The Atlanta Dream held their own for the opening two quarters of their game against the undefeated Minnesota Lynx. The only problem was Atlanta’s luck ran out once the second half began.
The Dream (6-3) fell to the Lynx (9-0) 110-78 after trading barbs with the defending champions in the first 20 minutes of action. After trailing by only one at the start of the third quarter, Atlanta couldn’t keep up and was outscored 64-35 in the third and fourth quarters. Minnesota’s 110 points was the most Atlanta has ever given up in regulation.
“There’s no way a team should come in our home gym and score 100 points,” said Angel McCoughtry, who had 22 points in the loss. “That’s unacceptable.”
Tiffany Hayes led Atlanta in scoring with 23 points. The loss gives the Dream a two-game losing streak as well as a four-game losing streak to the Lynx.
The Dream lost their way in the third quarter, as they were outscored 32-18 due in part to Minnesota’s Maya Moore returning to form. After a pedestrian first half, the Suwanee native came alive in the third quarter, scoring eight points to help the Lynx put the game out of reach. She ended the outing with 19 points.
Both teams provided very little breathing room through the first half of play. Minnesota edged out Atlanta 22-21 in the opening quarter then used a late push in the second period to lead 46-45 at the half.
“We were up 7 on the boards [at half], and they came back and rectified that,” Dream head coach Michael Cooper said. “As Pat Riley used to say, ‘No rebounds, no rings.’ When they started rebounding, they started running and started making things happen. This is the first time this year I saw us quit a little bit.”
The Dream kept it close to start the game due to rebounding as well as their ability to draw fouls at will. Atlanta got Minnesota in foul trouble early and ended the opening half of play with 27 free-throw attempts. The Dream’s players didn’t waste those shots, hitting 21 of them.
But the free-throw frenzy ended for Atlanta when the teams vacated the court at half. The Dream managed only 10 free-throw attempts in the final 20 minutes of play.
While the loss stands as the second-worst defeat in franchise history, Cooper explained the defeat should not cause anyone on the team to panic.
“It’s early in the season, so we have a chance to right our ship,” Cooper said. “This is a loss that hopefully we can absorb. We have to come back and play well against Connecticut on Sunday.”
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