The Dream Hit The Road To Face Washington On Wednesday
By Jameelah Johnson
After finishing 3-1 on a road trip that ended Tuesday, the Atlanta Dream (5-7) returned to Gateway Center Arena Friday night to face the New York Liberty (8-3). The Liberty jumped out to a 7-2 start, their size in the paint causing disruption for the Dream to score.
“Big difference between a veteran team and a young team. New York came in with a high level of intentionality.” Atlanta’s head coach Tanisha Wright credited New York with the ability to read the team’s defense and adjust accordingly, “Knowing exactly what they wanted to attack, knowing exactly where they could attack, and where they could get easy opportunities.”
The Liberty went three-of-four from three with six minutes to go in the first quarter. When New York’s Jonquel Jones, who led the team with 12 points, briefly checked out at the 4:23 mark in the quarter for three minutes, the Dream went on a 7-2 run to pull it within six.
Atlanta missed opportunities in the paint to make it a one-possession game, down only five points with 1:22 left in the quarter. Allisha Gray scored nine points, leading Atlanta. New York’s Jonquel Jones dominated the first quarter, scoring 12 of the Liberty’s 22 points. Jones shot 4/6 from the field, two-of-three from three and made 2/2 FTs. Atlanta shot 8/21 from the field, 1/1 from three. New York went 9/20 from the field, 5/12 from three, 5/7 FTs and ended the quarter up 28-20.
New York continued to dominate to start the second quarter, going up 37-20 on a 9-0 run and forcing Atlanta to take a timeout with 8:22 to go in the quarter. Gray attacked the paint, followed by Atlanta’s Rhyne Howard grabbing an offensive board and knocking down a three, still the Liberty were up 41-27.
Atlanta began to push and forced a New York timeout at 4:44 in the second after Gray made a layup on the fastbreak off of an assist from Howard. Atlanta’s fifth turnover resulted in another Liberty three, making New York’s lead 20 points. Atlanta called a timeout at the 1:34 mark in the second quarter after Marine Johannès hit the team’s 10th three. Atlanta went on a 6-0 run towards the end of the quarter until Dream’s Laeticia Amihere was called for a foul on a Sabrina Ionescu’s three-point attempt with 4.6 seconds left.
At the half the Liberty shot 20/39 from the field, 10/20 from three, 9/12 from the line. The Liberty’s leading scorer, Jones, had 15 points on five-of-eight shooting at the half. Gray had 14 points.
Gray opened the third with a three but New York scored five straight following. With every three made by Atlanta, New York had an answer. Atlanta came out with more energy in the third.
Wright recognized the effort in the quarter but pointed out the difficulty to overcome such a large deficit, “We had some opportunities where we bobbled the ball and now they’re getting a three…which really knocks the wind out of you.”
Things got chippy in the fourth quarter when Laeticia Amihere took an elbow to the face from Liberty’s Stephanie Dolson and then Dream Head Coach Tanisha Wright was called for a technical foul. Dolson received a flagrant foul penalty.
The Liberty ended the game shooting 17/34 from three. The Dream had 20 turnovers, resulting in 27 points for the Liberty.
“Again, I keep saying our turnovers are not helping us in these situations because we’re allowing people to score easily.” Wright reiterated how the team needs to take care of the ball, “We have got to become a team that decides that we don’t want to turn the ball over and that we want to defend at a higher level than what we are so far.”
Howard finished with 24 points on 6/13 shooting, 3/5 from three and 9/9 from the line. Betniijah Laney finished as New York’s leading scorer with 19 points on 7/12 shooting, 4/8 from three, 1/1 from the line. Six of New York’s 10 active players scored in double digits.
The Dream face Washington Mystics (8-4) in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.