by a trio of injuries to important players, the Detroit Shock struggled to put away the league's worst team at home their last time out. Winning again at San Antonio figures to be a tougher task.
The Shock, who've never lost at the AT&T Center, will try to become just the second team to beat the Silver Stars there this year when the teams meet on Tuesday. Detroit (12-5) played without a pair of starters and its most frequently used reserve when it held off the winless Atlanta Dream 100-92 on Sunday.
Starting guard Elaine Powell has missed seven straight games with a foot injury, while Plenette Pierson - who leads the team's bench players with 11.1 points per game - has missed the last two contests with a knee problem. Veteran starter Cheryl Ford, who is third in the WNBA with 9.1 rebounds per game, missed her first game of the season Sunday with a knee injury. It's unclear if any of the three will play Tuesday.
If not, the Shock may need another strong performance out of Kara Braxton, who came into Sunday's game averaging 7.6 points but scored a career-high 26 off the bench. Katie Smith added 24 for Detroit.
"We knew we were down some players, so we all had to step up," Braxton said.
It may be even harder on the road, where the Shock have lost two straight and four of six after a 100-92 defeat at Chicago Saturday. They've never lost in San Antonio, however, winning all five games there since the Silver Stars (9-6) moved from Utah before the 2003 season. The Shock won 84-79 at San Antonio on July 31, with Pierson scoring a team-high 22 points off the bench. The Silver Stars have been much better at home this year, moving to 7-1 in San Antonio with a 73-65 win over Minnesota Saturday. They snapped a two-game slide, allowing only 10 points in the first quarter to a short-handed Lynx squad.
PredictionSan Antonio is very strong when playing at home and I think that they have good chances to get this important win. I have waited for this game for a week because here we have many small points which plays into San Antonio side.
1) During last 11 days Stars played only 4 games while for Shock this game will be 7th in the same period of time. Stars played 3 of 4 games at home while shock played 3 of 6 games away from home.
2) Looking into rosters I don't see any advantage on Shock. They have longer bench but with so many possible missings for this game I think Silver Stars have advantage here too.
3) SA at home have 7-1 record and they are very hard to beat in San Antonio by any team in this league
All in one I see San Antonio chances to win this game much higher than bookmakers line shows. I think that here we have advantage over the line and I advice to take Silver Stars to cover the handicap. Predicted score: San Antonio 77 - 69 Detroit
Pick: San Antonio (-2.5) @ 1.90 Sportingbet
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