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2014 Atlanta Dream and WNBA Previews


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A pair of head-to-head Eastern Conference matchups await the Atlanta Dream, starting with today’s game against the Washington Mystics (4:00 PM Eastern, NO Local TV, CSN Washington). Washington is eager to show improvement after having the tables turned on them in the 2013 Conference Semifinals. Atlanta will be aiming for a fourth-straight victory, which would be their longest streak since winning six in a row in the latter half of June 2013. After getting the Styx (5-5) back home for a mid-day special on Wednesday afternoon, the Dream will play a home-and-home pair with the New York Liberty.

  • Not only is the Matee Ajavon 3-way trade working out swimmingly well for Connecticut (Alex Bentley’s having career-scoring nights while shooting a ridiculous 69 FG%... who saw that coming?), but it’s starting to pay dividends for Washington as well. Kara Lawson went to D.C. from Connecticut, and while her shot isn’t falling, Mystics Head Coach Mike Thibault is looking to her to distribute the ball more. The 12-year vet tallied 10 assists (one turnover) to help the Mystics stem a 3-game slide against the Chicago Sky on Friday. Lawson will have to get her shot going soon, however, to have any shot at unseating rookie Bria Hartley in the starting lineup.

  • No more waffling from Belgian forward Emma Meesseman, who is starting at power forward in place of their traded star Crystal Langhorne. After failing to make a basket in two straight games, she crashed the offensive glass (five O-Rebs) and came away with career-highs 16 points and 11 rebounds against Delle Donne-less Chicago, also tacking on 5 steals. Now getting the looks she wants, Meesseman’s shot 14-for-21 in her past two contests.

  • Scoring has been a challenge for the Mystics (league-low 41.3 FG% and 27.5 3FG%), as former Dream star and 2013 All-Star Ivory Latta is the only player averaging double-digits so far (11.9 PPG). No one can blame Latta, who leads the WNBA with 2.3 three-pointers per game while shooting nearly 40 percent from deep. Thibault may grant more floor time to wing player Tianna Hawkins, who has been shooting the ball well lately off the bench (14-for-22 in her last five games).

  • The Mystics also have the league’s most accurate free throw shooters (83.8 FT%), while this season’s opponents have been collectively off-the-mark, shooting a league-worst 72.0 FT%. Atlanta (6-3) will have to be disciplined at the free throw line, as Washington will gladly give up one point in lieu of two. The Dream shot 16-for-22 (72.7 FT%) in their Friday victory against Minnesota, missing a couple freebies that could have iced the game away before the end.

  • Washington is also staying in games by keeping the tempo slow and playing tight defense inside the perimeter (40.9 opponent 2FG%, easily lowest in WNBA). Kia Vaughn has been holding the fort at center so far, and her tandem alongside Meesseman so far is matching the defensive frontline impact of Atlanta’s Erika DeSouza and Sancho Lyttle. Rookie center Stefanie Dolson is seeking to dance her way into more steady rotation minutes, but Vaughn has the upper hand, at least for now.

  • The WNBA’s top offensive rebounding team (10.2 per game) thus far, Atlanta will need Angel McCoughtry to help the frontcourt build an advantage against the league’s top defensive rebounding team in Washington (27.7 per game).

Go Dream!

~lw3

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It was close late in the game but the Dream pulled away for another win.

Dream ended the first half being comfortably ahead but lost that momentum

in the third quarter.

Dream prevailed in the end and are in 1st place. Watched it all on computer

and the small cost is worth it.

GO DREAM!!

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lw3 you nailed on the point about offensive rebounding - that was probably the difference in one of those ultra ugly games that the Mystics and Storm seem to specialize in. The coverage was very nice with interviews of Matee Ajavon,, as well as Jasmine and Angel's dads as well. I love Matee's answer when they asked her what she expected the Dream to do in the second half "Win!".

