Atlanta Dream 75 – Los Angeles 73
Box Score: http://www.wnba.com/game/20170527lasatl/
Atlanta Dream Notes
- Season-high 11 total steals (Layshia Clarendon 3, Sancho Lyttle 3)
- Four players in double-figures (Tiffany Hayes 24, Bria Holmes 11, Sancho Lyttle 11 & Elizabeth Williams 10)
- Tiffany Hayes with a team-high 24 points
- Layshia Clarendon with a career-high 12 assists
- Dream outscored Sparks 44-22 points in the paint
- Fastbreak points: 15
- Biggest Lead: 8 pts
Los Angeles Notes
- Chelsea Gray finished with a career-high 25 points
- Sparks recorded 3 technical fouls
- Fastbreak points: 6
- Biggest Lead: 5 pts
Atlanta Dream Quotes
Coach Cooper
On the defense:
“This is the first time I’ve ever been coaching where we got three shot clock violations in a row, so that tells you that we have to rely a lot on our defense.”
On Candace Parker’s six points:
“I would like to think our defense had something to do with that, but you’d have to ask (Parker).”
On points in the paint:
“We have three legitimate bigs that can get it done down (in the paint), and we’ve got guards that can get to the basket.”
Tiffany Hayes
On the win:
“It was a great win. I really appreciate my teammates and how we all stuck together until the end.”
On preparing for LA:
“They lace up their sneakers just like we lace up ours, so we just stuck to our game plan and went into the game and handled our business.”
On her 24 points:
“I just finished the shots I was supposed to finish. My teammates were finding the open the player, if it was me I was knocking it down.”
On defense in the second half:
“You know a team like that is not just going to lay down and die, so we had to come out with a mindset of defense first.”
Elizabeth Williams
On the gameplan for Nneka and Candace:
“To harass them all game. We did a good job of attacking Nneka and keeping her out of the game, and Candace feeds off her, so it was good that she wasn’t playing as much.”
On the energy in the fourth quarter:
“It was great today. The difference between today and the Chicago game is that when Chicago went on their runs we didn’t really bounce back, but today we stayed really poised and got our own run back and stayed consistent in the end.”
Los Angeles Sparks Quotes
Coach Agler
On biggest take away from game & road losses so far:
“We have to get better. Our expectations are not high. We’re not going to make any excuses.”
On Odysessy Sims and difference that she will make for team:
“She’s a great player. My main focus is on the team, our roster, this moment at this time, it’s not here. We have to figure out how we can play better with this group.”
Nneka Ogwumike
On Atlanta attacking:
“I think we had good moments at times but we also lost control. We need to be sharper.”
On Chelsea Gray:
“Chelsea comes in and she sets the tempo. She’s very mature.”
Jantel Lavender
On Tiffany Hayes:
“She’s aggressive. She’s great. We didn’t open up and didn’t send enough bodies at her. Clearly it was her night.”
On a tough third quarter:
“I think if you put that out in the air (that we have terrible third quarters), it’s kind of in the back of your mind. Just forget it, play a new game. Just play our strengths.”