Atlanta split the season series with the Fever, 2-2
By: Mason Williams
INDIANAPOLIS – Despite coming back from a 16-point deficit in the first half and holding a 12-point advantage as the closing stretch approached, the Atlanta Dream dropped Sunday afternoon’s contest to the Indiana Fever, 93-90.
A game of runs, Atlanta had pulled themselves out of a hole in the first half that head coach Tanisha Wright attributed to being more sluggish than their opposition. But at the halftime break, a switch flipped, and the Dream began to find their groove.
“We came out in the third quarter with the mindset that we need to in order to turn the tides, and I thought we did a great job of turning the tides,” Wright said following the game. “We looked at some film, we showed them how they were walking through a lot of stuff.
“I thought our offense was dictating our defense a bit, so it was making us a little bit stagnant.”
As she has multiple times this season, Wright sought a spark from her bench – finding it in Naz Hillmon. On an evening in which she added 12 points and eight total rebounds, she was one of Atlanta’s main catalysts in an eventual 34-7 run.
“In the third quarter, I put her in early just because I saw her intensity and her talking and thought she could bring a little bit more energy,” Wright said. Atlanta outscored Indiana 21-7 in the frame.
“She did a great job in the quarter, really firing her teammates up and giving them positive energy,” Wright continued.
Yet as Indiana began to surge back in the late moments of the game, Wright said the same troubles that gave Atlanta issues in the first half had reared their ugly head once again – the offense dictating the defense instead of working together in harmony. The Dream’s flow suffered, and Indiana took advantage in Sunday’s closing plays.
“The decision-making wasn’t as great down the stretch, and then it allowed them opportunities to get out and run and find easier opportunities,” Wright said. “When a team is trying to claw back in that situation, I think you have to be mindful of how you’re playing, not giving up threes, you don’t want to give up and-one’s, things like that.”
“Everything that you don’t want to do, we allowed to happen.”
As the Fever drained a late three to put an exclamation point on Indiana’s third straight victory, Atlanta dropped its third consecutive contest.
“I have to do a better job of managing the game down the stretch,” Wright said.
Now sitting at 16-19 on the season, Atlanta’s final five games have grown in importance with playoff seeding still to be determined and the Dream still in contention. The Dream’s focus now turns to Tuesday night with a 7 p.m. home tipoff against the Phoenix Mercury on the horizon.
Wright said before Sunday’s contest that she felt the entire league was playing playoff basketball at this point and that the demand for sharp play is at its highest right now.
“We have to grow in that area in terms of understanding what we’re looking for when things get tight because from here on out, everything’s going to be thigh because everyone’s playing for something.”