Wednesday is my favorite game of the year - Kids day, usually with a huge crowd of noisy kids. They should have one of the players give a lecture on the jumbotron on the proper use of thundersticks, though. They usually bang them on Dream free throws as well as the opposing team. In fact, some times they go one for the whole game, or so it seems. We face the Mystics again. I'm hoping for a blowout this time. Dolson with her purple hair should get the attention of the kids.!!

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If you enjoy the sound of thousands of screeching children, this afternoon’s Kids’ Game at Philips Arena between the first-place Atlanta Dream and the Washington Mystics (12:00 noon Eastern, SportSouth) is for you! The Highlight Factory may indeed get sold out as countless summer campers will Scream for the Dream, who are going for their fifth straight win and a back-to-back sweep of Washington.

  • Rebounding was the name of the game for Atlanta during their 75-67 victory on Sunday afternoon, building a decisive 18-0 edge in second chance points and a 17-4 differential in offensive rebounds. Dominating the glass in the second half helped Atlanta weather the storm despite awful shooting (38.2 team FG%) as the Mystics came back several times to tie the game. After knotting up the game at 51 apiece in the fourth quarter, D.C. went through a six-minute rebounding drought.

  • Washington (40.0 opponent FG% and 73.1 opponent PPG, best in WNBA) needs a stronger defensive performance today from veteran center Kia Vaughn and rookie Stefanie Dolson, neither of whom could do much to contain Erika DeSouza. Vaughn spent yesterday evening fueling up for today’s matchup at the legendary Paschal’s restaurant.

  • Erika finished one rebound shy of what would have been her fifth double-double (16 points, 9 boards), which would have moved her back into a tie for second-place in the league alongside her teammate Sancho Lyttle. Lyttle contributed 5 steals, four in the first half, and shot 7-for-11 from the field. Sancho has committed at least one theft in every game this season.

  • The Dream (73.4 FT%, 10th out of 12 WNBA teams) need better focus from players other than Angel McCoughtry (4.6 FT made per game, 3rd in WNBA; 85.4 FT%, 10th in WNBA) at the free throw line. Angel shot 8-for-8 on Sunday, and DeSouza shot 6-for-7, while the remaining Dream players were a scatter-shot 6-for-16.

  • Fortunately, Atlanta’s judicious committal of shooting fouls created a huge advantage at the charity stripe, 31 attempts to 13 for the Mystics, who otherwise was the more accurate team from the field. Washington (82.1 FT%, 2nd in NBA) was uncharacteristically off as well on free throws (8-for-13), but they don’t draw enough fouls for their free throw volume (15.7 attempts per game, last in WNBA) to matter.

  • Shoni Schimmel is sliding down the rookie ladder as her passing production declines. Sho-Time did connect on a pair of triples, but she connected on just a single assist in 27 minutes on Sunday, and has compiled just 3 assists and 5 turnovers in her last two appearances. Coach Michael Cooper will demand more offensive production out of his reserves, which shot a combined 5-for-17 on Sunday and produced 6 turnovers and just 5 assists.

  • Celine Dumerc was unimpressive on Sunday (5 rebounds, but 1 assist in 14 minutes). But Celine won’t need to do much more to unseat Jasmine Thomas (2.1 APG, 1 assist and 3 TOs) as the starting point guard. Jasz shot 0-for-3 against the Styx and must be a steadier shooter to avoid a trip to the bench. Matee Ajavon did not get to play against her old team as she was rested with a strained calf muscle.

  • Look for more efficient scoring production today out of Angel (4-for-15 FGs on Sunday) as well as former Dream star Ivory Latta (4-for-13), who always gets up to play in Atlanta. The floor must have been very well-spread on Sunday (just one blocked shot between both teams, by Dolson in the first half), so there's little reason for McCoughtry and the Dream not to attack the paint repeatedly.

