Dream eye postseason push after win streak snapped
The Atlanta Dream entered Friday’s WNBA Canada Game in Vancouver with a chance to move within one victory of tying their longest winning streak in franchise history. Instead, the Seattle Storm snapped their own six-game skid, avenged Wednesday’s loss in Seattle and held on to the eighth spot in the standings with a win in a game that saw six lead changes and four ties.
The Dream’s six-game winning streak ended with the loss, their longest of the season. Still, head coach Karl Smesko and his team have a chance to bounce back and start a new run Sunday when they visit the Golden State Valkyries.
Despite Friday’s loss, the Atlanta Dream climbed back into second place overall and first in the Eastern Conference after the league-leading Minnesota Lynx beat the New York Liberty 86-80 on Saturday.
If the regular season ended Saturday, the Minnesota Lynx, the New York Liberty, the Atlanta Dream, the Phoenix Mercury, the Las Vegas Aces, the Golden State Valkyries, the Indiana Fever and the Seattle Storm would claim the eight playoff spots. The Los Angeles Sparks (16-17) trail the Storm by a half-game while the Washington Mystics (15-18) sit a game and a half back as they chase the final postseason spot.
If the postseason started Saturday, the Dream would open a best-of-three, first-round series at Gateway Center Arena against the Fever, a team they’ve split the regular-season series with. As the higher seed, the Dream would host games 1 and 3 in the projected series while the Fever would host Game 2.
A win against the Fever would line up the Dream for a best-of-five semifinals matchup against either the Lynx or the Storm. The Dream have split the season series with Minnesota heading into their final regular season meeting on Aug. 21. They also finished 2-2 against Seattle after Friday’s loss to the Storm in the WNBA Canada Game.
This year’s WNBA Finals marks the first time in WNBA history that it will be a best-of-seven series. Here are your potential first-round playoff matchups.
- No. 1 Minnesota Lynx (28-5) vs. No. 8 Seattle Storm (17-17)
- No. 2 Atlanta Dream (21-12) vs No. 7 Indiana Fever (18-16)
- No. 3 New York Liberty (21-13) vs. No. 6 Golden State Valkyries (18-15)
- No. 4 Phoenix Mercury (19-13) vs. No. 5 Las Vegas Aces (20-14)
What’s ahead for the Dream
The Dream will close their season series with the Valkyries on the road Sunday night, ending a six-game road trip. The stretch included Friday’s WNBA Canada Game in Vancouver, which counted as a Dream home game despite being played north of the border.
After Sunday’s game, the Atlanta Dream will continue their busiest month of the season. They will play four of their final five August games at Gateway Center Arena. However, four of those matchups come against top-five teams in the standings, including two against the league’s frontrunners, the Lynx and the Liberty.
- Tuesday — at Las Vegas
- Thursday — vs. Minnesota
- Aug. 23 — vs. New York
- Aug. 27 — vs. Las Vegas
- Aug. 29 — vs. Dallas
With 11 games left and the standings tightly packed, the Dream need to stay locked in for all 40 minutes, compete on both ends of the floor and get quality production from their bench. Although they struggled in Friday’s loss to Seattle, those factors will be critical as the regular season winds down and the playoff picture takes shape.
“…I think we’re starting to hit our stride,” Dream guard Jordin Canada said previously after the team’s win against the Lynx. “We’re starting to build that chemistry. We just have to be consistent in what we do. Take it game by game, day by day and make sure we’re doing the things that we need to do to improve as much as we can and get better.”
Griner agrees: “Everybody’s locked in and that’s what you need in the playoffs,” the 10-time All-Star previously said. “I’ve been around long enough where… anytime I’ve been on a championship team, there was always that one or two people (off bench) that you know came through big for us. (These are) little stepping stools to get ready for (WNBA) playoffs.”
