The Atlanta Dream didn\u2019t do enough things well offensively, Head Coach Karl Smesko said, resulting in an 83-71 loss to Indiana on Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n
Smesko was particularly unhappy with the quality of the ball-screens and the Dream\u2019s movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the beginning of the game, we’re taking some really tough shots, but we’re dribbling too much, the ball’s moving too little, and the quality of our screening is just not very good right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Allisha Gray and Jordin Canada led the Dream with 13 points each. Naz Hillmon added 12 and Angel Reese 11 with 10 rebounds.<\/p>\n
The Dream (6-3) shot a season-low 34.3%, including just 28.6% of its 21 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to start working together to create better shots instead of relying on one-on-one play,\u201d Smesko said.<\/p>\n
The Fever shot 50%, including hitting 11 of its 22 3-pointers. Kelsey Mitchell led Indiana with 25 points. Aliyah Boston added 19 and Caitlin Clark 17.<\/p>\n
The Dream fell to 1-1 in the Commissioner\u2019s Cup. Its next game in the tournament will be against Washington at 6 p.m. Saturday at Gateway Center Arena.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tough one, but we have a quick turnaround,\u201d said Hillmon, who scored her 1,000th career point. \u201cWe have to figure out ways to be better in our next game, and that\u2019s exactly what we expect to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dream, which played two days ago, didn\u2019t seem to have the same energy as it did Tuesday when it defeated Connecticut. The Dream scored 50 points in the first 20 minutes against the Sun. Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray combined for 40 of that total.<\/p>\n
The Dream scored just 29 against Indiana in the first half. Gray and Howard combined to score just four points.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, when you’re not shooting it well, or you don’t finish around the rim well, you let it affect other parts of the game, and that’s something you can’t afford to do when you’re not making shots,\u201d Smesko said.<\/p>\n
Gray didn\u2019t waste time to start the second half, scoring seven of the Dream\u2019s first nine points to cut its halftime deficit from nine to two.<\/p>\n
The Dream took its first lead of the second half, 43-42, on a 3-pointer by Hillmon with 5:28 remaining in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Clark responded with a 3-pointer and two assists to put the Dream six points behind with 4:41 remaining.<\/p>\n
The Fever stayed hot and built its lead to 12, the largest of the game to that point, on a 3-pointer by Mitchell. The quarter ended with the Dream trailing, 62-51.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she’s (Mitchell) just really hard to guard, and she had a great night tonight, unfortunately,\u201d Smesko said. \u201cIt seemed like every time they needed a big basket, she was there for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dream got within nine on two free throws by Reese with 4:35 remaining, and again on a layup by Isobel Borlase with 2:37 remaining.<\/p>\n
That was as close as Atlanta got.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just going to have to get better, and I think we will,\u201d Smesko said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Dream didn\u2019t do enough things well offensively, Head Coach Karl Smesko said, resulting in an 83-71…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-685168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}