  • Rookie Bria Hartley carried the Mystics offense by shooting 5-for-10 (including 3-for-5 on threes) and 13 points. Last year’s rookie for the Mystics, Tayler Hill, doesn’t plan on rejoining the team this season. During the offseason, she discovered she was pregnant. Now, she and perennial Hawks preseason player David Lighty (her brother’s teammate at Ohio State) are expecting a baby arrival very soon. Thin in depth at shooting guard, Washington needs a good day from Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, who's shooting just 23 percent from the floor this month.

Go Dream!

~lw3

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Washington sure was living by the 3 in the first half! 7-for-10 or something. Then, the Dream D clamped down and the opponents became the Miss-tics. Big All-Star-caliber second half from Angel, the Mystics couldn't figure out what she was going to do with the ball.

Another HUGE advantage for the Dream at the free throw line... 23 to 4! Four FT attempts has gotta be some kind of record. That adds up to a whopping 54-to-17 edge over the two-game series. No wonder the Mystics were jacking up threes, they were just trying to keep up! Atlanta shooting 87% on freebies didn't help the Mystics' cause, either. Angel made more than twice as many FT shots (7) as the whole Mystics team (3).

Dolson's really coming along well, but Washington's frontline is going to have to figure out how to play bigger on the interior. Zero blocks today versus Atlanta, 1 total in the two-game series. Mike Thibault is probably going to make a midseason move to keep his team from sliding out of postseason contention. In the meantime, Dolson will probably take over the starting spot from Vaughn very soon.

Bring on the Liberty!

~lw3

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Nice writeup, lw3! You were spot on - the kids were noisy as all get out, which I enjoyed immensely.

A good, but not great game. DC scored on something like 5 3's in a row, at the very start. Their shooting, esp. from distance cooled off in the 4th quarter - don't know if it was luck, defense or the law of averages, but whatever, we finally got ahead and pulled away. Angel was the big gun and beyond that scoring was spread around. Tip was second at 11 points. We again won the boards, but the real story was that we won it at the line - 20 points v. 3 as you pointed out. Henry had a nice game in reserve, maybe giving Erika some rest for the NY Statues.

Edited by Randy
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Angel has learned / is learning to be a complete player.

It's dangerous to just turn her loose or try to cover her

one on one. Double her? Nope. Then she finds that one

who they had to leave open and picks up an assist.

She is hitting her free throws consistently and everyone

knows how much I like that.

She hits those home run threes so you can't afford to leave

her out there all alone.

She blocks out and rebounds. She scores on put backs.

She will pick your pocket and start or finish the fast break.

Sometimes she gets too aggressive and picks up those

extra fouls. Right now, that's her greatest weakness.

With great play from our big players inside and our great

play from our many point guards, how do you stop Angel?

GO DREAM !!

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Heading out on travel, so no previews from me for the back-to-back coming against the New York Liberty. But tonight's game here will be at 7:30 PM Eastern and aired on SportSouth. No Local TV for the affair in Gotham on Sunday afternoon (3:00 pm).

Go Dream!

~lw3

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Well, I can't fill lw3's shoes, but I'll throw in my .02 worth. Tonight's game features the first place Dream on a five game winning streak v. the last place Liberty on a 4 game losing streak. Should be a piece of cake right? Well, that's what worries me. The Dream can't win forever and the Liberty probably can't lose forever, but maybe they keep doing what they've been doing for just one more game.

One sign in NY's favor is that finally Pondexter and Charles both had a good game on the same night, in their last game against the Chicago Sky but still managed to lose in OT. So far this season, their engine has been hitting only one of the five cylinders at a time, with either Cappie or Tina stepping up one at a time, but seldom both. The rest of NY's roster is not very strong offensively, but Planette Pierson can still play on a given night if her knees are not too creaky. Delisha Milton Jones is another player who may have reached her sell by date, but is more than capable of kicking you tail, if you are not careful. (There is a great story about her encountering a guy in a carnival funhouse, who was supposed to scare people as part of the act. It worked with her - until she decked him an instant later.). Point is usually run by Anna Cruz, an import from Spain, who has done quite well as a 27 year old rookies. Essence Carson is nominally the SF, but she's recovering from a ACL surgery and has struggled since the start of the season. Former Tech Star, Alex Montgomery has had some good games against the Dream and will probably be facing off with Angel more than Carson. Off the bench there is Sugar Rodgers - a volume shooter in college who can sometime light it up in the WNBA. Bottom line - this team is a ticking time bomb that could just go off when you least expect it. Coach is Bill Lambier, the "Dirtiest Player in NBA history" according to some recent survey. I'm pretty sure he's worked on teaching all his players how to play so that your fouls don't get called. The rest of NY's reserves are mainly younger players who haven't seen much court time. UGA fans will be sorry to hear the Kara Braxton got waived, so she's no longer on the Liberty. They did pick up much traveled Avery Warley Talbert from Liberty University.

