While the Atlanta Dream’s offseason slid somewhat under the WNBA radar, their regular season is capturing plenty of attention heading into a potential season-defining six-game road trip.
The first stop is Friday night in Indianapolis, where they will play the enigmatic Indiana Fever.
At 12-7, Atlanta sits fourth in the overall league standings and would enjoy home-court privilege for the first round of the playoffs if they started now. The turnaround under first-year coach Karl Smesko, who created an unlikely power at Florida Gulf Coast, has been built on 3-pointers and layups. The Dream attempt the third-most field goals per game (68.4) and second-most 3-pointers (29.1).
Smesko doesn’t have the best-shooting squad at his disposal, with the Dream ranking eighth in field goal percentage (42.9 percent) and 10th in three-point efficiency (32.2 percent). Atlanta makes up for it by committing the fewest turnovers in the league (11.8) and hitting the glass. The Dream are second in the WNBA in rebounding at 37.3 per game.
Atlanta is coming off a 90-81 home win Monday night against Golden State when Allisha Gray scored 24 points.
“These road games are going to be tough,” said the Dream’s Naz Hillmon, who came off the bench Monday night with four made threes and 16 points. “But you have to steal those games.”
Making this one more difficult is that it comes against a motivated opponent. Indiana (9-10) is coming off an 80-61 home loss Wednesday to Golden State after shooting 30.9 percent from the floor. The Valkyries had a 47-36 rebounding advantage.
The Fever started the season with great fanfare after what looked like a successful offseason of building a potential championship team around Caitlin Clark. But the first 19 games have not gone to plan as Clark has worked through a pair of injuries.
Head coach Stephanie White is tired of waiting for answers, saying after Wednesday’s game that her team’s energy and competitive fire were not at needed levels. She didn’t hold back after Thursday’s practice, either.
“We’ve got to bounce back,” White said. “We’ve got to be better. Our attention to detail has to be better. We’ve got to stop waiting for someone else to do it.”
The Dream hold a 2-1 edge in the season series, including a 91-90 win on May 20 in Indianapolis.
–Field Level Media
