by James Bowman, AtlantaDream.net

After an 0-2 start to the season, the Dream looked at a tough swing of three basketball games over four days!   Atlanta tried out a new starting lineup, with Matee Ajavon playing point guard in place of Shoni Schimmel.  Dream fans might have been scratching their heads, but they can’t argue with the results as we look at the results of this week’s game and think about next week’s in this installment of the Bowman Beat.

Atlanta Dream 72, San Antonio Stars 69

In their second home game on Thursday, the Dream was looking to overcome its basic issues.  Field goal percentage and turnovers are critical in winning games, and Atlanta wasn’t holding up its end of the bargain.  A 12-0 run at the end of the first quarter gave the Dream a six point lead at the end of the first ten minutes and Atlanta’s goal was to maintain that lead.

Going into the fourth quarter the Dream only shot 32 percent, but San Antonio’s 37 percent shooting wasn’t much better.   Leading 71-69 with 24 seconds left, Sancho Lyttle missed a turnaround jumper which ended up in the hands of Jayne Appel of the Stars.  Jia Perkins drove to the basket for the tying basket, but Tiffany Hayes got her feet planted outside the restricted area under the basket to take the offensive charge and give the ball back to the Dream.  Angel McCoughtry hit one of two free throws, and Kayla McBride’s last second 3-pointer helplessly hit the backboard.

Atlanta had 20 offensive rebounds in that game, fourth best in franchise history.  Angel McCoughtry led all scorers with 21 points.

Michael Cooper on starting Matee Ajavon over Schimmel:  “Coaches decision for a defensive aspect. Again, I think one thing is, it’s a learning process for a young player, and Shoni is still a young player and sometimes the best view to learn the game and understand it, is from the bench.”

Atlanta Dream 64, Washington  Mystics 61

No sooner than the Dream celebrated their first win of the year than they were off to Washington for a game on Friday.  This one was tougher, with the Mystics holding Atlanta to just eight points in the second quarter and taking a lead that even as late as the fourth quarter was in double-digits, 52-41 Washington with 8:11 to go.

However, Angel McCoughtry put the team on her back.  In the last 8:20 of the game the Dream outscored Washington 23-9 and Angel McCoughtry scored 10 of those points for Atlanta.  Even so, Washington held the lead until the very last minute until Mystics rookie Natasha Cloud attempted to inbound the ball to Emma Meesseman.  Sancho Lyttle stole the ball from Meeseman, and McCoughtry shoots the ball over Kara Lawson for a 3-pointer that gives Atlanta the lead, 62-61!

Ivory Latta of the Mystics had the ball with 10 seconds left, but got the ball swatted out of her hands by Matee Ajavon.   The Dream got the ball back, and a couple of McCoughtry free throws sealed the win.

Emma Meesseman would have 21 points and nine rebounds, but McCoughtry’s 21 points would match Washington’s best effort.

Connecticut Sun 82, Atlanta Dream 64

It’s tough to play three games in four days.  It’s even tougher when you’re playing a young team on the road on that final day.  Atlanta tried hard, but turnovers killed the Dream as they dropped their second game in as many tries against the Connecticut Sun.

The Dream looked strong in the first quarter, and it looked like Atlanta’s championship experience would shine through.  At one point in the first, the Dream led 20-5 but the Dream would start the first quarter with nine turnovers and the Sun would answer with a run of their own, closing to 22-18 at the end of the first quarter and catching Atlanta in the second.

Atlanta closed the first half with an 8-0 run but Connecticut led 39-36 at halftime.  In the third quarter, the teams traded leads…and turnovers.   Connecticut finished the third quarter with 17 total turnovers but Atlanta had racked up 19 for the game.  What would decide the fourth quarter?

Three point shooting would decide it.  The Sun shot 5-for-8 from behind the 3-point line during the last 10 minutes and ex-Dream player Jasmine Thomas was go 3-for-3 in threes.  Connecticut hit everything and Atlanta hit nothing,   The Sun finished the game with a 13-2 run that ended the only way it could – on a turnover from Erica Wheeler, Atlanta’s 27^th of the game.  Angel McCoughtry would get her 24 points, but Atlanta would have to settle for a 2-1 record over the long weekend.

This week’s games:

Tuesday, June 16th at 12:00 noon:  Indiana Fever @ Atlanta Dream, Philips Arena.

Indiana has struggled this season, getting off to a 0-3 start before finally winning at home against a Phoenix Mercury team handicapped by the absence of Brittney Griner – and only winning by three points.  But no sooner does Indiana get their first win that they get word that Tamika Catchings will be suspended one game by the WNBA for making contact with a referee.  The result?  They lose Sunday’s game against Chicago by 98-72 in a game nowhere near as close as the final score might indicate.

Note the starting time of this game:  12 noon.  This is a kid’s game, and trust me, the crowd will be big, loud and boisterous as the kids in attendance will be screaming for the Dream.  Shavonte Zellous can now come off the bench for the Fever after returning early from Euroleague, and Catchings will hope to make up for lost time.

