Sports

Record-setting Dream take aim at Aces in marquee showdown

Atlanta has won 9 of its last 11 and Las Vegas rides an 11-game winning streak into a battle between 2 of the league’s hottest teams.
Allisha Gray and the Dream got to celebrate a win over the Liberty on Saturday for their ninth victory in their last 11 games. Atlanta hosts the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday at Gateway Center Arena. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
Allisha Gray and the Dream got to celebrate a win over the Liberty on Saturday for their ninth victory in their last 11 games. Atlanta hosts the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday at Gateway Center Arena. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
By Wilton Jackson – For The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
3 hours ago

Coach Karl Smesko and the Dream are charting new territory.

With the regular season winding down, the team documented a new chapter in the history books. On Saturday, they set a franchise record for regular-season victories, beating the New York Liberty 78-62 at Gateway Center Arena.

The win pushed the Dream past their previous high-water mark of 23 victories, set in 2018 when the franchise went on to reach the conference finals.

For Smesko, the milestone carried personal significance. The former Florida Gulf Coast architect now owns the third-most wins by a first-year head coach in WNBA history.

True to form, the calm and collected coach downplayed the number but acknowledged he sensed this group could be special.

“In the beginning of the year, I thought we could be a really good team and a team that could compete for a championship,” Smesko said after the Dream’s win against the Liberty on Saturday. “How many wins that would turn out to be? It’s hard to say because in this league, it’s hard to know who’s even going to be playing. Getting everybody healthy throughout the whole season isn’t easy. I thought, if healthy, we had a team that could compete with anybody.”

Health has hardly been guaranteed. The Dream have weathered injuries all season, including the ongoing absence of starting point guard Jordin Canada.

Still, the Dream have surged into second place in the WNBA standings, winning nine of their past 11 games. This season they’ve beaten Minnesota, New York, Phoenix, Seattle, Golden State and Indiana at least twice each, all playoff-caliber opponents.

One test remains unsolved: Las Vegas. The Dream are 0-2 against the Aces this season, including a 74-72 loss at home Aug. 19. They’ll get another shot Wednesday in what shapes up as one of the league’s marquee regular-season matchups.

The Aces ride into Atlanta on an 11-game win streak, the WNBA’s longest since Connecticut’s 14 consecutive in 2021. Three-time MVP A’ja Wilson has fueled the run with staggering numbers, notching 26.2 points, 12.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.8 blocks per game during the stretch and has vaulted to the front as a contender in this year’s MVP race.

Stopping Wilson is priority No. 1, but Smesko knows the challenge goes beyond one superstar.

“A’ja has been amazing, but she’s also not their only weapon,” Smesko said after the Dream’s morning shootaround Tuesday. “They’ve got good players that surround her. That’s what makes it so tough. And, A’ja isn’t selfish. If you overcommit to her, she’s willing to be a passer and a facilitator.”

If the regular season ended Tuesday, the Lynx, Dream, Aces, Mercury, Liberty, Storm, Valkyries and Fever, in that order, would claim the eight playoff spots. The Sparks (17-18) trail the Fever by a game while the Mystics (16-22) — losers of four consecutive contests — sit three and a half games back as they chase the final postseason spot.

If the postseason started Tuesday, the Dream would kick off a best-of-three first-round series at Gateway Center Arena against the Valkyries, a team they’ve defeated in two of three regular season contests. As the higher seed, the Dream would host Games 1 and 3 in the projected series while the Valkyries would host Game 2 in “Ballhalla,” as the Chase Center in San Francisco is known when the Valkyries play there.

A win against the Valkyries would set up the Dream for a best-of-five semifinals matchup against either the Lynx or Fever. The Dream registered two wins in their three games against the Lynx this season and split the season series against the Fever.

This year’s WNBA Finals marks the first time that it will be a best-of-seven series.

After Wednesday’s game, the Dream will play four of their final six games at Gateway Center Arena. Of their remaining half dozen games, only two games — both against the Sparks — come against teams vying for the eighth and final seed in the WNBA postseason landscape.

The Dream won’t see another playoff-bound opponent in the regular season, but Smesko isn’t easing off the gas. The first-year coach said he wants the Dream to protect their home floor down the stretch, treating every remaining game as part of the process of positioning the franchise for a deep postseason run.

“We’re competing to try to get the highest seed in the (WNBA) playoffs we can possibly get,” Smesko said. “The more teams you can have home-court advantage on, I think it does make a difference. Everybody tends to play a little better at home.”

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Wilton Jackson

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