Oh Dream, What Now?

As anyone who is an Atlanta Dream fan knows, this season was an emotional roller coaster. From Chamique Holdsclaw declining to report to training camp, to a 6-0 start, to the end-of-the-season tailspin, to the brand new post-season lineup to the sweep through the Eastern Conference playoffs, through Angel McCoughtry's 42 in one game and 35 in another, to the Dream losing in the narrowest sweep in WNBA history in front of a sellout Atlanta crowd, you quite literally didn't know what was going to happen next.

When you go to the Finals for the first time, but you lose, the question is "should you be bitter or should you be happy"? My answer is that whatever you are, you shouldn't be that happy - or, if you are happy, you certainly shouldn't show it. You don't want the Dream to be like the Chicago Cubs, one of those teams that just seems happy to be participating win or lose. No, we are most emphatically NOT just "happy to be there". We want to WIN.

But even though we are not happy, we can take satisfaction in many things. We might walk out with a sad contenance, but we can also walk out with pride. It is quite possible for the two to coexist. No one predicted the Dream as WNBA Finalists - but we were. There were some in the tight-knit community of women's basketball fans - you know who you are - who predicted that not only would the Storm sweep but that they would romp, a "sit back, grab the popcorn and enjoy the fun" moment. Undoubtedly, some of those viewers choked on a few kernels.

The Dream could have beaten any team in the WNBA except the Storm. I believe we might have even been able to beat the 2009 Phoenix team, but you never get to choose the team you play. The 2010 Storm was one of the best WNBA teams in history, and they would have beaten several past WNBA champions if you want to match championship squads historically. The 2010 Seattle squad probably couldn't have beaten those turn of the century Los Angeles Sparks championship teams but they could have beaten just about anyone else. In a way, the Atlanta Dream were much like the Boston Red Sox - except that the Dream have only had the opportunity to draw one all-world opponent whereas the BoSox kept drawing them over and over and over again.

The good thing about the Dream's championship run is that it the team might have earned the attention of a few more local faces. Marynell Meadors in her post-game press conference stated that Dream was getting more attention from the girls high school community. From my own personal experience I know that more people know about the Dream that I would have previously expected.

Hopefully, the experience will leave everyone hungry for more. My hope is that Kathy Betty has enjoyed the experience so much in her rookie year of WNBA ownership that she'll just want to keep repeating it over and over. My estimation is that WNBA teams can lose as much as $1.5-$2.5 million per year - not a lot of money in the sports world but a very expensive purchase. Betty stated in an interview that she loved the team but also realized that it was a business, and her goal - and necessity - was to put the team in black ink.

Aaron's Inc. helped. They didn't go in for a jersey sponsorship but they helped in a lot of other ways. We saw the Aaron's Inc. mascot, Lucky, at several Dream games. One thrilling event was the Aaron's Dog Drop, where several tiny versions of the mascot were parachuted down into the crowd from the attic of Philips Arena. Those little dogs cost money.

I'm reminded of a complaint on Twitter from some anonymous lout that went along the following lines - "Ha ha, you had to discount your tickets 65 percent for your Finals game. FAIL." Watch out for that FAIL taunt, because it can a double-edged sword. First, our Finals game was sold out with over 10,000 in attendance. Second, it seems like the previous complaint of the haters was that the WNBA couldn't sell out its Finals games. Now, they've had to adjust their whining - now, they claim that we sell them out but we sell them out too cheaply. The crowd might not have paid full price - but trust me, those seats were filled and that crowd was definitely active. So the haters get a BACKFAIL.

Great year for the Atlanta Dream. Sad year, but also a year of accomplishments and a lot to build on and look forward to next year. (And by the way, WNBA, the officiating was terrible. At least it didn't affect the Finals that much, since the bad was dolloped out in equal portions to the Dream and the Storm.)

