Dream lose to Fever in a rough game

Atlanta was cruising early against Indiana at Philips Arena on Sunday. Led by Angel McCoughtry, the Dream had a nine-point lead and seemed on the verge of  blowing out their second consecutive opponent.

But then the Dream’s defense fell apart, the Fever put the clamps on McCoughtry and the depth of their bench allowed them to pull away for a 78-62 win. It was the second time in three games that the Dream were beaten by Indiana.

“We just failed to play defense,” coach Marynell Meadors said. “Indiana’s a great team, they are championship-quality team, but when they play they hold, they set good screens, they set hard screens, and we gave in to them. Simple as that, we just gave in to them.”

That toughness was evident through Indiana’s roster. Starters Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas combined to score 41 points and the Fever’s bench, led by Jessica Davenport, outscored the Dream’s 27-2. Instead of stepping forward to answer Indiana’s challenges, which is what Meadors wanted to see, the Dream argued with the officials. They were whistled for two technical fouls arguing calls. Meadors was called for one in the third quarter and Yelena Leuchanka was called for another deep in the fourth.

“We’ve got to be much better against the tougher teams,” said McCoughtry, who strained a muscle just before the end of the first half when she stepped on another player's foot and ended up doing a split. She said the strain affected her in the second half but that she would be OK. The Dream host Phoenix on Thursday.

The result was much different for McCoughtry than in Friday’s easy 26-point victory over New York in which she scored 23 points in three quarters. After opening the game with 11, she scored just 10 more and declined to comment on what adjustments Indiana might have made in the final three quarters.

Meadors said McCoughtry’s scoring was affected by the team’s lack of spacing on offense. While the Fever were sending two to three players at her, her teammates were either not taking advantage of the space left behind, or they were missing shots.

“They just made things happen and we didn’t,” Meadors said.

The team tied a franchise low with 7 assists and it set a franchise low with just 45 field goal attempts.

Trailing by 14 in the fourth quarter, the Dream cut the lead to seven on two McCoughtry free throws with 4:10 left.

And then the Dream caught two bad breaks and made a bad play that stopped their momentum.

Three Dream players were in a position to grab a defensive rebound, but the ball bounced off one of their legs and went backward to Davenport. She picked it up near the basket and hit the layup to give Indiana a nine-point lead with 3:47 left.