Returning from a lackluster road trip and hosting the slumping Chicago Sky, the Atlanta Dream needed some home cooking on its annual Pride Night.
It didn’t get it.
The Dream’s offense couldn’t keep pace in an 82-78 loss Friday night at McCamish Pavilion. Atlanta (5-6) has lost five of its last six games.
“Tough game to lose,” Dream coach Michael Cooper said. “But you know what, we played hard … We did an OK job at rebounding, we did a bad job of covering and getting out to those three-point shooters of theirs. And I thought we had a lot of opportunities to score that we didn’t take advantage of.”
After a 41-41 first-half stalemate, Chicago (3-9) added another 41 in the second half. It out-scored Atlanta 19-12 in the third, which became the difference.
The Dream and Sky have developed an even-keeled rivalry. The Sky eliminated the Dream in last year’s postseason, a game in which Chicago set a record for most points in the first quarter (37).
The teams split their previous two matchups in May, with each winning on the opposition’s home court. The Dream won the first 91-83. Chicago got revenge two days later, 75-71.
Since trading Elena Delle Donne in the offseason, the Sky hasn’t been able to replicate last year’s success. But two of Chicago’s three wins this season came over the Dream. It lost seven of eight prior to Friday. Cooper acknowledged the Sky is a bad matchup for Atlanta.
“This team is a tough team for us to play,” Cooper said. “You always have those matchups that are tough for you. Luckily, we’re a tough matchup for the Sparks (Atlanta’s next opponent).”
Atlanta opened on a 12-3 run. It was playing fast and delivering crisp passes.
"We started off really strong," said Dream center Elizabeth Williams, who scored a team-leading 20 points on her 24th birthday. "Defensively, we were controlling the game, controlling the tempo. And then later on they started to get a lot of transition buckets … I think our consistency is kind of what hurt us today."
The Dream tailed off from there. Chicago pulled even at 26 with 5:21 left in the second quarter, and the teams went into half tied at 41. The Sky started the third quarter on a 6-0 burst, eventually pushing its advantage to 60-53 before the final stanza.
Cooper said his team hasn’t been up to par in its transition defense and gave Chicago too many second chances. He was concerned that his team gets hesitant when it falls behind, as it did in the third.
“When you don’t play defense, and you’re not hitting shots, that calls for double trouble,” he said. “I thought they did a good job of putting the pressure on us in transition action. We didn’t get back to cover that well enough.”
Even though Atlanta was only out-rebounded 39-38, Williams said they were the Dream’s downfall.
“That was something we wanted to focus on,” she said. “Because last game we played against them, the rebounds are what hurt us as well. Especially the long rebounds because they were shooting a lot of long shots. Those are the rebounds we really need to snag.”
The Dream started the season 4-2, but a 1-4 road trip dropped it to the middle of the East. Atlanta will try to recover .500 position next Friday when it hosts Los Angeles.
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