Tonight's contest should feature a good battle between Erika and Tina Charles, while Tip Hayes and Jasmine Thomas will chase Cappie around. I expect Cruz to match up with Dumerc and Shoni will probably continue to move around between the 1 and 2 position. And of course, Angel will probably lead the way. GO DREAM!!!

Edited by Randy
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An easy one and the beat goes on. Big victory for the Dream.

Seems that everyone got to play tonight and all did their job well.

Great experience for the bench and the starters didn't have to

spend a lot of time on the floor. Just enough to be effective.

Again they controlled the boards and had a nice rebounding edge

and despite the fact that everyone played, Dream didn't have a

lot of turnovers.

Moved the ball effectively, hit their free throws, scored a lot inside,

then hit a few threes. Good crowd on hand. Word is getting around

that these gals are pretty good!

GO DREAM !!

PS - Braves in Washington tonight and blew a chance when our elite

closer gave up a 2 run homer in the 9th. They had 2 out when it

was hit.

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The Friday loss may have cost Toni Young her job. The Liberty's No. 7 pick in the 2013 Draft was waived. At first I thought that Lambier was starting a new program of waiving a player after every other loss (or so, having waived Braxton earlier), But no, there is a strong rumor that the Liberty have signed Charde Houston. Since the Dream's strategy against the Liberty was to simply double team Cappie and Tina, daring everyone else to score, (and it worked quite well) NY needed a scorer - which Houston (but not much else.) She's basically gunner but she may kill the double team option. Now the question remains why she was cut from Seattle when they had just traded for her? And why did it take NY so long to go after her? Maybe she's just not very good anymore. But she may be there today, or if not today, soon. Whether there or not I'd expect the Dream to try the same game plan as they did on Friday.

The Toni Young cut is interesting for the Dream. No. 7 was originally supposed to be Atlanta's pick but we gave it up in the Jasmine Thomas trade. NY finally ended up with it. Now three of the players picked between 7 and 13 (where we took Bentley) have been waived - Young, Adia Mathis, and Sasha Goodlet, though Goodlet has found new life with Chicago. Another player in that bunch Kelly Faris of the Sun is their 12 player and probably struggling to keep her job. The remaining players (Kayla Alexander, Demaris Dantas, and Linsdsey Moore) would have all been available at 7, but only Dantas has played much, and she only came up from Brazil this year. Since we needed a guard, basically we gave up the chance to take Moore at 7, but she clearly is not as good as Bentley nor Thomas, so this is all a round about way of saying we won that trade.

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Winning streak comes to an end.

Dream missed 10 free throws. Lost by 7.

NY's old all star played like a youngster, missed only one shot and

lead her team to victory. Poindexter had a great game.

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I heard it was Cappie's Bobblehead night. NY might start making every night Cappie Bobblehead night.

Meanwhile, Shoni is blowing away the competition in the All Star Balloting. You could argue about that, but her game is perfect for an All Star game, where entertainment takes precedence over everything else.

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The Atlanta Dream will try and get another winning streak going on the road this week, as they head to Texas to face the San Antonio Stars tonight (8:00 PM Eastern, No Local TV, but hey, it’s NBA Draft Night). Their franchise-tying six-game win streak came to a close up in the Big Apple on Sunday.

