Few athletes are strangers to the words, "You play like you practice." For the Dream, that doesn’t ring true.
“Everyone knows that we can play together and do well; we did that last year,” center Erika de Souza said. “We do well in practices, but we really have to improve how we play in our games.”
The Dream have won just one of their first six games this season, an unlikely statistic considering last season culminated in a WNBA finals appearance. The Dream’s next test comes at noon Tuesday against the Chicago Sky.
“For whatever reason -- and we could probably come up with a million of them -- we’re not doing what we do,” coach Marynell Meadors said. “We have to get back to playing our brand of basketball.”
Last season, Angel McCoughtry averaged more than 21 points per game for the Dream, and Sancho Lyttle grabbed nearly 10 rebounds an outing.
Although McCoughtry and Lyttle remain on the roster, they haven't been the same players because of injury and other pursuits. McCoughtry was sidelined for the season opener with a sprained left knee and played limited minutes on June 9 against Washington. Lyttle will miss the Dream’s next four games to compete with Spain in Eurobasket Women 2011.
The changing roster, paired with the team’s rigorous schedule, has left the Dream with little time to develop chemistry.
“Anytime you’re on the road for eight days, it takes something out of you,” Meadors said. “We tried to rest them when we could, but when you rest them then you lose what you do in practice.”
After losing to the Lynx on Friday night in Minnesota, the Dream were unable to make the necessary adjustments and fell to the same team again when it came to Philips Arena on Sunday.
At Monday’s practice, however, the team showed no signs of fatigue. Energy and enthusiasm were evident. The Dream will try to carry it over to the games.
“Last year, this team was one of the hardest-working teams in the league, and we need to get back to that,” said the Dream's Lindsey Harding, who scored a team-high 14 points against the Lynx. “Today’s practice was just about working beyond and pushing every limit.”
“I think we all are frustrated because you want to win, and that’s all you know,” Harding said. “But winning doesn’t come easy, and we know that.”
The Dream’s first two losses of the season came in overtime, and all of their losses have been decided by fewer than 15 points.
“Every single one of our players is so competitive that it really eats away at them when they are not successful,” Meadors said.
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