"So Pet," you might ask, "what now?" Well, Angel McCoughtry and Marynell Meadors get on a plane to the Czech Republic to join the United States team at the FIBA World Championships. Everyone else on the Dream not involved in FIBA scatters like paper in the wind. Most hop on flights overseas to join their European teams for "off-season" professional play. Shalee Lehning and Armintie Price might hook up with Kansas State or Mississippi again to join their coaching staffs. Alison Bales might crack open the books and take a few more med school courses. The majority of them who don't live in Atlanta won't be seen again in the United States - save for the rare vacation - until 2011.

Marynell Meadors will probably go back to her home in Florida (I believe) after the FIBA championships for a little while before swinging into Phase Two - watching a lot of college games and keeping her eyes on the free agency status of players all around the league. Some Dream players probably won't be back next year, despite the success of 2010 - it's rare for rosters to remain fixed year after year after year. The actual nuts and bolts of the front office will reduce itself to a skeleton crew without the need to handle the day-to-day issues associated with the regular season. For Kathy Betty, the goal will be to raise both awareness of the Dream in the Atlanta community and to seek sponsorship money.

As for me, I'll probably end up following the Dream players - in spirit, anyway - on their various world-wide journeys, reading websites in a bevy of languages to determine how well overseas players are faring. I'll be watching Georgia Tech women's basketball, and my goal is to plan things so that I can watch even more women's basketball games than I did the year before. The Yellow Jackets play Tennessee on a neutral court and Connecticut in Atlanta, so it will be a fascinating season.

And the blog...oh yes, that....

In Zen, there's a concept called "beginner's mind". This, in Wikipedia, is defined as "having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would". During my first two years of writing the Pleasant Dreams Blog, I was definitely in a state of beginner's mind, because I was a beginner. I had never followed basketball up to that point, and everything was new and interesting and fun to learn.

However, mastering the intricacies of basketball is virtually impossible even for those who get paid for it. In terms of fandom, I'm years behind and I am coming to grips with the fact that I shall simply never catch up - the teenage years when I could have soaked up the sport like a sponge or even attempted to play it are gone for good. I can only see linearly on a court, and not multilinearly. I'm still applying my baseball mind to basketball, and so I can't recognize pick and rolls and can only barely recognize the concept of rotation defense. I can at least tell a zone from a man-to-man...but so can a lot of other people. My understanding of the game, in many respects, is that of a clever elementary school student. I've had to try to listen as much as I could to people who knew more than I did, but fight the temptation to substitute my knowledge for theirs. There's no point in being free of preconception when you just pick up someone else's preconceptions.

The changes in my life over the past year in terms of employment and home combined with hitting the hard part of the basketball learning curve wiped out my beginnner's mind. Reporting on the sport became tedious, my attention focused in a thousand directions, my energy lackluster. I wasn't open, I wasn't eager, and I was full of preconceptions. So I walked away from the blog in an attempt to recover my beginner's mind and my time away from the blog and from other issues has partially helped...but I'm not where I'd like to be, not yet.

So I will continue to go on walkabout, and stay away from serious blogging. I might contribute to Swish Appeal every now and then and I'll provide links at this blog to any new Swish Appeal articles. I might have something else to write here at Pleasant Dreams during the interim, but the goal is to break away from the old habits and seek new approaches. "Strive on with diligence," as Buddha might say.

For those who have hung on for the journey, thank you. I don't know where the journey is going to end, but I still love the game. I'm sure that whatever happens, it's going to be wonderful.

(P. S. : As to specific thoughts about the particulars of this series and off-season moves that might be made, this might come later.)

Atlanta Dream Finally Make it to Playoffs, Thump Chicago 98-74 on Road

For those of you out there still reading the blog, the long wait is over. The Atlanta Dream's 107-69 win over the Sky on the road finally clinch another playoff spot for the Atlanta Dream, snapping a four-game losing streak where the Dream sometimes played so poorly that I despaired of them winning another game. Currently Atlanta is in fourth place with two home games left - each one against a team that has beaten us at home (Tuesday the 17th against Chicago, Sunday the 22nd against Washington). Trust me, the regular season isn't over yet; home field advantage will be crucial and we don't have that yet.

