Happy birthday coach, the Dream sweeps playoff series 2-0

By Pierce W. Huff

For the AJC

Dream coach Marynell Meadors had a special 67th birthday Friday. Meadors got a red-velvet cake and her players sang “Happy Birthday” after a team shootaround in the morning.

But the present Meadors most enjoyed from her players came later in the evening, when the Dream swept the Washington Mystics in their best-of-three WNBA playoff series to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in team history.

The fourth-seeded Dream, who in the series rediscovered their early-season intensity on defense, had a 24-0 run in a 33-7 second quarter and defeated the top-seeded Mystics 101-77 in Game 2 at Philips Arena.

“This was by far the best birthday I’ve ever had as a professional coach,” Meadors said.

The game marked the first time since 2004 that a No. 4 seed has upset a No. 1 seed in the conference division of the WNBA playoffs.

The Dream will play the winner of the New York-Indiana series, which resumes Sunday at No. 3 Indiana. New York, the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, leads the series 1-0.

“I don’t care who we play next,” Meadors said.

The Mystics (22-14), who finished the regular season with a six-game winning streak, have a 4-12 all-time playoff record.

The Dream was led by Angel McCoughtry and Iziane Castro Marques, who each scored 21 points. Sancho Lyttle scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds.

The Dream (21-15) swept the series because of an ability to make defensive adjustments, which caught the Mystics off guard and slowed down their offense.

The Dream started Friday’s game with the four-guard lineup of Coco Miller, Armintie Price, Castro Marques and McCoughtry along with power-forward Lyttle at center, which powered them to a Game 1 victory. The Mystics countered with one change in its lineup. Backup forward Nakia Sanford started in place of center Chasity Melvin.

The Mystics used their height advantage against the four-guard lineup to start the game with a 9-0 run as the Dream missed their first four shots from the field and had two turnovers.

But then the Dream stayed in the 2-3 zone they used at the beginning of the game, and eventually the strategy paid dividends. The result was a 17-12 spurt, which ended when Price made a layup with one-tenth of a second on the game clock to make the score 21-17.

“I thought the zone was very effective,” Meadors said. “It made them rush their shots.”

Then, came the second quarter and 24-0 run.

A jump shot by backup center Alison Bales gave the Dream a 26-21 lead with 7:46 remaining in the first half. Bales made the score 34-21 when she made a layup with 5:05 left. Castro Marques scored the final point of the run when she made a free throw to make the score 41-21 with 2:58 remaining.

“We just came out very aggressive,” Castro Marques said. “We played with the urgency that the game needed us to play.”