Dream return home to deal with Aces
It's hard to imagine Atlanta producing a more impressive performance than it did Sunday in a runaway 88-68 win on the road over defending WNBA champion Minnesota.
But the Dream will have to quickly refocus as they head home to host the up-and-coming Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday at McCamish Pavilion on the campus of Georgia Tech University in Atlanta.
Tiffany Hayes, who didn't even land a spot in the WNBA All-Star game despite being one of a handful of the league's top players this year, scored a season-high 28 points, hitting a career-best six 3-pointers in the win over the Lynx.
Alex Bentley added 19 points and Angel McCoughtry had 11 points and eight rebounds for Atlanta, which is 18-10 and a game up on Los Angeles for the all-important second seed in the league standings. The Dream have won 10 of their past 11 games.
McCoughtry hit a 3-pointer and Hayes added two baskets from beyond the arc during a 16-1 run in the final four minutes of the first half that made it 49-34 at the break. Atlanta waltzed home from there, converting a season-high 12 3-pointers in the process, after entering the game as the league's worst team in 3-point shooting percentage.
The Aces head to Atlanta on the heels of a 109-88 loss at Connecticut on Sunday that kept Las Vegas two games below the league playoff line with just six regular-season games remaining.
The game was the first for the Aces after they decided not to play in Washington on Friday because of travel woes that took the team nearly 26 hours to get to D.C. The WNBA has not announced whether the game will be forfeited by Las Vegas.
A'ja Wilson led the Aces (12-15) with 24 points, scoring in double figures for the 27th straight game to start her WNBA career, which is a franchise record. She also topped the 20-point plateau for the 16th time this year.
Kayla McBride added 17 points for the Aces in the loss, scoring in double figures for the 23rd consecutive game, and Kelsey Plum hit for a season-high 21 points.
But it wasn't offense that cost the Aces the game in Connecticut but their porous defense.
Las Vegas gave up a franchise-record 109 points, the fifth time this season it has allowed an opponent to score more than 100 in a game, the most in franchise history.
"They made all their shots, they came to play and found their mojo again," Aces coach Bill Laimbeer said. "We played OK -- not our stellar game. We're still learning, we're still young. There's a lot of inexperience out there, especially once we made substitutions. It's just one loss on the road, so you just keep moving on."
The 33 points scored by the Sun in the first quarter were the second most allowed by the Aces in a first quarter this season, The 64 points allowed by the Aces in the first half were the most they have given up this year.
The two teams played June 8, with the Dream winning 87-83 in Sin City. Atlanta will return to the desert for the final regular-season game on Aug. 19.
It's hard to imagine Atlanta producing a more impressive performance than it did Sunday in a runaway 88-68 win on the road over defending WNBA champion Minnesota.
But the Dream will have to quickly refocus as they head home to host the up-and-coming Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday at McCamish Pavilion on the campus of Georgia Tech University in Atlanta.
Tiffany Hayes, who didn't even land a spot in the WNBA All-Star game despite being one of a handful of the league's top players this year, scored a season-high 28 points, hitting a career-best six 3-pointers in the win over the Lynx.
Alex Bentley added 19 points and Angel McCoughtry had 11 points and eight rebounds for Atlanta, which is 18-10 and a game up on Los Angeles for the all-important second seed in the league standings. The Dream have won 10 of their past 11 games.
McCoughtry hit a 3-pointer and Hayes added two baskets from beyond the arc during a 16-1 run in the final four minutes of the first half that made it 49-34 at the break. Atlanta waltzed home from there, converting a season-high 12 3-pointers in the process, after entering the game as the league's worst team in 3-point shooting percentage.
The Aces head to Atlanta on the heels of a 109-88 loss at Connecticut on Sunday that kept Las Vegas two games below the league playoff line with just six regular-season games remaining.
The game was the first for the Aces after they decided not to play in Washington on Friday because of travel woes that took the team nearly 26 hours to get to D.C. The WNBA has not announced whether the game will be forfeited by Las Vegas.
A'ja Wilson led the Aces (12-15) with 24 points, scoring in double figures for the 27th straight game to start her WNBA career, which is a franchise record. She also topped the 20-point plateau for the 16th time this year.
Kayla McBride added 17 points for the Aces in the loss, scoring in double figures for the 23rd consecutive game, and Kelsey Plum hit for a season-high 21 points.
But it wasn't offense that cost the Aces the game in Connecticut but their porous defense.
Las Vegas gave up a franchise-record 109 points, the fifth time this season it has allowed an opponent to score more than 100 in a game, the most in franchise history.
"They made all their shots, they came to play and found their mojo again," Aces coach Bill Laimbeer said. "We played OK -- not our stellar game. We're still learning, we're still young. There's a lot of inexperience out there, especially once we made substitutions. It's just one loss on the road, so you just keep moving on."
The 33 points scored by the Sun in the first quarter were the second most allowed by the Aces in a first quarter this season, The 64 points allowed by the Aces in the first half were the most they have given up this year.
The two teams played June 8, with the Dream winning 87-83 in Sin City. Atlanta will return to the desert for the final regular-season game on Aug. 19.