The box score is here. If you read closely, that box score is a thing of beauty - five players in double figures, Brittainey Raven finally getting over 10 minutes in the game, Alison Bales with a double-double, the Dream shooting 56.1 percent. The Sky's shooting of 55.9 percent at teh line was absolutely horrible, with Dominique Canty missing seven times in 11 attempts.

In the same link above under "GAME STORY" you'll find the AP writeup. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, not sending Pierce W. Huff, simply grabs the story off the AP wire. At least they reported it.

``They decided that that was enough,'' Atlanta coach Marynell Meadors said. ``They came out and played like they have been playing throughout the season, with a lot of enthusiasm and passion for the game. They shared the ball extremely well and played some really good defense.''

The Chicago Daily-Herald had the best headline: "Sky Rolls Over, Plays Dead in Loss". Quoteth Sylvia Fowles:

"Tonight we came out and played like boo-boo. I thought we were going to be ready to play." The Sky played like Boo-Boo; the Dream played like Yogi and the Park Ranger.

The Chicago Tribune reports "Coach 'embarrassed' by Sky's play in loss to Dream". Jack McCarthy writes it up:

"We should be embarrassed for (this) kind of play" Sky coach Steven Key said. "The hard part is that we know that's not us as a team. That's not the way we practice, that's not the way we played all season long."

I think Steven Key's going to have a lot to worry about in the off-season, more than just some embarrassment.

Canada.com provides a simple report.

I'm not so much excited as I am...relieved. We're in again, and thank God. We'll worry about where we're in later.

Dream-Fever Gallery

There's a new gallery at SportsPageMagazine.com of the Fever-Dream game that took place last week. Go over and take a look at Susan J. Wilden's work.

I hate pink games, since we keep losing them.

The Atlanta Dream - 2010-11 Off-Season

A heads-up on the post-season plans of the Atlanta Dream. Right now, we know where four players are going.

Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza will be playing for Perfumerias in Spain. Perfumerias finished second in the Spanish League last year and Ros Casares - Erika's previous team - finished first. Erika will be joining Sancho Lyttle for the first time this year and this makes Perfumerias an automatic championship contender...not just of the Liga Femenina, but of Euroleague as well.

Angel McCoughtry will move to the MKB Euroleasing team, in Hungary. McCoughtry was the second-leading scorer in Euroleague behind Diana Taurasi, taking her Good Angels Kosice team to the Euroleague quarterfinals. MKB Euroleasing has finished four straight years at the top of Hungary's A Division but last years 5th place finish in Group C in Euroleague was a disappointment. It looks like Euroleasing will repair that mistake.

Yelena Leuchanka has just signed with AZS Gorzow of Poland. Gorzow made the jump from Eurocup to Eurloleague last year but finished in last place in Group C. Only the Polish PLKK is any consolation, where Gorzow has come up short in the PLKK finals for the last two years. Gorzow is hoping for an extra push.

Right now, we don't know where Iziane Castro Marques, Coco Miller or Kelly Miller will end up. Castro Marques played for Krakow and Kelly Miller played for Spartak Moscow. Coco Miller went...with her sister, where she trained with Spartak Moscow but I suspect she did not play there. Marques should definitely be playing in Europe next year; the Miller twins are a bigger question mark.

Shalee Lehning, Armintie Price and Alison Bales all have other options for the off-season. Lehning has a coaching in with Kansas State, Price has one with Mississippi. Lehning (from my understanding) hadn't made up her mind about Europe yet, at least not at the beginning of the 2010 WNBA season. I don't know about Price. Bales could simply return to school in the off-season to pursue a possible medical career.

No word on Brittainey Raven yet, or what her post-season options are.

