Dream lose playoff opener to Chicago

The Dream’s limping finish to the regular season continued in their first game of the playoffs.

Atlanta gave away its home-court advantage with an 80-77 loss to Chicago in the best-of-three opening series at Philips Arena on Friday. The teams will play Game 2 on Sunday in Chicago, where Atlanta is 0-2 this year. If necessary – and Atlanta coach Michael Cooper said it will be — Game 3 will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Philips Arena.

“The pressure switches to them more than us because they will try to close us out on Sunday,” Cooper said.

Atlanta (19-16) lost six of its final eight games, including a horrendous effort in the regular-season finale. The lethargy continued on Friday as two of the things the Dream led the WNBA in during the regular season, rebounding and fast-break points, failed them.

Chicago (16-19) gained a 35-34 edge in rebounding, which limited the Dream to two fast-break points in six chances.

“Key areas we wanted to keep in check and I thought we did a good job and we married that with a W,” Chicago coach Pokey Chatman said.

Three of Atlanta’s starters struggled to score. Angel McCoughtry scored 24 points, but missed a possible game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds after the play that was called by Cooper dissolved. Erika de Souza added 12. The Dream’s other three starters, Sancho Lyttle, Tiffany Hayes and Celine Dumerc, combined to score 20 points on 9-of-27 shooting. Lyttle missed 12 of her 15 attempts.

Chicago’s starters had no such trouble. Elena Delle Donne led her team with 21 points as all five starters scored at least 12 points. Courtney Vandersloot, who hit the open game-winner with 20.9 seconds left, added 13. The decisive shot came on a pick-and-roll that Shoni Schimmel couldn’t fight through.

“There are some things defensively we can do better,” Cooper said.

Atlanta had a chance to blow open the game in the second quarter after taking a 12-point lead. But then Cooper said the Dream lost their patience on offense, while Chatman said her team began to find its patience. As a result, Chicago closed the half with a 13-2 run that cut Atlanta’s lead to 37-36 at the half.

Atlanta’s frontcourt players started to get into foul trouble in the third quarter. De Souza picked up her fourth with 5:04 remaining while battling for position in the post. Lyttle picked up her third foul with 4:31 left on a blocking call near the 3-point line and the game tied at 46.

Still, neither team could pull away from the other in the third as Atlanta maintained a one-point lead, 58-57, going into the fourth quarter.