2018 Atlanta Dream and WNBA Previews

[lethalweapon3]

Clearly, I've been sleeping on the Atlanta Dream today. Hopefully, the Washington Mystics will too!

Atlanta is up 59-50 at the half right now (WNBA League Pass only). Jessica Breland came alive offensively (6-for-8 FGs) in the first half, and so did the Dream's perimeter shooting (7-for-9 3FGs)! Alex Bentley lived up to her old nickname with a made jumper at the first-quarter buzzer.

Will it all hold up in the second versus a solid-shooting and balanced Mystics club? We shall see!

Let's Go Dream!

~lw3

[Gray Mule]

Whatever could go right for the Dream did go right today!

Grabbing almost two times  scoring in the paint and half the rebounds!

Shot 15 free throws - Hit 13!

Shot 18 from down town - Hit 11 of them!

Final score Dream win! - - - 106-89...………

[Gray Mule]

Earlier, the Dream swapped guards, Layshia Clarendon for Alex Bentley.  Bentley had been an Atlanta Dream originally and now she's back.

[lethalweapon3]

Well, alrighty then! Don't be a stranger, Dream offense!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

On a day where the starters shined, just a pair of field goal attempts for new re-acquisition Alex Bentley off the bench. But her one make was exactly the kind of shot you'd expect... #AtTheBuzzer

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Checking the record books, Atlanta's 106 points today tied the most that they've scored in a regulation, regular-season victory. Last time was a 106-76 home win over Phoenix way back on July 7, 2009, led by rookie Angel McCoughtry's 17 BENCH points.

The high-water mark for a regular-season Dream game (regulation or OT) came the next year, on July 7, 2010. Angel and Izi Castro-Marques matched each other with 32 points apiece. Angel's fadeaway jumper, with just over 30 seconds to go in regulation, saved Atlanta from blowing a fourth-quarter lead, and the Dream later went on to get the single-OT win, 108-103, over a Connecticut team featuring Tina Charles and... Renee Montgomery!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Mirage, or nah?

Your Atlanta Dream returns home after lambasting what has been the best (or, more accurately, the one “not too bad”) team in the WNBA Eastern Conference, in their opponent’s building, with arguably the greatest offensive display ever produced by this franchise. Will today’s match with the visiting Indiana Fever (7 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast in ATL) demonstrate that coach Nicki Collen’s troops are finally beginning to sort things out on offense?

In mid-June, with Brittney Sykes out of action, the Dream struggled to reach 70 points in games. The low-light of that stretch was Indiana’s first win since last August, a 96-64 romp in Indianapolis just two days after the Dream outlasted Pokey Chatman’s club here by a 72-67 score.

By the end of that month, with Sykes regaining her form and Imani McGee-Stafford starting to shed her slump, Atlanta started scoring in the 70s more consistently.

Then the calendar turned, and in the first three games of July, Atlanta (10-9, 3-1 this month) averaged 83 points per contest, beginning with an 87-83 escape from Bankers Life Fieldhouse a couple Sundays ago.

That doesn’t even include the mystifying 106-89 win this past Wednesday against the Mystics, where the Dream rode what had to be a career-defining effort by Jessica Breland (23 points on 11-for-16 2FGs, 10 boards, 7 dimes, 4 blocks), who effectively complemented a red-hot day from outside shooter Renee Montgomery (5-for-8 3FGs, 21 points).

Monty, in turn, complemented the collective brilliance of fellow starters Angel McCoughtry (24 points, 6 assists) and Tiffany Hayes (4-for-5 3FGs, 21 points, 5 assists), the latter of whom probably could’ve gotten the WNBA East Player of the Week honors from the week prior in lieu of Washington’s Elena Delle Donne.

They’re no Stevie Wonder album, yet, but Atlanta sure has been looking Hotter Than July. Since July 1 their O-Rating of 107.3, their 52.5 eFG%, and their 56.7 TS% ranks 3^rd in the league, behind resurgent Dallas and Seattle. Whether this is a trend, or a blip, remains to be seen. Atlanta has sustained its signature defensive pace throughout, which will be crucial since the Fever has failed to break out above 70 points in their past two contests.