Dream Win Only One of Three Over Last Week: Split Series With Fever, Lose to Mystics at Home

Let's give a brief summary of how the week went:

August 1st: The Dream got on top of the Fever 90-74 which was a big win for Atlanta. That win split the series 2-2 and set up the final regular season game to take place on Friday. Winning team takes the tie-breaker in the Eastern Conference. Four Atlanta Dream players scored in double-digits. Atlanta's win continued the pattern of each team winning its games at home. With the win, Atlanta took over first place again in the East.

The box score is here.

A blurb from Sports Network can be found here.

The Associated Press blurb is here.

August 3rd: The Dream lose to the Mystics at home, 86-78, becoming only the second team this year to beat Atlanta at home. The Dream hit a dead zone in the fourth quarter after leading by six points at one time, and the last minute of the game was an exchange of free throws after exchange of free throws after exchange of free throws. It was one of those games you joke about where the last minute takes fifteen minutes, but the result was no joke for our beloved Dream.

The loss ended Atlanta's four-game win streak. The win gave the Mystics posession of second place, albeit briefly.

The box score is here.

Here's the Associated Press writeup.

Lauren Harper of The Examiner tells her side of the story from the Dream perspective with some quick hits. Andrew Tomlinson from the Washington branch of the Examiner tells the story another way.

Jshuane Melton of the DC Sports Box tells the whole story from the Mystics perspective.

August 6th. The Dream lost a heartbreaker in Indiana last night, 95-93. This loss gives the Indiana Fever the season tie-breaker, beating Atlanta in the season series three games to two. The Atlanta loss threw the Eastern Conference into turmoil, with four teams separated from each other by just a single game. The Dream and Fever are tied for first place, but if the season ended today Indiana would finish first and the Dream second due to the tiebreaker.

With less than a minute left, Alison Bales hit a free throw to put the Dream up 93-92. Ebony Hoffman of the Fever would hit one of two free throws to tie the game 93-93 with 30.1 seconds left. The Dream got the ball back but Katie Douglas stole the ball from Sancho Lyttle with six seconds left. The Fever put the ball in the hands of Tamika Catchings - who would score 30 points that night - and Atlanta was forced to foul.

Catchings hit both shots. 95-93 Fever. With 1.1 seconds left, Alison Bales managed to get off a shot and get the foul from Loree Moore. Bales needed to hit both shots to give the game a chance of going overtime.

She missed the first one...and the second one. Game over. I'm glad I wasn't there, I probably would have broken down in tears.

The box score is here.

David Woods of the Indianapolis Star writes it up.

Pat Lovell of the Examiner gives his impressions.

Hopefully, more blogging later. Next home game is this Tuesday, against the Seattle Storm. We don't need a "statement win". We just need a win.

Dream Crush Sun in Mohegan, Now Tied for First in East

Believe it or not...McCoughtry actually made the basket.

(As always, you have to see Larry Morgenweck's gallery for SportsPageMagazine.com, which is located right here on the website.)

Over the second and third quarter of their game against the Connecticut Sun, the Dream went on a 25-0 run over the second and third quarters to defeat the Sun 94-62 on the road. No, that's not a typo. That's twenty-five consecutive unanswered points.

The loss is the worst loss in the Sun's franchise history, stretching back to 1999 when the Connecticut Sun was the Orlando Miracle. The reason might have been Connecticut's 23 turnovers. Tina Charles was held to six points; Kelsey Griffin scored zero points in 19 minutes of play. Erika de Souza had 13 points and 13 rebounds; Angel McCoughtry scored 20 points and six rebounds.

The win puts Atlanta in a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference. The next game tomorrow will be at home against the other first place team, the Indiana Fever. Winner of that game walks off the court the Eastern Conference leader. The loser just walks off.

The box score is here.

The fallout:

The brief Associated Press blurb.

Matt Stout of the Norwich Bulletin gives his initial impressions.