More than likely, the Fever will try to slow the game down and shoot against Atlanta from outside. Unfortunately for Indiana, they’re at the bottom of the league in free throw percentage.  Tamika Catchings’s toughness will hurt the Dream, but it doesn’t mean much if you can’t take advantage at the line. The kids should be going home happy.

Friday, June 19th at 7:30 pm:  Chicago Sky @ Atlanta Dream, Philips Arena.

Dream fans have probably been waiting for this game for a while – the first match against the Chicago Sky, the team that knocked Atlanta out of the playoffs last season.

Even though Sylvia Fowles of the Sky hasn’t shown up to Chicago yet – she’s holding out in the hope that she’ll be traded – Elene Delle Donne is more than willing to pick up the slack.   Delle Donne says that she’s now 100 percent healthy, and has proven it with games of 27, 40, 31 and 24 points, the last in a whipping of the Fever where she only played 25 minutes.  She’s a 6-5, do-everything kind of player, and even casual fans owe it to themselves just to see her play.  Her 17 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against Atlanta gave Dream fans nightmares, and they’re hoping to return the favor.

But without Fowles’s production, Chicago depends on Delle Donne badly.  Despite four big games from Delle Donne the Sky have two losses and if the Dream can lock down Delle Donne Atlanta could get some small measure of revenge.

Sunday, June 21st at 3:00 pm:  New York Liberty @ Atlanta Dream, Philips Arena

(New York leads season series 1-0)

The first game of the 2015 regular season against the New York Liberty in Madison Square Garden was a bad show for Atlanta, with the Dream losing 82-73.  The Liberty returns to Philips for the rematch on Sunday, and hope to even the score.

Brittany Boyd, a first-round draft pick for New York, had a great showing at point guard against Shoni Schimmel, and Dream head coach Michael Cooper will have to figure out who should face Boyd:  Schimmel again, Matee Ajavon, or maybe Dream first round pick Samantha Logic, now recovering from a hamstring injury.  Cooper and Liberty head coach Bill Laimbeer have a history against each other that stretches all the way back to Lakers vs. Pistons, and losing to Bill Laimbeer will not make Cooper a happy man.

The real issue for both teams:  bench play.  The Liberty bench actually outscored the starters in their initial win against the Dream.  New York averages 26.6 points per game from their bench with Atlanta only averaging 13.2.  Everyone will have to pull their weight for Atlanta to get the victory, and the Dream will be missing Tiffany Hayes and Aneika Henry (see the Power Rankings below for the reason).

Tidbits

* The 45 points scored by the Seattle Storm on Tuesday against the Tulsa Shock was the second-lowest point total by a WNBA team since the WNBA adopted the four-quarter system in 2006.

* New York’s win over Phoenix on Thursday was the first time the Liberty had beaten a Phoenix team in New York since 2012.

* Atlanta’s 27-turnover game against the Connecticut Sun on Sunday tied a team record, set in four other games, the last time in 2014 against the Indiana Fever.

* The start of the Tulsa Shock/San Antonio Stars game on Sunday was delayed by a leak in the roof at Freeman Coliseum.  San Antonio is not playing at the AT&T Center due to renovations.

Power rankings:

1. Chicago Sky (2-2): This #1 ranking for the Chicago Sky was brought to you courtesy of Elena Delle Donne.
2. Tulsa Shock (3-1): Shock now has a three-game winning streak.  It’s been a long time since the Shock was two games above .500.
3. Minnesota Lynx (3-1): Lynx fans thought they’d march unscathed to a championship, but the Mercury had other plans on Sunday.
4. Washington Mystics (3-1): Mystics are now sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference.  If they had held together in that last minute against the Dream, they’d be undefeated.
5. Connecticut Sun (3-1): The great thing about being a team without any big stars is that when you’re successful, you can credit your own efforts.
6. Phoenix Mercury (2-2): Fans of certain unnamed teams want to claim that the Mercury are tanking, but there’s too much talent on this team for that.
7. New York Liberty (3-2):  Depending on the day of the week, the Liberty are either full of promise or have a lot to learn.  No reason not to play Boyd.  Rebecca Allen out for the season.
8. Seattle Storm (2-2): Two wins against the Sparks, 20+ point losses against everyone else.  Jewell Loyd shooting 22 percent from the field in her first four games.
9. Atlanta Dream (2-3): Tiffany Hayes and Aneika Henry are out for the next five games, playing for Azerbaijan (!) in a 3 x 3 basketball tournament. Going to be a tough five games for the Dream.
10. San Antonio Stars (0-3): Still without a win, at least their margin of victory isn’t in the negative double digits.
11. Indiana Fever (1-4): I suppose that on Sunday, the Fever wanted to show the WNBA exactly how bad the team can be when Tamika Catchings is suspended.
12. Los Angeles Sparks (0-2): Kobe Bryant showed up for his first Sparks game ever, as far as we know.  The Sparks can blame the loss to the Storm in their home opener on the Kobe Bryant Jinx.