The visiting Atlanta Dream will look to recover from their most decisive loss of the season against the trending Portland Fire on Friday.
Leading scorer Allisha Gray had 21 points and five 3-pointers in the Dream’s 96-81 loss at Minnesota on Wednesday, when the Lynx avenged a season-opening 91-90 home loss May 9 and overtook the Dream (4-2) for first place in the league standings.
The expansion Fire (5-3) ran their winning streak to three with a 71-61 home victory over the Connecticut Sun on Wednesday, finishing the game on a 21-6 run.
Leading scorer Carla Leite and reserve Frieda Buhner hit decisive 3-pointers to give the Fire a 66-57 lead with 1:32 remaining. Buhner had a career-high nine points.
“This is part of our identity to always bring that energy from the bench,” Buhner said. “We are a team that nobody wants to play against because they know we can always come back. That energy is just amazing.”
Leite continued her strong run with a game-high 20 points, pushing her scoring average to 16.3 points. The Fire’s second pick in the expansion draft, Leite has 53 points and 14 assists during Portland’s winning streak.
Forward Bridget Carleton, the first overall selection in the expansion draft, is averaging 15.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.1 steals in keying the Fire’s quick start.
“We’re never going to give up. That’s just who we are,” Carleton said.
The Dream’s Angel Reese is one of three players in the league averaging a double-double, with 12.3 points and a league-high 10.8 rebounds per game. However, she was neutralized by a Lynx frontline that is still without Napheesa Collier.
Reese had 10 points on a 3-of-8 shooting with eight rebounds and five assists, and the Lynx also exploited the Dream on the defensive end by scoring 52 points in the paint.
“I feel we were stagnant, watching one player instead of relieving the player,” Gray said. “It was just a lot of standing.”
Atlanta has trailed at halftime in five of its six games this season and twice has overcome 15-point deficits to win.
“We’re definitely trying to get to that point where we’re the team that is putting teams away early and not having to fight back for the win,” said forward Naz Hillmon, who had 15 points and eight rebounds against Minnesota. “Today that hurt us.”
–Field Level Media
