AGATHANo gut feelings

WNBA Heat Check

WNBA Heat Check: Atlanta Dream Are Scorching (8-2 Last 10)

Published

Every WNBA season has a week when the temperature map redraws itself, and this feels like one of them. Atlanta Dream have become the team nobody wants to see next on the schedule, while Toronto Tempo are hunting for anything that resembles a good night.

Burning up

Atlanta Dream own the league's best recent ledger at 8-2, and the +110 points margin underneath it says the record is earned. Per game the numbers read 97.0 for and 86.0 against, a gap that does not happen by accident across 10 games.

Right behind them sit Indiana Fever, 8-2 over the same kind of stretch and +83 on points margin, quieter, but pointed the same direction.

Minnesota Lynx (8-2) round out the warm end of the ledger.

Some context helps: across every club in the sample, scoring sits at 86.7 points per game right now. Atlanta Dream are beating the league's own pace by 10.3 a game.

Who's cold

At the bottom of the temperature map sit Toronto Tempo: 1-9 in their last 10, -138 on points margin. That is about 13.8 a game in the wrong direction, and no lineup shuffle fixes it overnight.

Connecticut Sun are not far behind on the misery index at 2-8.

Do not ignore the middle class, either: Dallas Wings (5-5) and Las Vegas Aces (5-5) sit close enough that a single hot or cold series flips their order.

At a glance

Here is the warm half of the form table, last ten games for every club:

TeamLast 10Points +/-
Atlanta Dream8-2+110
Indiana Fever8-2+83
Minnesota Lynx8-2+71
Golden State Valkyries7-3+93
New York Liberty6-4+34

The fine print

One reading tip before you go: points margin travels better than record. A fat margin with a modest record usually means the wins are coming; the reverse usually means they are not.

More WNBA on Agatha: Today's WNBA picks

Generated by Agatha from her own database, every number is a query, not an opinion. For entertainment and information; not gambling advice. 21+.

More from the Desk

Every story on the Desk