Since 2009, the Atlanta Dream has authored a playoff history that would make any other pro franchise in this city swell up like Warren Buffett’s portfolio.
For the sixth straight year, they are poised on the postseason’s doorstep, opening their first best-of-three series Friday at Philips Arena against the Chicago Sky. Three of the past four postseasons, the Dream has made it to the WNBA Finals.
Yet, there are clear signs that all rings as insufficient.
Neither of the two coaches who have taken the Dream to the Finals — Marynell Meadors and Fred Williams — is still on the bench. One got sideways with star Angel McCoughtry, the other was a caretaker until a larger personality could be hired.
And, the team has broken out a motto for the 2014 playoffs which suggests it feels a little incomplete, like a margarita without the salt. “Unfinished Business” is the rallying cry.
“We’re supposed to win it all,” said the Dream’s all-or-nothing first-year coach, the former Showtime Laker, Michael Cooper.
“We have the same nucleus that has been there over the years. They understand what to do with the new people around them. The new coaching staff understands what it takes to win.”
Just a month ago, Cooper had surgery for tongue cancer. He bears a long scar from ear to the base of his neck where surgeons removed numerous lymph nodes. The post-operative swelling gets aggravated when he tries to get loud during a game. “That’s when I know to calm down. It sort of helps me,” Cooper said.
Still, it is the postseason, and that means it is time for folks like Cooper to throw a switch. He, after all, won five titles with the Los Angeles Lakers as a player and two more with the WNBA’s L.A. Sparks as a coach. That kind of habit is hard to break.
Cancer be damned.
“I’m more excited (about the playoffs) as a coach,” he said. “Now I have to use my head as opposed to my physical ability. I’ve always loved this time of the season; the playoffs are what basketball’s all about.”
The playoffs have been a mixed blessing for the Dream. A seven-year-old franchise making it to six postseasons is a notable success story. Yet in three Finals, the Dream has yet to win a single game. They are entering the limbo reserved for the Buffalo Bills of the world.
This season, the Dream (19-15), while dealing with its coach’s cancer, lost five of its last seven games. They nonetheless finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference. As dangerous as it is to look beyond the present series, there is a question about the glass ceiling awaiting the Dream even if it does rise to the Finals again.
As in the NBA, the West is where the power teams live. Both Phoenix (29-5) and Minnesota (25-9) are the elites, driven by the two leading Most Valuable Player candidates, Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore.
“We can have success against those great teams,” Cooper insists. “You just have to not look at that individual; you look at them as a team and see what you can take away.
“The women’s game is not like the men’s game where a LeBron can score 50 and just will his team to win. I don’t think there is any one woman who can score 50 points and lead her team to a win if other people aren’t contributing. That’s how we look at it, by taking it as a team.”
Unlike last season, when Sancho Lyttle was lost to a fractured foot, the Dream will have their leading rebounder to start these playoffs.
And new general manager Angela Taylor said the team has recognized and acted upon the need to compliment the Dream’s own star, McCoughtry. “We needed to surround Angel with a lot of talent and depth to maybe take off some of that pressure she has felt in the past and to win as a team,” Taylor said. One of those key additions has been first-round draft pick Shoni Schimmel, the team’s assists leader.
The beginning of another postseason triggers in the Dream an almost Pavlovian yearning for a title, a reflex revulsion to anything less.
“Is it a failure if we don’t (win it all)? I’d hate to say it’s a failure. It would be a great disappointment based on the commitment everybody has made at every level,” Taylor said.
“That’s a lot of pressure, but you know what? I think this team was built for pressure. I think it can handle a lot of pressure,” said Cooper, a specialist on that subject.
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