John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant provides two pages detail and Hartford Courant says that Connecticut head coach Mike Thibault finds the loss a real head-scratcher.

Ned Griffin of The Day.com writes about Connecticut's long day.

The New Haven Register and Jim Fuller share some video of the press conference.

Bob Phillips of the Examiner gives his take on the massacre.

Dream Defeat Tulsa on Road, Move Into Second Place in East

One of the best teams in the Eastern Conference took on the worst team in the WNBA and won 105-89. It was the second most points scored by the Shock this year. The Dream move to 16-9 on the year and are just one game behind the Indiana Fever in the Eastern Conference and are in sole possession of second place. For the Shock, they've lost 17 of their last 18.

Iziane Castro Marques scored 23 points to lead the Dream on 8-for-14 shooting despite suffering a broken nose. My understanding is that she suffered the broken nose in practice by colliding with Brittainey Raven. Some wiseacre wrote elsewhere that it was the most impact that Brittainey Raven has had on the Atlanta Dream all year.

The box score here. You can see the Live Access archive here.

The Associated Press sings the same old song for Tulsa.

John Hall of Tulsa Today reports the "shocking" results.

Kevin Henry of the Tulsa World gives his take on the thumping.

Jeff Brucculeri of the Examiner provides an assessment and Lauren Harper of the Examiner provides her own interesting facts.

And finally, an article in Tulsa Today about 120 Shalee Lehning fans who made their way from Sublette, Kansas (Lehning's hometown) and Manhattan, Kansas (the home of Kansas State) to cheer their local hero.

Some more linky stuff later.

New Atlanta Dream Pictures

There's a new Dream photoshoot up on the Atlanta Dream Facebook Page. There's a picture of the Dream with Charles Barkley and about eight pictures of Yelena Leuchanka preparing for her future modeling career.

Give it a look. As you can see, Leuchanka presents a striking figure.

Dream Defeat Liberty in Atlanta; Four Game Losing Streak Ends

Iziane's levitating act! "Watch me make this ball disappear!"

(As usual, Craig Cappy provides a great gallery of pictures right here from SportsPageMagazine.com. Click and see the pics!)

The box score is here.

Pierce W. Huff tells the story for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Some basic stuff about the Tulsa game soon.

Dream Drop Fourth Straight in Loss to Mystics, Fall Out of First

So where did Price's right hand go?

(Donna H. Perry of SportsPageMagazine gives us a bevy of pictures. And SPM has great photographers, so they're all worth seeing. Click the link.)

What we feared has come to pass. With an 82-72 loss in Washington, the Dream were swept on their four-game road trip, losing to Minnesota, Connecticut, Indiana and Washington in succession. With their fourth straight loss, the Dream fall out of first place and are now in third, 1/2 of game behind both Washington and Indiana.

It has been two years since the Dream lost four straight games or four straight road games (*). That's right, the last time the Dream performed this poorly was the horrible 2008 season. The last time they lost four straight was at the tail of a 10-game losing streak where they lost fourteen of fifteen along the way.

The further bad news is that Shalee Lehning has injured a quadricep. She didn't play in the Washington game and the recent news - Lehning is out for two weeks. For those out there who claimed that Lehning brought nothing to the Dream and that Kelly Miller would have been a better choice at point guard...well, your theory is going to face the acid test.

The box score for those who wish to see.

Here's the write-up from the Associated Press.

Another write-up from the Washington Post posting the sad tale.

I'm going to be at the game on Sunday, cheering on the Dream. It's time to get past this bump in the road and beat the Libs. After all, New York and Atlanta have a historical animosity, don't they?

_____

(*) If you count the final loss of the 2009 season at Gwinett as a "road" game - which it really was - we had four straight road losses the previous year.

Dream-Sun Gallery

Oh yeah? Well God is my referee!

Larry Morgenweck has a gallery of Atlanta Dream images up at SportsPageMagazine.com.

