Before I head into this week’s Bowman Beat, here’s a quick review of Atlanta’s chances for a playoff spot as the Dream come down to the last week of regular season play.

It’s very simple.  The Dream has three games to play and has to win them all.  The Mystics have three games remaining and have to lose them all.  If that happens, Atlanta takes fourth place.  If it doesn’t, it’s wait until next season.  Now, on with the show!

 

New York Liberty 80, Atlanta Dream 75 (OT)

The Dream’s chances were significantly better before they wandered into Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night to take on the Eastern Conference-leading New York Liberty.  After losing three of their previous four matchups, the Dream hoped the fifth time would be the charm.

It was yet another game where head coach Michael Cooper made the decision not to start Angel McCoughtry.  She didn’t show up until there was 4:42 left in the first quarter, but the Dream were doing well enough without her as four early turnovers by the Liberty put Atlanta up 10-6.   The Liberty regained the lead, but McCoughtry’s nine first quarter points off the bench and Atlanta’s frequent changing of defensive looks helped put the Dream up narrowly 21-18 at the end of the period.  Both teams were shooting 50 percent or better, and this game was going to be a struggle for each team from beginning to end.

The two teams kept swapping leads in the second, each hoping for a breakout run.  Atlanta found itself over the limit with 3:53 left in the first half but McCoughtry was still scoring and would finish the first half with 17 points.  The Liberty finished the first half strong, despite five first-half assists from Tiffany Hayes.  With the score tied 33-33, the Liberty found the first run – an 8-0 burst of scoring as the half finished up with Epiphanny Prince capping the run on a pair of free throws giving New York a 41-33 lead with 1:14 to go.  New York would go 0-for-3, however, in their remaining first half shots and the Dream closed to 41-37 as both teams went into the halftime break.

In the third quarter, it was Shoni Schimmel’s turn to give the Dream its first run.  Down 43-37, Atlanta would go on a 14-0 run sparked with back-to-back triples from Shoni Schimmel.  Schimmel and Hayes would divvy up nine and five points from that run respectively and put the Dream on top 51-43 with 5:51 to go.  Of course, the Liberty would have to answer back and hold the Dream to just five points over the remainder of the period.  Atlanta suddenly felt a chill and New York got scoring from everyone, with Sugar Rogers scoring five points late in the quarter.  The Dream had once led by 10 points, but after thirty minutes they were barely holding on to a 56-54 lead against a team with a reputation for finishing strong and with Hayes and Sancho Lyttle each with four fouls.

Could the Dream knock the Liberty off the throne?  Each team put the defensive pressure on, and New York was held to just 23.5 percent shooting.  The Dream didn’t shoot much better, and Prince would hit a triple with 2:35 to go to tie the game at 67-67.  Atlanta would commit two more turnovers in the final quarter but New York couldn’t figure out what to do with them.  Shoni Schimmel would have the Dream’s final possession, but missed a step-back jumper with 11.9 seconds left.  On the other end, New York came across the half-court line too late and Prince’s jumper fell short.  The game would go into overtime.

Overtime would be a different story.  New York would take the lead on a hook shot from Tina Charles in the Liberty’s first possession and the Dream would always be just within reach but never catch up.  There was a ray of hope when Charles missed a pair of free throws and Matee Ajavon drove to the basket to close the Dream to 76-75 with 24.4 seconds left.  Unfortunately, the Dream would need the Liberty to miss free throws.  Tanisha Wright would hit four free throws, and Schimmel would miss a 3-point attempt that might have tied the game, and Atlanta went home with no regular season wins at Madison Square Garden this season.

McCoughtry led the Dream off the bench with 25 points.  Schimmel would score 13 points but go 2-for-9 from 3-point range.  Hayes would finish with 15 points and six assists and Henry would have seven points and nine rebounds starting in place of McCoughtry.

Rogers would have a career-high game for the Liberty, hitting five 3-pointers on her way to 23 points off the bench.  Tina Charles would score 17 points and Kiah Stokes would put on a defensive show with 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots.

Bill Laimbeer on Sugar Rodgers’s performance:  “It showed me that hard work pays off. I told her after the game in front of everybody that the work she has done in the gym (night and day) for the last ten days has paid off. I sat her down previously and told her, she wasn’t working hard enough and that her minutes were going to someone else because of it. She is at the gym at 10:30 at night now working on her game…that was a great performance and everyone in the room was happy for her.”

Michael Cooper on the Liberty’s 15 second-chance points:  “One thing that Pat Riley used to tell us in our hay day back in Showtime was “No rebounds, no rings!” because if you don’t rebound against a team like this than you’re not giving yourself a chance to win, and you have to box out because you prevent them from getting the second efforts.”

