Indiana has home-court advantage against the Dream in the WNBA Eastern Conference finals.
That might be where the obvious edges end for the Fever, and not just because they lost all four regular-season games to the Dream.
The Dream won nine of their last 11 games and then was stout on defense and balanced on offense while sweeping Connecticut in the first round — the Dream were the only team in the league to record a sweep. Top-seed Indiana needed three games to eliminate New York after sputtering to losses in six of their last 10 regular-season games.
The Dream are rolling into the best-of-three series that starts Thursday at Indiana. They are looking to advance to the Finals for the second consecutive season.
“Last year we were in uncharted territory,” Dream coach Marynell Meadors said. “This year we know what it’s all about. We went all the way to the Finals, and we know what we have to do to get there. We may or may not get there, but we are going to try to give it everything we’ve got.”
The Fever are much more experienced than Connecticut. Indiana starters Katie Douglas, Tamika Catchings and Tangela Smith all have played at least 10 years in the WNBA.
But two of Indiana’s four home losses were against the Dream. The Fever were the East’s top defensive team during the regular season, but the Dream, the East’s leader in points, scored higher than their season average against Indiana.
The Dream expect a tougher test from Indiana in the postseason.
“This is a different thing,” Dream forward Sancho Lyttle said. “That was win to get into the playoffs; this is win or pack your bags. They are going to come out different. We’ve got to not underestimate anybody.”
Dream All-Star forward Angel McCoughtry averaged nearly 24 points against Indiana during the regular season. Connecticut held her to 14 points and 27 percent shooting in two games, well below her season marks of 21.6 points and 42 percent.
McCoughtry was plagued by foul trouble and periods of passive play and at times seemed bothered by Connecticut’s physical defense. Meadors said “the officials have got to try to jump on that and not let it get too physical” and also added some new wrinkles to the offense to account for the attention drawn by McCoughtry.
“We don’t really care who shoots it, who rebounds it, who steals it, who defends it,” Meadors said. “We just work together as a team. I think over the last 17 or 18 games I’ve seen us come together as a group. Our chemistry is just absolutely awesome right now.”
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