After a productive weekend at home, the Atlanta Dream take some momentum on the road when they travel to the West Coast to face the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday.
The Dream (3-2) open a three-game road swing following home victories over the Dallas Wings on Saturday and the Connecticut Sun on Sunday.
Allisha Gray and Nia Coffey each scored 18 points for Atlanta in Sunday’s 79-55 victory, while the defense held Connecticut to 31.3 percent shooting. The Dream grabbed 52 rebounds, with 11 from Coffey, to 34 for the Sun.
The victory came without offseason addition Brittney Griner, who was out with left knee soreness. Te-Hina PaoPao also was out after she took a hit to the face in Saturday’s game against the Wings.
Through five games, Gray leads Atlanta with 19.4 points per game, while Rhyne Howard delivers 15.0 points. Brionna Jones is second in the league with 11.6 rebounds, while Howard adds 4.6 assists and is also the key to the Dream’s defense.
“(Howard) is shouldering a lot of the load right now with the ball handling,” Dream coach Karl Smesko said, per ClutchPoints. “And I’m not making things easy on her defensively, where we’re really gearing things up. … We’re asking a lot of her, and she’s giving us a lot.”
The Sparks (2-3) ended a three-game losing streak Sunday with a 91-78 victory over the Chicago Sky as offseason addition Kelsey Plum scored 28 points while going 6 of 10 from 3-point range.
Plum scored 17 points with five 3-pointers in the Sparks’ 33-point third quarter when they turned a four-point lead into a 12-point advantage and cruised to the victory from there.
“I’m just trying to take what the defense gives me, trying to be patient,” Plum said on the Spectrum SportsNet broadcast. “I’ve got to be better, I’ve got to have better ball security, make better decisions.”
Plum’s 24.8 points per game are second in the WNBA to the Minnesota Lynx’s Napheesa Collier at 29.5.
Under first-year head coach Lynne Roberts, and still without last year’s first-round draft pick Cameron Brink (knee), the Sparks are hinting at much more as the season progresses.
“Stick with us. I promise we’ll make this happen,” Plum said.
–Field Level Media
