Dream vs. Sky (7 PM Saturday Nite)

[lethalweapon3]

Tonight's game will be at Philips and on SportSouth. Neither the Sky (3-1) nor the Dream (2-2) have lost to anyone other than Eastern Conference favorite Indiana (3-0).I'm not clear on the status of Sancho Lyttle. As of June 1, she was supposed to be headed to Spain to help the Women's national team compete for the Olympics. However, the Spanish professional team she played for (Ros Casares), most recently winning a Euroleague title with them alongside Maya Moore and Lauren Jackson in the WNBA offseason, announced this week they're ceasing their pro-women's hoops operations. They're the only Spanish team that had the dough to pay her salary demands over there, and without their profile I'm not sure if that changes her interests in playing for the Spanish WNT. So, maybe she sticks around this month after all.If so, they'll sure need her and all bigs on deck to match up against "Big Syl". Last night, all-world Sylvia Fowles hit the game-winning bucket with a fraction of a second left to pull off a late rally and a home win against the lowly Washington Mystics. Towering at 6'6", Fowles leads the league in points and rebounds, adding 19 and 16 last night against the Mystics. Team rebounding will help minimize Fowles' impact under the basket tonight, and fortunately the Dream leads the league so far in this early season in this category.Arguably the most desperate of WNBA franchises needing to get traction for their fanbase, the Sky pulled off the biggest coup in the WNBA offseason by dealing for Swin Cash, a three-time WNBA champ and last year's All-Star Game MVP, from Seattle. Cash, who made the clinching shot for the Storm in their 2010 championship against the Dream, hasn't found her offense yet, but hopes to form a strong defensive froncourt pairing with Fowles. Also struggling to get going is longtime veteran center Ruth Riley, a steady player most recently in San Antonio. Even with Fowles' talents, they'll need to find a way to diversify the Sky frontcourt offense and make use of their usual height advantages.They're also waiting to see how long Courtney Vandersloot's sophomore slump will go. Since making the All-Star Game in her rookie season, Vandersloot's shooting has been horrible through the first few games, about 29% overall and 10% from three-point land. The Gonzaga grad, known as the female John Stockton in college, was known more for her passing than her shooting, but if this continues, there'll be some shuffling in that starting lineup.Epiphanny Prince had a, well, you know, epiphany of sorts last night. She dropped 31 on the Mystics, including a McGrady-esque 18 points in the last 104 seconds of the game (!). Prince looks to be on her way to a career season, averaging 21.5 PPG to tie Fowles for the team lead. She plunked 6 of her 7 three-point shots last night. If her name sounds familiar to the casual hoops fan, it's because she broke Cheryl Miller's high school game-scoring record, with 113 points back in 2006.Pigtail Power! The Dream's very first WNBA draft pick, Tamera Young, remains a vital cog in the Sky rotation. Their leading bench scorer, Young has been fourth in team scoring the last two seasons. Trading Young worked out fine for the Dream as well, as they got super-sub Armintie Price out of the deal.Go Dream!~lw3

Edited June 2, 2012 by lethalweapon3

[Gray Mule]

Wow! What a game. Dream jumped out to a big lead, then lost it.Game tied at the end of regulation when a desperation heave by Chicagowent in for three as time expired.Overtime, and the Dream came up just short. Hated to lose this one.

[lethalweapon3]

Phew! That was a rollercoaster! Dream breaking out 29-7, then down by double digits through 3, then a mad scramble to go up by 5 with under a minute to go, then (SWIN CASH pulling a brilliant Reggie Evans move), then Epiphanny Prince getting two monstrous screens with six seconds to go and nailing a three at the buzzer! I need some motion sickness pills.

Even sicker than me was Prince (33 pts, 9 rebs, 5 asts; buzzer-beater in regulation and unconscious in overtime). But "Coach" Marynell Meadors (who stood outside of the timeout huddle as her assistant was drawing up the plays) had many scratching her head with the substitution choices.

Specifically, Armintie Price was instrumental in building that 29-7 lead in the first quarter. Laurie Koehn made some awesome 3s late, but once we're ahead and defense was needed... why in blazes is Koehn still in the game and Price still on the bench? 'Mintie didn't get back out there until the contest was decided in overtime. And on an inbound with just 40 seconds left in regulation (Dream up 3 with possession), Swin took advantage of Koehn with several hip-thrusts driving her to the floor, resulting in an immature retaliatory shove by Koehn that caught the refs eye (Technical foul, Sky back within a basket and momentum back on their side).

Sancho Lyttle has severe Josh Smith Disorder, lobbing terrible three-point shots. Ironically, it was a elbow KO on an offensive rebound attempt, courtesy of Syl Fowles, two seasons ago that caused Lyttle to justify (in her mind) shifting her offense heavily to the perimeter. Four horrific heaves at the wrong time of the game kept the game close enough by the 4th quarter that it set up her next KO also courtesy of Fowles, a crushing pick (no warnings from teammates, apparently) that sprung Prince free for the buzzer-beating three-pointer to tie the game.

Lyttle is still a tremendous source for steals, but that's about all she's giving the team at the moment. At this point, if the Dream can find a trade for an offensive rebounding forward in exchange for Lyttle (Tulsa rookie Glory Johnson would be nice), they'll be better off for the long-haul. The Dream had just 3 offensive boards (3 players with one each) in 4 quarters-plus, compared to 16 by the Sky, Fowles dominating with 8 of her own. To drive the point home, Armintie Price, all 5-foot-9, 135 pounds of her, leads Atlanta right now in offensive rebounds per game.

Angel McCoughtry's 33 points (including a WNBA-record 17 FTs without a miss in the game) were wasted away by the poor substitution decisions by the coaching staff and Sancho's shot selection (Hawks fans can probably relate). A lack of hustle for loose balls and focus in crunchtime also did them in. That said, the good news is New York and Washington are still awful enough that Atlanta remains a playoff lock until further notice. Their ability to beat the other East teams in a playoff series (Indiana, Chicago, Connecticut), though, will require some adjustments on the floor and on the bench, adjustments that Carol Ross used to cover for.

Atlanta hits the road on Tuesday to visit the Libs in New York, then return home for a Friday night bout with the San Antonio Silver Stars.

Go Dream!

~lw3

[Gray Mule]

Thanks! Great recap of a great game. People who don't watch just don't know

what they're missing (Or, maybe they do and just don't care).

Dream are still missing their starting center and will until the olympics are over.

Chicago hit some unbelieveable shots at the end of the game, then came out

and did it some more in overtime.

2-3 start wasn't what we had in mind for the Dream. We'll get 'em next time!

GO DREAM!!