Last week, Dream coach Michael Cooper said his team was a tough matchup for the Los Angeles Sparks. History supported his statement; Friday night’s result did not.
The Sparks used a 16-2 second quarter run to push ahead of the Dream, and hang on to win 85-76 at McCamish Pavilion. It was Atlanta’s second straight loss of the homestand after suffering through a 1-4 road trip.
“I was proud of our team tonight,” Cooper said. “They got back into the game … We still had that ‘never say die’ attitude. But when you’re going against the champions, you have to have that from the start of the game all the way to the end of the game.”
Los Angeles, meanwhile, has won seven in a row and avenged its 75-73 loss to Atlanta on May 27. It had lost four of the last five against Atlanta.
The rubber match will be Sept. 1 at Staples Center.
Atlanta matched L.A. pound-for-pound in the first, reflecting the energy and speed of the defending champs. But after a 23-23 draw, the Sparks erupted.
The Dream scored two points in the first 7:40 of the second period. The team caught fire in the final two minutes, scoring nine points and trimming its halftime deficit to 44-36.
L.A. added 27 in the third to pull away. Atlanta couldn’t keep pace offensively. The Dream shot 3-for-10 from behind the arc and 11-for-20 on free throws.
The stats didn’t support a blowout. The Sparks turned it over more (19-15), only slightly outrebounded Atlanta (33-29) and were out-scored 34-24 in the paint.
But the biggest difference: The Dream didn’t have Candace Parker. Parker led all scorers with 21 and added 15 rebounds and five assists.
“She really had her fingerprints on this game,” Cooper said. “She was looking to score. She was looking to get other people scoring. And she rebounded the ball well.”
The Dream rallied late in the fourth, entering the quarter down 71-54 and losing by only nine.
“Even though we’re 5-7, it’s a long way before the season is over with,” Cooper said. “Right now we have to manufacture a win, and in order to do that we have to get better defensively and I thought we were fantastic running the things we’re stressing this year … We’re going to get better.”
Cooper said Atlanta’s point guard play has been “shaky” and the team is lacking fundamentals. Though he praised his team’s ball movement and aggressiveness in attacking the basket. He wants to see his players take more contact, a flaw he also acknowledged after their last loss against Chicago June 23.
“We just have a mindset of coming in and doing what we have to do to have a quick start to the game,” said forward Tiffany Hayes, who led the Dream with 18 points. “Because we tend to get down a lot. Our efforts were there, but we just came up short. We’re good at just forgetting about it, moving on to the next game. So that’s what we’re going to do.”
Atlanta’s homestand continues Sunday when it rematches the New York Liberty. The Liberty upended the Dream 76-61 three weeks ago in Madison Square Garden.