See! Iziane's unfortunate haircut!
See! Renee Montgomery's kickline!
See! The Great Wall of Leuchanka!

(But you gotta click the links to see it.)

Sorenson's Dream Hasn't Come True...Yet

Here's a link to an article about Steffi Sorenson, who played for Florida Gulf Coast when it was a Division II school and walked on at Florida. Apparently, either last year or this year, Sorenson tried out for the Atlanta Dream but....

Sorensen also recently tried out with the Atlanta Dream and was told she could play in the WNBA but not right now.

No surprise there. After all, what's one last critic in a lifetime full of them?

In all fairness to both sides, it would have been very difficult to make this 2010 Atlanta Dream team.

Dream Fall Behind on Road, Lose 96-80 to Sun

The Dream saw a lot of that last night.

The Dream's woes continue with a 96-80 loss to the Sun yesterday in Connecticut. This was the second game of a tough Eastern Conference back-to-back pair of road games, and after a good first quarter the Dream lost every subsequent one. This loss is on the back of a 89-70 loss the day before.

The last time the Atlanta Dream lost three straight games? You have to go back to the tail end of last year, when we lost our final regular season game on the road to the Mystics and were then swept by the Shock in the playoffs. Before that, you have to go to a 10-game losing streak at the end of 2008.

To add insult to injury, Delta Airlines lost (or at least temporarily misplaced) the coaching staff's luggage. Marynell Meadors was forced to patrol the sidelines wearing a warm-up suit.

The loss drops the Dream into a tie with Washington for the Eastern Conference lead. All of the teams of the Eastern Conference are within 3 1/2 games of each other. Using the WNBA's tie breakers, it would go Mystics, Dream, Fever and then Sun in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The game story from the Associated Press is here.

The box score is here.

John Altavilla reports on the loss here. Matt Stout provides a post-mortem from the Norwich Bulletin.

Egad. When will the bleeding stop?

UPDATE: Ned Griffen of The Day has his say. Also, Stout wrote a longer article so the link above is changed.

Dream Lose 89-70 in Indiana; Third Loss in Four Games

The Fever shove us aside.

No one said road trips would be easy. They sure ain't easy for the Dream, who are currently 0-2 on a four-game road trip, losing 89-70 in Indiana last night. The loss was the worst Dream loss of the season - Sam James (in charge of Fever Week) posted on a message board that Marynell Meadors didn't come out to meet players after the game...well, not immediately, anyway. They'd better shake it off fast, because they play in Connecticut today.

Oddly enough, the Dream are still #1 in the Eastern Conference. At least, other teams seem to be having problems too. Furthermore, Sancho Lyttle is back. Hurray!!

What happened? The Dream got blown out in the fourth quarter, scoring only 10 fourth-quarter points. Angel McCoughtry coughed up the ball seven times. Iziane shot 2-for-11 and disappeared. Marynell Meadors was charged with a technical with 4:34 left in the fourth quarter.

Kent Sterling tells the story here.

The Associated Press reveals everything here.

Gallery from SportsPageMagazine.com. Every gallery they do is worth a visit, so go there.

Here's hoping we turn it around tonight. Go Dream!

Dream's Comeback Against Lynx Falters

I am Angel, hear me roar.

My understanding is that the Dream lost 83-81 in Minnesota on Tuesday afternoon. It's Thursday night, and I still haven't seen this game.

Why? Well, the real reason is time. Frankly, my blogging on all fronts is facing a severe time crunch. I used to be able to devote several hours a day to blogging about the Greatest Team in History; now, if I can get one hour in it's almost a miracle. There is a good chance that this blog might be in the "decline" phase - which depresses me to no end.

So what am I going to do? I'll keep the blog going at least until the end of the 2010 WNBA season. Posts will be when time and opportunity permit. Come the end of the season, we'll face a blog revaluation.

The box score is here.