The record-setting afternoon by the four Dream starters (all 20+ point scorers, 1^st time for any WNBA quartet in a regulation, regular-season game) obviated the need for significant production from the bench, who totaled just nine of Atlanta’s 106 points on Wednesday.

Expect Collen to play a lot more of her reserves, including Alex Bentley (a former Indianapolitan and Fever intern) in her formal return to the ATL, to help fend off what remains the greatest 2-18 team that ever played. Indiana is just 1-8 on the road, but that 1 was an impressive clamping of the defending WNBA champs in Minnesota on July 3.

The Lynx avenged that 71-59 loss with an 87-65 shellacking of the Fever in Indy on Wednesday, but that takes nothing away from how dangerous Chatman’s club (four of next five games on the road) can be on any given night. Atlanta knows this as well as anyone.

The bench crew (including Sykes, Monique Billups and Damiris Dantas) will have to help their starting unit slow the upwardly-mobile pair of rookies, Kelsey Mitchell (team-high 14.2 PPG, 35.9 FG%) and Victoria Vivians (9.4 PPG, 40.4 3FG%, 23-for-24 FTs).

Vicky Viv scored 27 points (5-for-7 3FGs) to help Indiana nearly erase the Dream’s 17-point halftime lead on July 1. Kelsey and her teammates’ struggles (combined 0-for-7 3FGs) would not allow the Fever to get over the hump on that day against Sykes (3-for-4 3FGs, team-highs of 20 points and 7 assists), who started in place of Hayes, and the Dream.

Atlanta’s reserves will also want to help keep the improved center Natalie Achonwa cool, and they’ll want to keep new arrival Cappie Pondexter from coming off the bench trying to recreate that 2010 Conference Finals Classic with McCoughtry (a 105-93 win at Philips that clinched the Dream’s first WNBA Finals appearance; Wednesday’s win eclipsed that scoring total for the first time, Angel and Cappie combined for 78 points).

Expecting Breland to go peak J-Smoove on the regular is unrealistic, and there still remains room for her and Elizabeth Williams to produce consistently in tandem. Still, there has been enough demonstrated in the past four games to suggest Atlanta has begun to turn the corner, at a perfect time since the rest of the WNBA East is floundering. Will tonight’s game reflect that, or, alternatively, the notion that the Dream offense remains a work in (occasional) progress?

 

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3

[Gray Mule]

Love me some Dream!  Tonight, Dream had 7 players who scored 10 or more points!  Too many good things happened for too many Atlanta gals to name names, but, gee whiz, this was some great basketball.

Kinda started the game with the Hawk's patented sleepwalk mode.  Fell behind by 10 points.  Then, like TNT going off, the Dream exploded.  They ran away and hid.  They got so far ahead that there was no way for their opponent to come back.  It was a combination of great defense and great offense.

Too bad more of our Hawksquawk members can't learn to dig the WNBA.  They are missing so much.

GO DREAM !!

 

[lethalweapon3]

No, the biggest showdown in town this afternoon isn’t on Northside Drive or Cobb Parkway. The real big game will be over on 10^th Street in Midtown!

The Atlanta Dream continue striving to demonstrate that their newfound offensive flow is no fluke, while the Washington Mystics pull out all the stops to ensure they remain the class of the WNBA East (3:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast in ATL).

With so many formidable Western Conference teams, everyone else knows that the way to ensure a spot in the WNBA Playoffs is to finish either first or second in the Eastern Conference. The Styx (13-8) have been tough in-conference (9-2 vs. WNBA East) and away from D.C. (5-3 on the road). Yet they embark on a 5-game road trip at an inopportune time, against an inopportune opponent that’s right over their shoulder in the conference standings.

Atlanta (11-9, 4-1 in July) is hoping to enjoy their first four-game win streak since rattling off five straight back in May-June 2016. Highlighted by Wednesday’s rousing 106-89 win in the Mystics’ house, and a table-turning 98-74 home win over Indiana, it’s hard to recall a time when the Dream put forth 40-minute offensive efforts like this so consistently.

