Mercury-Dream Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
Posted Jun 23 2011 12:53PM

The Atlanta Dream and Phoenix Mercury are showing signs of improvement after slow starts.

They'll meet Friday night in Atlanta, with the Dream looking for their first win against a Western Conference foe and the Mercury in search of a third straight victory.

Atlanta (2-5) and Phoenix (2-3) entered 2011 with high expectations after both were swept by WNBA champion Seattle in last year's playoffs. The clubs, however, both began 0-3.

The Dream have recovered to split their next four games and won for the first time in four home games Tuesday with a 71-68 victory over Chicago. Atlanta blew a 12-point halftime lead before closing on an 8-2 run.

"Our confidence level has been fragile because we've lost games, and we've lost a lot of them in the fourth quarter," coach Marynell Meadors said. "But ... we got back to what we do, which is defend, rebound and run."

The Mercury have won two straight since their winless start, opening a four-game trip with Tuesday's 105-98 victory over previously unbeaten San Antonio. Phoenix prevailed despite Diana Taurasi's season-low seven points on 2-of-13 shooting.

"That's the team we're trying to be," Taurasi said. "It's not one person. Every night we have to get contributions from different places, and as long as you bring that aggressiveness and emotion, we can live with what happens."

Penny Taylor scored 30 points and Candice Dupree had 20 and 13 rebounds as the four Mercury starters besides Taurasi all reached double figures in points. Phoenix shot a season-high 50.6 percent.

"It's big for us to get this first win of our four-game road trip," Taylor said. "We had a few losses to start the season, but we really feel like we are going forward now with some momentum."

The Dream are 0-3 against teams from the West - all losses by double digits.

Atlanta got a boost Tuesday from the season debut of Courtney Paris, who had nine points and eight rebounds after she was signed Saturday. Paris is helping fill the void left by forward Sancho Lyttle, who is competing for Spain in an Olympic qualifying tournament.

"She's a space-eater," Meadors said about Paris. "She doesn't let people push her around, and she rebounds. As soon as she gets used to our system, I think she's going to be really terrific."

Angel McCoughtry is averaging 17.6 points in five starts after she missed the opener with a sprained left knee and came off the bench in her season debut one game later.

McCoughtry averaged 23.0 points in last year's two-game sweep of Phoenix, which was outrebounded by an average of 11.5 boards in those defeats.

Taurasi scored 30 in a 96-93 home loss to the Dream on May 28, 2010, before she missed a 94-88 loss at Atlanta on June 29 with a bruised lower back.

Taurasi, Dupree lead Phoenix past Atlanta 92-83

By GEORGE HENRY
Posted Jun 24 2011 9:54PM

ATLANTA (AP) Diana Taurasi scored 20 points, Candice Dupree added 19 and the Phoenix Mercury won their third straight game with a 92-83 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Friday night.

Penny Taylor finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Mercury (3-3).

Phoenix held the Dream, who have lost three of four, without a field goal for eight minutes before Courtney Paris' layup cut the lead to 74-59 with 9:16 remaining.

Angel McCoughtry scored 24 points for Atlanta (2-6).

Taurasi hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 81-63 about 3 minutes later, and Taylor followed with a fast-break layup that gave Phoenix a 20-point lead with 5:48 remaining.

• Mercury: --
• Dream: --

• Mercury: --
• Dream: McCoughtry

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA
• Officials: #38 Lamont Simpson, #21 Byron Jarrett, #46 Tim Greene
• Attendance: 5492
• Duration: 1:57