Atlanta Dream 73, Washington Mystics 67

This was an important game for Atlanta, and Atlanta started it on the attack.  The Dream went up 7-2 on a pair of offensive rebounds by Henry and Lyttle, and Washington head coach Mike Thibault called a time out after just 2:27 had elapsed.  McCoughtry came off the bench for her third straight game with 5:34 remaining in the first and her first big play was a steal and a drive to the basket to give the Dream a 16-5 lead.  Atlanta kept its lead in double digits and continued to go inside as Washington had five first quarter turnovers.  Bria Hartley came off the bench with a basket and two steals late in the quarter to help the Mystics cut the lead to seven.  The Mystics scored the last five points of the period, capped by a triple from Ivory Latta from the courter to cut the Dream’s lead to 26-21.

With lots of contact inside, the Dream kept a two or three possession lead – never in double digits, but leading throughout the first part of the second quarter.  Washington was picking up their intensity and they stayed close to Atlanta, closing the lead down to 36-31 with just 2:33 left in the half despite Atlanta’s 10-for-10 performance from the free throw line.  A spin jumper from McCoughtry and a needle pass by Schimmel to Lyttle extended Atlanta’s lead again but back to back baskets from Latta canceled the Dream’s flashy play.  MCoughtry missed the first of Atlanta’s 12 first half free throws with 6.9 left as the Dream led the Mystics 41-35 at the break.

Tiffany Hayes hit back to back triples for Atlanta early in the third, boosting the Dream lead to 47-37 and forcing another Washington timeout after just 1:53 of play.  The Dream was getting scoring early on from all parts of the floor and boosted their lead to 52-38 as the Mystics called time out again.  Washington started putting an extra player on McCoughtry, and LaToya Sanders got a couple of blocks against her while Hartley and Arminite Herrington helped the Mystics close the lead to 53-47.  Each team had great defensive plays over the remaining minutes, but four free throws from Reshanda Gray helped spur a 6-0 run over the last two minutes as the Dream led 59-47 going into the final period.

The first part of the fourth quarter was a defensive struggle.  Ajavon tried to contribute but nothing was falling and she was held scoreless from the field by the Mystics.  A running reverse from Emma Meesseman and a 3-pointer from Latta closed the Dream’s lead to 61-53 with 5:01 remaining, and the lead was still at eight two minutes later.   Washington would managed to get to within five points with 15.2 seconds left, but Henry hit three of four free throws for the Dream in the final seconds to put the game away.

Hayes led all Dream players with 19 points and hitting four 3-point shots.  McCoughtry had 18 points off the bench for Atlanta and Sancho Lyttle had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, with six assists.  Aneika Henry’s 10 rebounds were a career high.

Latta led all Washington players with 22 points, followed by Meesseman with 15 and Hartley with 11 points.  The big difference was at the foul line – the Dream hit 25 of 31 free throws, compared to just five of six for the Mystics.

Michael Cooper on the battle for a playoff spot:   “We truly are at the stage of the game where coaches talk at the early season which is one game at a time, and that’s where we are. We can’t worry about anything in the future. Our next opponent is the LA Sparks, who play Tulsa tonight, and I think if they clinch, they might do some things with different personnel. That’s what we have to do, we have to go one at a time. They are a different ball club than we played last time. Candace [Parker] is playing. I saw her play the other night against this Washington team and she’s at full throttle. So we just have to rely on our defense, keep focusing and trust in our offense and we will be okay.”

Mike Thibault on Ivory Latta and Washington’s attempt to clinch:  “She did a great job today. She kept us motivated by attacking people, but if we want to win these kinds of games we need about five of them to go with her. We only had a couple others that stepped up today.

 

WNBA Tidbits

* Indiana’s 81-51 victory over Connecticut on Tuesday night clinched the third playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, behind New York and Chicago.  It is the 11^th straight appearance for the Fever in the WNBA Playoffs, which is a WNBA record.

* Washington lost 93-91 to Los Angeles on Wednesday night in a match in Los Angeles after leading by 15 at one point in the first half.  If the Mystics had won that game they would have eliminated the Dream from the post-season.

* The Sparks have been 11-5 since Candace Parker returned to the lineup after the All-Star break.

* In the Liberty’s 82-60 road loss to the Chicago Sky on Thursday, point guard Brittany Boyd fractured her left wrist.  She had surgery and will be out for the rest of the season and post-season.

* Kelsey Bone of the Connecticut Sun hit a jumper with 1.8 seconds left on the clock in San Antonio for the Sun to beat the Stars 93-92 on Friday.

* Sophia Young-Malcolm has announced her retirement from the WNBA following this season.  She has played for the San Antonio Stars from 2006-12 and 2014-15 and was All-WNBA First Team in 2008 and All-WNBA Second Team in 2007, 2009 and 2012.  She is 14 points as of this writing behind Penny Taylor, who is #20 in WNBA History in Total Points.

* Los Angeles’s 92-73 home victory over the Tulsa Shock on Sunday clinched the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.  The only remaining spot to be determined is in the Eastern Conference, which will go to either Atlanta or Washington.

* The New York Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx 75-71 in Minneapolis on Sunday in a rematch of the top teams in each conference.  The Liberty clinched 1^st place in the Eastern Conference and swept the season series with the Lynx 2-0.