While the win in Washington showcased the starters at their peak, the victory over the Fever displayed tremendous offensive balance. Seven Dreamettes tallied double-figures in points, a first in Atlanta’s decade-long history. The defense hasn’t gone far, either. After a slow start, the Dream throttled Indiana with a 30-7 advantage in the second quarter, before dropping 33 more points on the Fever in the third frame.

Fourteen of the Dream’s 29 assists, plus 45 of their 98 points, came from the bench contributors, a stark difference from the prior game that allowed the starters to not over-exert themselves against a 2-19 outfit, mere days before today’s contest.

Coach Mike Thibault’s crew licked their wounds from Wednesday and held off Chicago 88-72 on Friday night. Rookie Ariel Atkins (120.2 O-Rating in July, tops in WNBA) scored 25 points to match franchise star Elena Delle Donne, and the team rediscovered their rebounding and defensive chops. Center LaToya Sanders returned to action, having missed much of the second half versus Atlanta after catching an unfortunate and accidental Angel Wing on the noggin.

“We were really upset after that game against Atlanta,” EDD (20.5 PPG, 2^nd in WNBA) acknowledged after Friday’s home win, “and we needed to kind of clean it up tonight to get us ready to get on the road.” Atlanta can secure the season-series versus Washington with a victory today, which can be valuable in the event of playoff-seeding (or, playoff-securing) tie-breakers.

With a trip to Connecticut on Tuesday, and a Thursday-night affair back home versus New York, this week is a prime opportunity for coach Nicki Collen’s club to put their imprint on the rest of the conference, just weeks ahead of the All-Star Break. Keeping up the fullcourt flow will make it tough to obscure not only Angel McCoughtry and Tiffany Hayes (18.2 PIE in July, best in WNBA East), but Jessica Breland and Renee Montgomery (21.3 Net Rating in July, 2^nd in WNBA), from consideration as reserves for the forthcoming midseason classic in Minneapolis. Keeping up the winning ways will make it even tougher.

 

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

One important ICYMI about an ex-Dreamette that I missed a couple weeks ago.

~lw3

[Gray Mule]

Sykes off the bench, a real spark plug.  17 points and 3 of 5 from downtown!!  80-77 was close, a real nerve grabber.  And, who of the Hawksquawk posters watched? 

GO ATL DREAM !!!

[lethalweapon3]

Winner, Winner... Mrs. Winner's Dinner!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

POW! Jessica Breland's award candidacy for this past week sure was hard to reject!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Selecting the WNBA All-Star teams (now under the similar “Curry vs. LeBron” NBA format) sure is harder than it looks!

The announcement of 22 All-Star players will come during today’s 6 PM SportsCenter broadcast. Tiffany Hayes will be a lock, and Angel McCoughtry has a 50-50 shot. Renee Montgomery and reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week are longshots, especially now that the teams aren’t East versus West any longer.

 

My ten All-Star starters:

F/C - Elena Delle Donne, Washington – a top fan-vote-getter, and deservedly so. Keeping the Mystics above the fray in the WNBA East, she and Maya Moore may be the pair that gets to pick teams later on this week.

G/F - Maya Moore, Minnesota – gets the LeBron treatment among WNBA fan voters. Struggled early but found her stride to push Minnesota back into the playoff chase.

G - Diana Taurasi, Phoenix – You simply can’t have an All-Star Game without the league’s greatest bucket-maker ever.

F/C - Breanna Stewart, Seattle – The league-leading scorer, Stewie has come into MVP-level form right on time for Seattle’s surge to the top of the standings.

C - Liz Cambage, Dallas – The most dominant center in the game, and that’s saying a lot, was certainly worth the FIVE-years-long wait!

G - Skylar Diggins-Smith, Dallas – It’s always a pleasure to Watch Skylar Work, but she has established herself as a point guard without peer at this level.

G - Tiffany Hayes, Atlanta – Not a traditional sharp-shooter for her position, but she simply knows how to get buckets, especially in the clutch. She hasn’t skipped a beat with Angel’s return to Atlanta’s lineup.

G - Sue Bird, Seattle – More than just a fan favorite, she’s the point guard that makes okay players really good, and really good players great.

G/F - Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut – She just returned after missing a month due to injury, but the Sun’s early rise can be traced to directly her all-around play.