 

  • Angel McCoughtry does it all for the Dream, and soon she'll be baring it all (of most of herself, anyway) on print. She'll be one of several athletes, and the sole WNBA player, on this year's Body Issue of ESPN The Magazine.

 

  • Atlanta looked to be well on their way to a new franchise record seventh win by surging to a 40-29 lead in the second quarter, McCoughtry leading the way with 15 points. Then, Angel’s Turkish co-star stepped up for the Liberty, the league’s worst team at 4-10. Cappie Pondexter eventually shot 7-for-8 from the floor, then shifted primarily to a distributor role in the fourth quarter and dropped 8 dimes, sparking the New York Liberty to an 85-78 win at MSG. Tina Charles played much better defense on Erika DeSouza than in the prior contest in Atlanta, while Pondexter and Plenetter Pierson kept Atlanta’s frontline on their toes and in foul trouble.

 

  • Tiffany Hayes, Jasmine Thomas, and Celine Dumerc were a combined 2-for-19 on Sunday, allowing Liberty defenders to sag off of the perimeter and key in on McCoughtry, who still had 33 points on 10-for-11 FTs, plus ten rebounds and four assists, but shot just 10-for-25 from the field. Non-Angel players shot 2-for-16 on three-pointers (both made by Shoni Schimmel, who was 2-for-5). Dream guards must produce to take the pressure off of Angel to carry the team to victory, especially on the road.

 

  • “The McCoughtryaires” also must continue improving at the free throw line. Angel’s teammates shot just 8-for-18 on FTs, leaving points on the table that could have been useful late in the game.

 

  • On the other end of the floor on Sunday was the league’s most accurate three-point shooting team, the Liberty (40.5 3FG%), who shot 7-for-15 against Atlanta. The second-most accurate team in the WNBA? The San Antonio Stars (37.5 3FG%), tonight’s opponent, who shoots them at a much higher volume than New York (WNBA-high 6.7 3FGs per game).

 

  • Head Coach Dan Hughes isn’t getting much offense so far upfront, with Sophia Young-Malcolm struggling to get it going (8.1 PPG, less than half of her 2012 scoring average) since returning from a season-long injury in 2013. So Hughes has turned to a guard-heavy rotation featuring All-Star Danielle Robinson driving and dishing the ball out to rookie Kayla McBride (11.1 PPG, 40.7 3FG%), veteran sixth woman Jia Perkins (12.4 PPG, second on team in scoring, 40.4 3FG%), and veteran star Becky Hammon (51.3 3FG%, 2nd in WNBA and a shade behind Atlanta’s Tiffany Hayes). To help Atlanta out to defend along the perimeter, this would be a good time to get Matee Ajavon back out on the floor in limited minutes.

 

  • That approach has worked fairly well for the Stars (7-7), winners of three of their last four and all three of their road games this month. San Antonio has taken advantage of Los Angeles’ struggles to hang around among the West’s top 4. To remain there, they really need to start impressing their home fans on the floor of the reigning NBA champs. They’ve gone just 1-3 at home in June and lost their last game at the AT&T Center to the 6-9 Washington Mystics. The Stars shot an uncharacteristic 2-for-15 on threes in the game on Tuesday.

 

  • Washington had little trouble scoring on the inside around Jayne Appel, Young-Malcolm, and the shot-jacking reserve forward Danielle Adams (8-for-14 shooting and 18 points during their 79-75 loss in Atlanta last month). That should continue with a heavy dose of passes inbound to DeSouza and McCoughtry, who shot a combined 18-for-28 on 2FGs against the Stars on May 16. Sancho Lyttle is another strong target. Dream passers will have to watch for the roving Robinson. D-Rob and Lyttle (2.8 steals per game, tied with Angel for the WNBA lead) each had five thefts in their last games.