 

 

Upcoming games

Tuesday, September 9:  Los Angeles Sparks @ Atlanta Dream, 7 pm ET

(Atlanta leads 1 – 0)

After Sunday’s 92-73 slaughter of Tulsa, which ended with an 18-3 Sparks run, Candace Parker said – and get this – “we can play better”.  I don’t doubt it, and the Dream might face the highest hurdle to their playoff hopes on Tuesday night when the Sparks come to down.

Don’t be fooled by Atlanta’s victory over the Sparks on July 16^th.  We’ll call that victory a win against Sparks minus Parker.  Sparks plus Parker is a completely different team, a team that over the last 10 games has been #1 in field goal percentage and #1 in assists in the WNBA.  There’s a lot of talk about whether Parker could really be in the running for MVP given that she’s missed half the season, but whoever wins the award needs to saw off half of the statuette and give it to her.

Whenever I’ve gone to watch the Sparks visit the Dream, I’m always asked a question:  “Where’s Candace Parker?  Is she here?  Will she play today?”  There will be a lot of Tennessee Lady Vols/Candace Parker fans at Philips so let’s hope that Parker shows up but leaves her game at home.  Meanwhile, Dream fans will be hoping that Washington loses to the Fever at home on Tuesday night, because if the Mystics win the Dream are eliminated regardless of Parker or no Parker.

Friday, September 11:  Indiana Fever @ Atlanta Dream, 7:30 pm ET

(Indiana leads 2 – 1)

The next obstacle to a playoff berth is against the Fever on Friday night in the very last Atlanta Dream regular season home game.  Dream fans are hoping that the doors haven’t closed yet and that Washington took the Fever to the limit before (hopefully) losing on Tuesday.

LaChina Robinson has pointed out all season that the Dream have had a problem with perimeter defense.  Guess which team is the best at shooting threes over the last ten games?  (Hint:  it isn’t the Dream.)  The Dream will have to put bodies on players like Marissa Coleman (36.9 percent from three) and Shenise Johnson (42.6 percent from three) to stay with it.

And of course, there’s the problem of Tamika Catchings.  She’s a Hall-of-Fame level player (both WBHOF AND Naismith) and I don’t think she’s the kind of player who will turn off her game even if the Fever don’t have much to play off.  Atlanta hopes that Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White will want to give Catchings lots of rest for an Indiana playoff run and that she sees limited minutes on Friday.  We’ll also hope that the Mystics lose on Friday on the road against the Liberty.

Sunday, September 13:  Atlanta Dream @ Washington Mystics, 4 pm ET

(Atlanta leads 3 – 0)

If we get to the point where it all comes down to this final game, the Mystics will have lost six straight games if they lose on Tuesday and Friday.  Atlanta will have the Mystics in a corner, but as everyone knows, Mystics save their most powerful magics for last.

Thibault called his team out for not coming out to play against Atlanta on Sunday.  They’ll have a full week to review what they did wrong, and they’ll look to correct those mistakes on the 13^th.  They’ll come out aggressively.   Atlanta has been doing everything right against the Mystics in their three wins, but we’ll need to have a good second half – a major problem for Atlanta this season.

If the Dream is out of the playoffs by Sunday, my advice is to rest the veterans.  I still remember way back in the say when Shalee Lehning suffered a severe shoulder separation during a meaningless final game against Washington on the road.  I don’t think we’ll get the chance to rest anyone.  We need as much of a roster as we can get, so we’ll hope that DeLisha Milton-Jones is recovered from concussion symptoms and that Roneeka Hodges – out the last eight games due to calf issues – is cleared to play.

WNBA Power Rankings

1. New York Liberty (22-9). They play Washington on Friday.  If they lose to the Mystics, they just picked their opponent in the playoffs.
2. Indiana Fever (18-13). Have lost four of their last five, but I still have them at #2. They’ll be ready.
3. Chicago Sky (20-12). #2 spot still hasn’t been decided in East, and it looks like Elena Delle Donne is over her foot injury.
4. Atlanta Dream (13-18). Top four spots in Power Rankings occupied by Eastern Conference teams.
5. Los Angeles Sparks (14-18). Had 10,000 plus at Staples when they clinched their playoff spot against Tulsa.
6. Phoenix Mercury (19-13). Hold the tiebreaker against the Lynx.  A late season push isn’t out of the question.
7. Tulsa Shock (16-15). One more win and the Shock will have their first .500 season in six years.
8. Minnesota Lynx (21-11). They still haven’t really integrated Sylvia Fowles into the offense.
9. Washington Mystics (16-15). Very different team without Kara Lawson, who is suffering from a back injury.
10. Seattle Storm (9-22): Loyd scored 21 points against the Sky in a blowout loss.  Hopefully, a sign of good things to come.
11. Connecticut Sun (14-18): Eliminated from playoff contention, but still a relevant WNBA team.
12. San Antonio Stars (7-25): …Stars can’t say the same thing. Only reason this highly ranked is because Power Rankings only have 12 positions.