C - Sylvia Fowles, Minnesota – A down-year in blocks and scoring, but the reigning MVP blows away the field with career-best rebounding. Besides, this game is in Minnesota, right?

 

Reserves… The Deserving Dozen:

G - Jewell Loyd, Seattle – She’s had her struggles as Stewart’s sidekick, but her occasional explosiveness as a backcourt scorer can’t be overlooked on this successful Storm team.

F - Natasha Howard, Seattle – Energetic rebounder, and a reliable bucket-getter. This is more of a reward for how much she’s achieved since being the subject of a highly-panned trade from Minnesota.

C - Brittney Griner, Phoenix – Ought to be a starter, too, but for a lack of consistency when rebounding. Still, she registers one more block per game than anyone else.

F/C - Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles – She’s good enough to do it by herself. But pairing with Candace Parker in the frontcourt ensures title contention annually for the Sparks.

F/C - Candace Parker, Los Angeles – Neck-and-neck with Delle Donne as the best pick-and-pop threat among bigs that the league has to offer.

G - Kristi Toliver, Washington – A top-notch shooting threat, inside and out, gets the nod for helping Delle Donne keep the Mystics above the WNBA East to this point in the season.

G/F - Angel McCoughtry, Atlanta – Even in a down year, she has been enough of a scoring and defensive stalwart in her return to make the Dream look like a playoff team.

F/C - Chiney Ogwumike, Connecticut – Sister Act deserves another sequel. The league-leader in field goal percentage, will she and big-sis Nneka get to play together under the new format?

F - Rebekkah Brunson, Minnesota – What if I told you the league’s newest all-time career rebounder is also currently shooting almost 45 percent from three-point land?

F/C - A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas – It’s almost a crime there’s barely room for rookies on this roster. But none have been more impactful than A’ja out of the gate, enlivening WNBA hoops in Sin City.

G - Kayla McBride, Las Vegas – While A’ja brings the steak, Kayla brings the sizzle. The Aces’ recent run has earned them a second All-Star nod, in contrast to the wilting Sky and Fever.

F/C - Tina Charles, New York – This is a pity pick for the top-five scorer, good-soldiering through a disappointing season under a new coaching regime, one largely in exile out in White Plains.

 

Snubs (Told ya this was tough!):

Phoenix – DeWanna Bonner

Los Angeles – Chelsea Gray

Washington – LaToya Sanders, Tianna Hawkins

Atlanta -- Jessica Breland, Renee Montgomery

Connecticut – Courtney Williams, Jonquel Jones

Minnesota – Seimone Augustus

Chicago – Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, Cheyenne Parker

Indiana – Kelsey Mitchell, Candice Dupree, Natalie Achonwa

 

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

League Pass only locally, but the Atlanta Dream are in some prime situations tonight at Mohegan Sun Arena, versus the Connecticut Sun (7 PM Eastern, NBC Sports Boston in CT, WNBA League Pass elsewhere).

The first five-game winning streak in over two years is at hand for Atlanta (12-9). Probable All-Star and UConn alum Tiffany Hayes, ex-Sun assistant Nicki Collen, plus former Sun players Elizabeth Williams, Renee Montgomery and Jessica Breland all have a shot at making a triumphant return to the Nutmeg State. The Dream have an opportunity to put some headway between themselves and the Sun (12-10) in the standings and, later this week, tighten up their grip on a playoff spot.

And, depending on what transpires an hour earlier, Angel McCoughtry will have a chance to remind everyone, either, why she is an All-Star pick for the fifth time in her career, or, why it was unwise to snub her.

Through fits and starts and more fits, Angel (16.6 PPG, career-lows of 40.7 FG% and 1.4 SPG) has dutifully carried the Dream through eight illustrious WNBA seasons. But Dream fans, under Collen, are beginning to see the fruits of Coach Collen’s labors, in the sudden and rare form of a balanced Atlanta team, a collection that can thrive even during outings when McCoughtry, and even Hayes, struggle offensively.

Versus a desperate Mystics team that came out like their hair was on fire on Sunday at McCamish Pavilion, Atlanta’s pair of leading scorers this season shot a collective 6-for-23 from the field, including 0-for-5 from 3-point distance. But that’s where the reserves have been coming in, lately, to seize the day.