Roman Augustoviz reports the whole story for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Dave Campbell of the AP throws down.

Jesse Johnson provides a gallery at SportsPageMagazine.com, the magazine that you have to visit.

Dream shooting 1-for-18 from beyond the arc. Erika and Iziane with technical fouls. What's up with that?

Atlanta Dream At The Half

The Atlanta Dream Facebook Page has a podcast from Bob Rathburn and LaChina Robinson regarding the frist half ot the Dream's season. Unfortunately, I can't link to the podcast directly, but you can definitely find it on the Facebook page.

Lauren Harper writes about the Dream's first half of the season on the Atlanta Dream official website. Is the Dream founding a tradition? Read and find out.

Atlanta vs. Minnesota, Wednesday July 14

Who: The Atlanta Dream (14-5) take on the Minnesota Lynx (6-11) in a East-West matchup.

The Dream are led by Angel McCoughtry, who is scoring 20.4 points per game. Sancho Lyttle (14.2 ppg/10.6 rpg) is an All-Star caliber post, and Iziane Castro Marques (17.8 ppg) will be playing on the Brazilian national team at the end of the season with Erika de Souza (12.3 ppg/8.6 rpg). The Lynx depend on point guard Lindsay Whalen (10.8 ppg/5.0 apg) and Seimone Augustus (17.3 ppg) leads Minnesota in scoring.

What: The second of two regular season games against the Lynx. Atlanta won the first game 76-58 at home on July 1, 2010.

Where: The Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

When: Tip-off is at 1 pm Eastern time, Wednesday July 14 in Minneapolis. If you have a powerful radio antenna, you could pick it up on Minneapolis radio - the BOB, 106.1 FM - but if not, you'll just have to depend on WNBA Live Access.

Why: The Dream have come out of the six-game home stand with a week off and one game ahead of the Washington Mystics and have the second best record in the WNBA. But even with the Lynx's shoddy 6-11 record, and even despite Minnesota needing a telescope to see conference leader Seattle, the Lynx would still go to the playoffs with that record. That's how weak the Western Conference is right now, and Atlanta needs all the wins it can get.

So will Sancho Lyttle play? Lyttle, if you remember, left the Dream/Sky game with a concussion and missed both the following game against Connecticut and the All-Star Game. The Dream's game notes list Lyttle as "Day to Day" so whether or not Lyttle takes the court depends on how confident Dream head coach Marynell Meadors feels in a potential Dream victory.

Don't count out Minnesota, though. They've won four out of their last six games and clobbered the Silver Stars by 23 points in their last home win. Remember our six-game home stand? Well, the Lynx are in the middle of their own six-game home stand and this is just their second game. Furthermore, the Lynx have never beaten the Dream in Minneapolis. The Dream got their first road win - ever - there in 2008, and also won in 2009. I don't know if the Dream remember that with all the roster changes in Atlanta, but I'm sure that the Lynx do.

Covers.com has Atlanta by two points, listing both Sancho Lyttle and Rashanda McCants as questionable to play tomorrow. Masseyratings.com predicts that Atlanta will win by 12. It's your call.

Dream Beats Visiting Sun in Amazing Overtime Game on Wednesday

The 'do makes Iziane look like Robert Blake.

(The picture above, of course, is from Craig Cappy of SportsPageMagazine.com. Click the link and check out Iziane's new hairdo!)

The Atlanta Dream saw the Connecticut Sun, and they showed that if you have a Dream...you can accomplish anything.

The 108-103 overtime win at Philips Arena set a score of records. Let me list all of them.

* Most points ever scored by the Dream in a game.

* Third most points scored against the Dream in a game.

* Most combined points scored in a Dream game.

* Career high for Iziane Castro Marques (32 points).

* Career high for Tina Charles (27 points).