 

  • Shoni Schimmel’s high media-profile has certainly carried her to the top spot in All-Star voting among Eastern Conference guards, but so did her early-season passing exploits, none moreso than the 11 assists she racked up in her WNBA debut against the Stars. Since then, Shoni’s become increasingly deferential (to Dumerc, McCoughtry, and Thomas), playing uneven minutes and piling up just eight assists in her last five games while striving to get her jumpshot going (8-for-33 on threes in her last seven games). A much bigger fan draw outside of Atlanta, Shoni is averaging 12.2 PPG and 46.0 FG% (41.4 3FG%) on the road, far better scoring numbers than at home (6.5 PPG, 33.3 FG%, 20.7 3FG%). Is tonight a game where she can establish some sense of offensive balance?

 

Go Dream!

 

~lw3

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lw3 great writeup.  Shoni has been moving back and forth between PG and SG, which would probably be confusing if she didn't do that a lot in college but it has hurt her assists.  Cooper seems to have a bit more confidence in Shoni than Thomas or Dumerc since she has usually been playing more minutes in the second half, though it may just come down to who's playing better at the time, or the flow of the game.  Interesting point about her road games being better than the home games.  To me, its far more interesting to see her play point, and I think its taken a toll on Erika's numbers as well.  There could be some Shoni fans in TX tonight, but then again - there may be Baylor fans in the audience who still remember Shoni's role in engineering the upset of Griner and Company in the 2013 NCAA.  And then there's Sophia Young Malcom another Baylor product.  She may (or may not) be a Griner fan, but she is still a Baylor Bear no matter what.

 

Now I just have to figure out how to watch Live Access on my computer and the draft on TV,  Too bad they are in different rooms.

 

BTW - looks like I was a bit early on the Liberty - but somebody cut the wrong wire and the time bomb finally went off. 

 

Finally, think we need to win this or the next game to assure Cooper is the East All Star coach - the Sun are now 8-6 and could pass us for that honor.  They do finally go on the road, but only against DC and NY. 

Edited by Randy
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Games like this drive me crazy, but at least we won.  Apparently, no one told the Stars they were out of it, with about 2 minutes to go. 

 

If you want to see something pretty funny - check out the Dream web page story on Thompson, Cash and Shoni getting drenched with ice cold water.  Next time someone says WNBA players aren't tough - ask them if they can do this:

 

 

http://www.wnba.com/dream/dreamtv.html
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No local TV again for the first of the Atlanta Dream’s home-and-home affair with the Indiana Fever (6:00 PM Eastern), but Indiana’s home broadcast will be simulcast on NBATV. Tuesday night’s matchup in Atlanta will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

 

  • Will there be another sea of Cardinal red in the Fieldhouse tonight? The Louisville faithful showed up in droves to cheer on All-Star vote leaders Angel McCoughtry and, especially, Shoni Schimmel during the Dream's last visit to the Hoosier State. Both players came off the bench (Head Coach Michael Cooper intending to rest Angel), and they needed all 44 of their combined points and 15 assists (10 from Shoni) to beat back Indiana in double overtime.

 

  • Expect a bout of full-contact lawn darts between these two teams. The Fever lead the league in personal fouls, opponent fouls, free throw attempts and opponent FT attempts. The Fever rank dead last in home games with a 73.7 FT%, while the Dream are the league’s worst free-throw shooting team on the road (70.1 FT%). Sancho Lyttle has to play more aggressively around the rim and get her free throw accuracy (57.8 FT%) up around her career average.

 

  • Head Coach Lin Dunn is in her final season of coaching and was inducted this month into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Hame in Knoxville. One can imagine her former coaching contemporary Marynell Meadors following Dunn into the Hall sometime in the near future

 

  • Indy (6-8) has dropped their past three games and are sliding down the Eastern Conference grease pole, with no signs of a return for the legendary Tamika Catchings yet (there was a FroYo sighting yesterday, though, courtesy of Swin Cash: http://instagram.com/p/p0AwV3Kkcu/). As she has all season, Catch remains sidelined with back pain issues. This week, the Fever (41.2 team FG%, last in WNBA) lost a rare overtime shootout at home (107-102) to Skylar Diggins and Tulsa. While the Fever’s scoring leader Shavonte Zellous (12.4 PPG; career-high 46.7 3FG%) virtually matched Diggins shot-for-shot, former Dream center and WNBA rebounding leader Courtney Paris had surprisingly little problem getting offensive boards against the Fever frontline.