Brittney Sykes went en fuego in the second half against Washington, combining with Imani McGee-Stafford (with her brother JaVale in attendance at courtside) and rookie Monique Billings to hit big buckets to help the Dream pull in front for a lead they would not relinquish in Sunday’s 80-77 victory. Even new arrival Alex Bentley, aside from a signature buzzer-beater, was off-the-mark (1-for-7 FGs) but passed the ball well and was praised by Collen for her on-ball defensive work.

Staying high out on the perimeter, Angel and Tip helped funnel shooters off the 3-point line and into the arms of defensive doyennes Breland and Williams. With both McCoughtry’s and Hayes’ ability to draw fouls and sink shots from the free throw line (12-for-13 combined FTs vs. WAS), plus Breland’s and Williams’ ability to get down the floor and produce second-chance opportunities (8 combined O-Rebs), the Dream finished with five scorers in double-figures, plus Williams not far behind with eight points.

One can contrast Sunday’s home victory with the one from June 22 where Atlanta, absent an injured Hayes, needed all of Angel’s 25 points (9-for-18 FGs) and eight defensive rebounds to outshine the Sun, 75-70. Connecticut was led on that day by Bentley (team-high 18 points off the bench), incidentally, and Chiney Ogwumike. While Alex and Chiney shot well from the field, their sloppiness (12 combined turnovers) and the Sun’s propensity for fouling (35 personals, leading to 27-for-41 FTs for Atlanta) caught up with them.

While Atlanta has Hayes back for this final rematch of the season, Connecticut is riding high once again, with consecutive wins over a pair of the league’s premier teams. Last weekend saw Curt Miller’s club fend off the Mercury at home, 91-87, then go on the road to throttle Minnesota, 83-64, at the Target Center. Key to the turnaround has been the return of forward Alyssa Thomas, who missed the June 22 game due to a lingering shoulder injury but carried the Sun with 19 points, 17 boards and 7 assists (6 TOs) in Connecticut’s 82-77 loss, their first of the WNBA season, in Atlanta.

There’s no doubting Thomas, whose Sun went 7-1 before her injury, and 3-8 (incl. two wins over lowly Indiana) until she returned. She teamed with Courtney Williams (career-high 10 rebounds) and Chiney (10-for-11 FGs) by contributing a career-best 10 assists herself to help upend the Mercury last Friday. With Thomas getting a bit of a breather on Sunday, it was time for Morgan Tuck to step up off the bench, the latter’s 15 points leading six Sun players in double figures.

That we have gone this far without speaking of last year’s Most Improved Player, Jonquel Jones, who still struggles at times in a reserve role, or trade acquisition Layshia Clarendon, speaks to the depth of this Connecticut team. Atlanta, though, is showing signs it can match the depth of the Sun, and just about anyone in the East, when they are playing well.

For what has for years been a detracting cast, is the supporting cast around Angel and Tiffany here to stay?

 

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Move over, Riquna Williams! Let's get those Wilt Photoshops going!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

A lock, huh? lol Sorry, Tip, I jinxed, ya!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Hey, you All-Star voters... Tip don't like ugly! What a day in this league, eh?

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Better view... check out Renee Montgomery when the shot goes up? Where is Donte Greene when you need him?

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

An Atlanta team, as a clear-cut favorite to win a ball game? Uh-oh, we’re in the danger zone! All signs point toward the Atlanta Dream winning its sixth-consecutive WNBA contest, tonight at home against the New York Liberty (7:00 PM Eastern, ESPN3/WatchESPN in ATL, MSG+ in NYC), for the first time since June 2014. Will it be too much to ask for an Atlanta victory, on paper, to leap off the page?

Looking down at the rest of the WNBA East for the first time all season, Atlanta (13-9) is largely in this position because Angel McCoughtry went bonkers in the 4^th quarter on Tuesday up in Uncasville, because the defense stepped up at the right time, and because Tiffany Hayes decided there was no need to bother playing an overtime period.

The longest made shot in a regular season game in league history came off a Hayes steal with second remaining to beat the final buzzer, putting the Dream on Front Street among the sports highlight shows and giving them as high a profile as they’ve had in years (Hayes’ All-Star snub, which arrived hours before the game, even came up among the talking heads!)

