The Atlanta Dream and Chicago Sky would love to put closure on their struggles to execute in crunch time.
Both teams are coming off frustrating finishes against top opponents entering Tuesday’s meeting in Atlanta.
The Dream (7-10) squandered a 16-point first-half lead at New York and surrendered the first 10 points of the fourth quarter in an eventual 81-75 road loss to the Liberty on Sunday.
Chicago (6-11) struggled to 2-for-23 shooting — and just five points — in the fourth quarter of a 70-62 home loss to the Minnesota Lynx later that afternoon.
Atlanta worked to stay afloat without injured starter Rhyne Howard (ankle) and top reserve Aerial Powers (calf).
The Dream’s Allisha Gray led all scorers with 24 points on 8-for-13 shooting. Tina Charles posted a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus added 12 points.
“At some point, we’ll be able to put it all together, hopefully when we have everyone back full force,” Dream coach Tanisha Wright said. “Tonight, our crew played hard. They got fatigued. When you get fatigued, it’s hard to push through and do the things you’re supposed to do because you let fatigue take over. I don’t fault them for that.”
Chicago surged ahead of the Lynx by nine points on Chennedy Carter’s jumper with 2:58 remaining in the third quarter.
Minnesota outscored the Sky 28-11 the rest of the way.
“I feel like we went away from what was working,” Carter said. “I feel like the ball was moving. Everybody was in flow. Everybody — from 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. As the game went on, people started to get out of the flow, and we can’t have that. We’ve got to have everybody on the same page, everybody feeling good, everybody taking the right shots at the right time.”
Sky rookie Angel Reese set a WNBA single-season record by notching a double-double in her 10th consecutive game. Reese had 10 points and 16 rebounds.
Carter (15 points), Lindsay Allen (13) and Marina Mabrey (11) also scored in double figures.
Tuesday marks the beginning of a three-game road trip for Chicago.
–Field Level Media
