The Washington Mystics were winless the last time the team walked into Gateway Arena. Washington was already down 12 games in the season, but none of that mattered as they buried the Atlanta Dream.
Behind the leadership of Brittney Sykes – who had just returned from injury – the Mystics dropped a staggering seven 3-point shots in the first quarter and ended the matchup with a blistering 17 shots from beyond the arc. The way the game quickly got away from Atlanta, you wouldn’t know both teams were actually missing players.
On Friday, Atlanta faced Washington again with much bigger stakes — a playoff spot — the last ticket to the postseason in the WNBA. In recent days, the Mystics have strung together several wins to keep their playoff hopes alive and slowly creep into the padding that the Dream and the Chicago Sky built, like a lion hunting antelope. The antelope are seemingly unaware of the danger they’re in until it’s too late.
By halftime of Friday’s matchup, Atlanta was in grave danger. The team shot just five percent in the second quarter and missed a mystifying 18 shots. (Allisha Gray made the one basket, a 3-ball.) Somehow, the basketball gods seemingly granted some leniency to Atlanta because, despite the mountain of bad, the deficit was only four points.
But it wasn’t enough. Atlanta ended up dropping Friday’s heavily needed matchup. When the postgame presser arrived, head coach Tanisha Wright had lost her voice from seemingly trying to coach and rally her team, something that’s never happened in two seasons of covering the Dream.
“Definitely a missed opportunity for us”, Wright said with a slight squeak. “Give credit where credit it do. I thought Washington did a good job of just holding fort. But I thought a lot of what happened today — we beat ourselves.”
Wright suddenly being unable to speak seemed oddly representative of the season. Atlanta ran out of steam when it needed it the most, but not because it wasn’t trying. When it got one thing plugged (injuries), there was something else to scream about (offense, defense, etc.). And when you do enough screaming, your voice will eventually weaken.
So, who speaks now if Wright can’t? Is it Rhyne Howard? Is it Allisha Gray? Is it another veteran? I don’t know. I can tell you who I think it should be, but what I think doesn’t matter. It’s all about what Atlanta thinks and believes it’s capable of when the lights on the court come on. And right now, it’s folding under the pressure — a gut-wrenching sight from such a talented group.
Hall About Sports 