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Pictured: Arike Ogunbowale. Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images

Dallas Wings vs. New York Liberty prediction, pick, odds for Tue. 8/20

Originally posted on Action Network | By Jim Turvey | Last updated Aug 19, 2024 10:42 PM ET

The Dallas Wings travel to face the New York Liberty on Tuesday. These two teams have yet to face this season with all four meetings coming in this final month. My Wings vs. Liberty prediction is actually predictions, with a player prop for both sides.

The Wings are having a season from hell with a 6-20 record that's tied for the worst in the league, a far cry from where they would have expected to be this season. Injuries have been an issue, but more than anything, it's the defense that has held them back.

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In their first game back, with almost their full squad now around, they gave up a season-high 109 points to a Connecticut Sun team that is not exactly known for a run-and-gun offense.

They'll face arguably an even tougher test in a Liberty team (and offense) that looks to be the best in the league right now, after an impressive win over the Aces in Las Vegas over the weekend.

Let's see how to best approach this game.

Wings vs. Liberty Prediction

Pick: Arike Ogunbowale Under 20.5 Points & Jonquel Jones Over 4.5 Assists

Ogunbowale goes against a tough defense and with more options now for Dallas, don’t expect a big scoring night. Jones, meanwhile, has grown into her playmaker role with New York all year and has a great matchup to take advantage of that.

Wings vs. Liberty Odds

Tuesday, Aug. 20

7 p.m. ET

NBA TV

Wings Odds
Spread	Over/Under	Moneyline
14.5 -110	175.5 -114 / -106	+760

Liberty Odds
Spread	Over/Under	Moneyline
-14.5 -110	175.5 -114 / -106	-1400

Odds via FanDuel. Get up-to-the-minute WNBA odds here.

Dallas Wings: Defensive Issues Still Evident

As noted, the Wings have played just one game since returning from the Olympic break, and not much had changed on the defensive end. It's a bit surprising that they still looked lost on that end given that they returned Satou Sabally for the first game of hers this season, which is huge since she's one of the best two-way players in the WNBA.

Sabally did appear to impact the shot distribution, however, as she actually tied for the team-high in field goal attempts in her season debut. Arike Ogunbowale also took notably fewer field goal attempts than her season average, taking just 12 field goal attempts for the game as a whole, with nine of her 21 points coming in the fourth quarter when the game was already decided.

As such, I'm going to roll back the Ogunbowale points under from last game against another tough opponent and with more mouths to feed in Dallas now.

New York Liberty: Jones Is Leading the Way

On the New York side of things, I had been eyeing Jones as a potential second-half juggernaut for the Libs due to her month of rest while several of her teammates went abroad for the Olympics. Jones has actually been pretty quiet on the socring front, but she looks to really be in a groove as a playmaker for the Liberty right now with 11 assists in her first two games back. That has been the continuation of a season-long trend.

Through the first 14 games of the season, Jones averaged 2.7 assists per game, but that number has flown up to 4.7 a game in the 13 games since. The Wings give up by far the most assists per game, and JJ is often fond of deferring against lesser opponents.

Wings vs. Liberty Prediction: Bet These 2 Props

These are two teams with vastly different outcomes to their 2024 season so far but for their first matchup of the season, I'll be avoiding a side and instead picking two player props.