The Dream used a dominant third quarter to pull away from the Wings in a 98-78 win on Sunday at McCamish Pavilion.
All five Atlanta starters finished with at least 13 points and after an impressive first quarter from Dallas’ Skylar Diggins-Smith, Brittney Sykes and Layshia Clarendon slowed down Dallas’ star points guard.
“It was a very good win for us,” Dream coach Michael Cooper said. “It’s a really nice feeling to feel like you’ve got your team together. I think we’ve got a nice little groove going to go on the road and do some special things next road trip.”
The victory moves the Dream to 8-8 with three wins in the last four games. Atlanta will head to Phoenix to play the Mercury on Wednesday
Clarendon finished with 16 points and eight assists in the game while leading the Dream’s offense to a season-high 98 points.
“Clarendon was a real big key for us today and going forward,” Cooper said. “It’s her leadership as far as getting us into things and getting us good shots and then being offensive-minded herself. She’s starting to get a flow in how we want her to score … the pick-and-roll action works well for her.”
In addition to her work on offense, Clarendon helped hold Diggins-Smith to just nine points and one free throw attempt after her 13-point, 10-free-throw attempt first quarter.
“I think our post kind of hedged out a little more and helped us from her turning the corner,” Clarendon said about slowing Diggins-Smith. “And I think we did a better job at scouting her and remembering she’s left-handed … so sit on her left hand a little more. Because sometimes she came down the left side in the first half and went straight to the basket, so we cleaned up that too.”
In the third quarter, Atlanta finally pushed the pace to an up-and-down speed that it prefers while going on a 22-5 run. Avoiding the foul problems of the first half, the Dream’s defense completely stifled Dallas, holding it to a 10-point quarter.
Atlanta made 4-of-5 3-pointers in the period, including a deep shot from Sykes off the backboard in the final seconds. The Wings shot just 16.7 percent from the field, allowing the Dream to open up a 17-point lead heading to the fourth.
“We just stopped fouling,” Clarendon said about the third-quarter improvement. “You could see they weren’t making layups. They weren’t making those in the first half, but they were making the free throws, so we just stopped fouling. And once we got stops, we could get out and run and get easy buckets.”
Sykes opened the game making just two of her first eight field goals, but after a crowd-raising block on Diggins-Smith in the third quarter, her offense suddenly came alive and helped Atlanta’s huge run. She made four consecutive 3-pointers, giving her a 12-point quarter.
“She was forcing it,” Cooper said. “I told her when you’re struggling offensively, you trash that and think about your defense. And it so happens, that the big block that she had on Diggins started her offensive rise.”
With Atlanta leading by as many as 19 early in the final quarter, the Wings failed to chip away at the lead in the late going. They cut it to 12 points multiple times, but Tiffany Hayes wouldn’t allow it to get any closer.
With the shot clock winding down and just more than four minutes remaining, Hayes hit a deep jump shot to make it a 15-point game. On the next possession down, she knocked down a 3-pointer to match Dallas’. After a turnover from Diggins-Smith, Hayes faked a defender and dished a no-look pass to Bria Holmes for a basket that gave the Dream a 90-73 lead with three minutes left.
Atlanta held the Wings to just 6 field goals on 17 attempts in the first quarter, but Diggins-Smith relentlessly got to the free-throw line. She made nine of Dallas’ 10 free throws in the period while scoring 13 points and adding two assists. The Dream shot 43 percent and carried a 25-23 lead in to the second quarter.
Dallas continued to get to free-throw line while scoring 28 points in the second quarter, but Atlanta shot 56 percent from the field and matched the Wings’ 28 points. There were a combined 45 free throws and 32 fouls in a choppy first half that included four separate official reviews for hostile acts. Clarendon had 12 points and four assists, helping the Dream to a 53-51 lead.
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