It started when Dream star forward Angel McCoughtry suffered a knee injury during training camp.
Later casualties would include forward Sancho Lyttle’s back, point guard Shalee Lehning’s knee and center Erika de Souza’s ankle. Key Dream players always seemed to be out of the lineup or hobbled when they played.
The Dream started the season 3-9 and looked as if they may not get the chance to defend their Eastern Conference title in the postseason.
“We have major players, starters, that are injured and one gets back and another gets injured. It’s frustrating,” Dream point guard Lindsey Harding said.
Such disappointments are in the past for the Dream. They will be healthy and confident when they open a best-of-three semifinal series at second-seeded Connecticut on Friday.
The Dream finished the season as the hottest team in the East with victories in four consecutive games and 12 of their past 15.
“Everybody has their season, [and] I feel like this is our season,” McCoughtry said. “I feel it. I can’t explain it. I just feel good. I feel like we are going to go in there and play hard and do what we can do.”
It looks as if the Dream have a chance to make return to the WNBA Finals. During their 12-3 finish they were 2-1 against Connecticut — fading late on the road in the loss — and beat No. 1 seed Indiana three times.
“We have had to adjust, but this team has been very good about adjusting to emotional ups and downs,” Dream coach Marynell Meadors said. “We are going to go in there with the mindset that we are going to win the game.”
McCoughtry again will lead the way for the Dream. She finished second in the league with 21.6 points per game and earned her first All-Star berth after being named Rookie of the Year last season.
McCoughtry said her knee didn’t feel right until around the time of the July 23 All-Star game. On top of that, her desire to get her teammates involved wasn’t working because of all the lineup shuffling.
“I had my first real major injury,” McCoughtry said. “I think it changed when everybody was kind of together [in the lineup]. It was too much in and out. Once everyone got together and started playing, we got used to each other, and down the stretch we jelled at the right time.
“What I kept telling everybody was just look at it like we got losing out of the way early.”
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