 

  • On Friday night, Dunn moved 6-foot-5 former Mercury center Krystal Thomas into the starting lineup to help Erlana Larkins (league-high 63.6 FG%; career-highs of 11.6 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 2.6 APG, 2.1 SPG) and Marissa Coleman (career-high 9.8 PPG) contest Thomas’ former team. Effectively holding Brittney Griner to four points and six rebounds, the Fever held back the Merc for a full half before Phoenix’s backcourt tandem of Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor stormed ahead in the final quarter. Dunn may stick with the bigger lineup to offset Atlanta’s stars upfront. In which case, Lyttle's production against Larkins will be a key to Atlanta's chances of victory.

 

  • Indiana beat the Dream in Atlanta in their last meeting to stem their previous three-game slide. Both Fever-Dream games this season have had to be settled in overtime. Larkins’ dominance carried the day for the Fever (13 points and 22 rebounds, 6 steals), but the need to carry so much of the scoring and rebounding and defensive load, without Catchings on the floor, may be wearing on her a little.

 

  • I remain a huge fan of Natasha Howard (1.2 BPG, 6th in WNBA), the rookie forward with an Olive Oyl physique but Popeye strength. Dunn has phased her out of the starting lineup, perhaps in part to spark the bench, but more likely until she can grow accustomed to defending without fouling. She leads the WNBA with a WNBA-high 6.3 personal foul calls per 40 minutes. Howard has only played for 20 minutes and has not scored in her past three games.

 

  • The Dream (10-4) have been racing to decent first-half leads behind their starters, only to struggle in several game’s ends, largely because the reserves have struggled to hold serve. After scoring just 38 points the rest of the way after building a 40-29 second-quarter advantage against New York, Atlanta traveled to San Antonio on Friday and surged to a 26-19 first-quarter lead, only to watch the lead evaporate in the space of four minutes.

 

  • Even with a rebuilt 74-60 lead with eight minutes to go in the game, the Dream had to fend off a three-point barrage from the Stars to win by just two. San Antonio was 12-for-23 from long-range, and New York shot a comfortable 7-for-15 in the previous game. Atlanta’s opponents sink 5.6 treys per game, second most after Minnesota, and hit them at a 38.3% clip, 3rd highest in the league.

 

  • The Dream shoot a measly 30.4 percent from three-point range, but it’s hard to blame the usual suspects. After Hayes (now 2nd in the league behind San Antonio’s Becky Hammon), McCoughtry, Schimmel and Jasz Thomas, the rest of the Dream team (five players, including the departed Inga Orekhova) are a combined 0-for-30 on the season. Celine Dumerc (0-for-9 through 8 games) is well-attuned to the FIBA distance the WNBA instituted last season, but she may want to work exclusively from the corners until she can reestablish her range. She shot around 37 percent in Euroleague ball from three-point distance.

 

  • Reigning NBA champ Tony Parker was in the house for the Dream-Stars game. Ostensibly, he was pulling for the hometown team, but the Frenchman was quietly there to cheer on his fellow compatriot Dumerc.

 

 

Go Dream!

 

~lw3

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Olive Oyl build but Popeye's strength - that's hilarious!!  Howard has not been playing well recently - perhaps she needs more spinach.    Dunn deserves the HOF - considering the lack of consistent play by January and Zealous and the complete absence of Catchings its amazing the Fever have the record they do (and even in recent losses the games have been very close.)   Anyway, should be a close, and hard fought game.  Here's hoping Shoni and Angel's Louisville fans can get to this game en masse. 

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