* Most rebounds ever in a WNBA game (100 - Atlanta 51, Connecticut 49)

* Eighth most points ever scored in a WNBA game (211)

* Ninth twenty-point, twenty-rebound game in WNBA history. (Charles: 27 points, 20 rebounds)

* Fifth "teammates score 30 points each" game in WNBA history. - (Castro Marques 32, McCoughtry 32).

Box score is here.

Pierce W. Huff from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tells us about the game.

Report from George Henry of the Associated Press.

Here's the report from the Norwich Sun.

Yeah, not much posting recently. Trying to squeeze real life in. At the end of the season, something's got to give.

Atlanta vs. Connecticut, Wednesday July 7

Who: The Atlanta Dream (13-5) take on the Connecticut Sun (10-7) in an Eastern Conference game.

The Dream are led by Angel McCoughtry, who is scoring 19.8 points per game and has been named to the USA Basketball women's team. Sancho Lyttle (14.2 ppg/10.6 rpg) and Iziane Castro Marques (17.1 ppg) were both named to the WNBA All-Star Team. Erika de Souza (12.1 ppg/8.4 rpg) will be playing on the Brazilian national team at the end of the season. The Sun have rookie sensation Tina Charles (15.2 ppg, 12.1 rpg) as well as Renee Montgomery (12.4 ppg, 3.9 apg), both Connecticut graduates who will also be playing for USA Basketball.

What: The second of four regular season games against the Connecticut Sun - the remaining games will also take place in July. The first game was on May 21, 2010 at Philips Arena and ended with a 97-82 Dream victory.

Where: Philips Arena in Atlanta.

When: Tip-off is at 7 pm Eastern time, Wednesday July 7th in Atlanta. You should be able to watch the game on Sports South in Atlanta. And of course, there's WNBA Live Access for those who have computers.

Why: Think about it: we have four All-Stars playing this game (for this year, USA Basketball roster members are treated as All-Stars). McCoughtry. Castro Marques. Charles. Montgomery. You're really seeing some of the best players that American basketball has to offer.

However, one name is missing - Sancho Lyttle. The last time we saw her, she was leaving the floor of Philips Arena after being knocked unconscious by Sylvia Fowles in the final quarter of the Dream-Sun game on Saturday. According to covers.com, Lyttle is not expected to play in this game and most likely, Alison Bales will start in Lyttle's place tomorrow night.

One bonus for the Dream - the Sun are coming off a back-to-back on the road where they lost 79-66 to the San Antonio Spurs. So the Sun get on a plane, fly to Atlanta and face the Dream less than 24 hours later. The Dream have had to deal with these fatigue-related issues; for once, the opponent gets to deal with the short end of the stick.

Covers.com has the game as a 5.5 point favorite for Atlanta. So does masseyratings.com. Of course, this is the Eastern Conference and anything can happen.

Dream Seeks Victories...and Profit

Henry Unger over at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes about the Dream's financial state. There are some interesting paragraphs:

Betty purchased the team, which had lost about $3 million, in late October, saving it from a likely relocation to Tulsa.

That implies that the Dream lost around $1.5 million a year during the two years of the Terwilliger Era, which correlates with what I've heard before about how much a typical WNBA team might lose.

Some of her hard work is paying off. Betty has reduced the red ink by cutting expenses, securing sponsors such as Aaron’s, Coke and Grady, and hiring an experienced sports exec, Toby Wyman, as chief operating officer.

For any reader that hasn't met Betty, you should. She radiates charisma. Is it sexist to say something about "brains and beauty"? I hope not.

But, even with a first place team, attendance is well behind where it needs to be. To break even, the Dream needs to draw about 8,500 paying fans, Betty said. This season, it has been averaging “just under 7,000,” which is similar to last year’s performance.

Interesting. I don't know if we can make 8500. Even the Braves couldn't fill up their stadium during their championship years; Atlanta sports fans that aren't solely University of Georgia football fans are hard to come by.

Next week, Henry Unger reports about Fitz Johnson and the Atlanta Beat. I'll look forward to it.