That shot hopefully made a Liberty legend, Teresa Weatherspoon, crack a smile. Around the Liberty office, where Spoon toils as the player development director, there hasn’t been much to grin about lately.

Things were starting to look up for the two-time defending Eastern Conference champs, as they also prevailed in Connecticut with a game-ending buzzer-beating three, courtesy of Shavonte Zellous, just eight days ago. The Libs followed that up with a 23-point win over Chicago back “home” in White Plains, for just their second two-game winning streak this season, and their third win in their past 11 games.

But then, hours before Hayes hit the shot heard ‘round the globe, the Liberty made their way to Arlington, Texas, and ran into a 6-foot-8-inch buzzsaw named Elizabeth Cambage. The Wings center’s 53 points (including 4-for-5 on threes, not to mention 10 boards and 5 blocks) made the 39 points (and 14 rebounds) McCoughtry plunked on New York, in travel-weary Atlanta’s 79-72 road loss just last month, a distant memory.

Angel’s fellow All-Star Tina Charles was on the Philips Arena floor, back in 2014, the last time Atlanta extended a winning-streak to a franchise-high six in a row. Having forced her way onto her hometown team that season, Charles also did what she could two days later at MSG to keep McCoughtry’s 33 points from granting Atlanta a would-be record seventh-straight victory.

Also watching closely was Katie Smith, the all-time leading pro scorer (ABL seasons included) then in her first year as an assistant under Bill Laimbeer, and now the head honchette after Bill ran off to Las Vegas. It’s hard to tell whether Jimmy Dolan cares enough about the Liberty to warm the seat under which Coach Katie sits. But to this point, she has run out static lineups and a rotation that has not gelled around Charles (29 points vs. ATL on June 19) by providing some consistent source for offense, rebounding, or stops.

Slowing down Hayes and McCoughtry (who came off the bench on Tuesday, allowing Dream coach Nicki Collen to grant Brittney Sykes her second start this month) is a tall enough order for the Liberty. But now, Smith, Charles and company have yet another red-hot Elizabeth to handle.

Don’t look now, but Elizabeth Williams is coming on. During this five-game streak, Atlanta’s beleaguered center is finally putting the biscuit in the proverbial basket. Hayes’ and McCoughtry’s theatrics obscured Williams’ season-high 16 points, the second time in her past three games that she sunk six of seven field goals.

E-Dub is better focused on cutting to the hoop, catching and finishing than we’ve seen in a long time. Her cutting layup, assisted by Jessica Breland, gave Atlanta their next-to-last lead against the Sun with under a minute to play. Just as valuable as Williams’ 77.8 FG% (21-for-27, 37-for-97 FGs before) during this current winning streak has been her 77.8 FT% (14-for-18; 17-for-43 FTs before).

Williams’ uptick in confidence and production has allowed Collen to avoid overusing Damiris Dantas and Imani McGee-Stafford, a well-rested pair who are likely to see more action as the Dream head toward the All-star Break.

To avoid getting overwhelmed again, Charles (20.0 PPG, 4^th in WNBA; 33.1 MPG, 2^nd in WNBA) needs major help on both ends from her frontcourt partners, notably Kia Vaughn, Kiah Stokes, and Amanda Zahui B. It is on Smith to figure out how to improve production around Tina, not leaving it to wings like rookie Kia Nurse (25 bench points, 4-for-6 3FGs on Tuesday @ DAL), Zellous, Epiphanny Prince and Bria Hartley to provide all the balance.

The trade deadline (8:00 PM next Monday) sneaks up on us in a few days. But after wheeling Alex Bentley away from the Sun, it’s likely Chris Sienko and the Dream are about done dealing. Williams and Breland are catching their offensive groove, while McCoughtry and Hayes are finding their comfort zones with a re-energized supporting cast, particularly Sykes (seven double-figure scores in her last 8 games).

All that’s left for Atlanta is to keep the winning ways going for as long as they can, continuing tonight at home against a shell-shocked opponent that’s 7-15 on the season (3-7 on the road). Right? Right???

 

Let’s Go Dream!

~lw3