The Dream defeat the Minnesota Lynx 82-73, picking up their seventh straight win.
Before the game, Coach Wright described the remaining portion of the season as a reset, explaining that the team is moving forward and looking at their schedule as a clean slate. “Business as usual,” says Wright. Tonight’s game was anything but that.
The Dream start the first quarter right where they left off: with buckets. Back-to-back threes by Nia Coffey and Rhyne Howard start the offense, and Monique Billings, who starts for Cheyenne Parker, answers the call with two back-breaking shots that force an early Minnesota timeout. Minnesota struggles to keep on either side of the floor as the Dream swarm them defensively with deflections. The quarter ends with the Dream in firm command and Howard leading all scorers with 11 points.
The Dream force a turnover to start the second quarter but get into foul trouble early. Head Coach Tanisha gives the officiating crew an earful as the team picks up its tenth foul. Eventually, AD Durr breaks through the noise with huge buckets, including multiple shots from beyond the arc and several drawn fouls. The Dream feed off her energy and keep plugging away, hitting a season-high 12 three-point shots. To the surprise of everyone but Durr, she is the leading scorer, with 13 points and every shot made from the field, as the Dream go up 54-37 at halftime.
The 3rd quarter starts with some uncharacteristic Dream turnovers, but Coffey blocks a shot, then forces a Minnesota turnover, and assists Billings as she cuts to the basket. However, the Lynx do not go away quietly. With four minutes to play in the quarter, the lead is dwindling. Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier gets any shot she wants on her way to a game-high 23 points. The Dream shoot an abysmal 22% and only score 11 points in the quarter. Their lead is a shaky 65-59.
The fourth quarter is horrid for the Dream. With under six minutes to go, their lead is just four, and their shooting is down to a paltry 11%. The Dream are cold from nearly every spot on the floor as their once 22-point lead evaporates with every Collier basket. Finally, with under 3 minutes to go, Howard makes a colossal bucket that also turns into a forced turnover on the other end of the floor. Coffey asks not to be left out of the bucket brigade and hits a much-needed shot from beyond the arc. Howard does the rest by exploding with passion and buckets to end the game, despite a wild 35-point effort from Collier and filthy buckets from Minnesota. Howard ends the game with 21 points as the Dream pick up a seventh straight game. The Dream win 82-73.
After the game, Wright reflected on what went wrong for the team despite winning. “In the third quarter, we lost our way a little bit on the offensive end and let it dictate us on the defensive end,” Wright explained. “We have to be more mature where when our shots aren’t falling, we can still count on our defense to get shots. Eventually, our shots will come back to us.”
The Dream travel to Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut to take on the Connecticut Sun Thursday, July 20th.
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