Fever-Dream Preview

By KATE HEDLIN
Posted Aug 29 2011 5:35PM

The Indiana Fever are on the verge of becoming the first Eastern Conference team to clinch a berth in the playoffs, where they could end up facing the Atlanta Dream in the first round.

The Dream's recent surge, however, could prevent that meeting from happening.

Indiana tries to secure a postseason spot when it closes out a home-and-home series with Atlanta on Tuesday night at Philips Arena.

The Fever (19-9) failed in their first attempt to earn a seventh straight playoff appearance Saturday, losing 86-80 to the Dream (15-13). They can get in with a win or loss by Chicago on Tuesday.

If the order of the standings stay pat, Indiana's opening-round opponent would be the Dream, who have won both games between the two this year. The clubs close out the regular season Sept. 11 at Conseco Fieldhouse.

"I think (playing Atlanta is) a great challenge for us," Katie Douglas told the Fever's official website. "I think as competitors, anybody in here would like to play them again. We're going to look at the mistakes we made and obviously try to clean them up and be ready."

Douglas and the Fever will try to get off to a better start than they did Saturday. Indiana, which leads second-place Connecticut by 1 1/2 games, trailed by 10 at the half before outscoring the Dream 29-17 in the third quarter.

Atlanta's Lindsey Harding, though, hit the go-ahead jumper with 37 seconds left and added a key late free throw.

"We dug ourselves into a hole in the first half," said Indiana coach Lin Dunn, whose team has lost two of three. "We played much better in the second. We matched their intensity in the second half. At the end of the day, Lindsey Harding was the difference."

Harding, who played all 40 minutes, scored seven of her 17 points in the fourth quarter. Atlanta shot 55 percent and topped the 80-point mark for the seventh straight game.

Offense has powered the Dream's hot play of late, as Atlanta has won seven of nine to pull within a half-game of third-place New York. It is 1 1/2 games ahead of the Sky for the final postseason spot.

While the Dream have had little trouble scoring, they've also given up at least 80 points in four consecutive games. Each of their last five contests have been decided by fewer than 10 points.

"We've had lots of games like this, so we are ready for the pressure and how to take care of the game when it's on the line," forward Angel McCoughtry said.

McCoughtry is perhaps the biggest reason why Atlanta is in position to move up in the standings. She scored 20 points Saturday to reach the mark for the fifth straight time and is second in the league with 20.4 points per game.

Atlanta has won its last four at home against Indiana.

McCoughtry leads Dream past Fever

Posted Aug 30 2011 11:10PM

ATLANTA (AP) The Atlanta Dream's 3-9 start is now a distant memory. The defending Eastern Conference champs are one of the best teams in the WNBA again.

Angel McCoughtry had 28 points and Sancho Lyttle hit a short jumper with 0.9 seconds left to give the Dream a 92-90 victory over the first-place Indiana Fever on Tuesday night.

Indiana clinched a berth in the WNBA playoffs despite the loss. But Indiana (19-10) has dropped all three games to the Dream (16-13) this season.

``We have amazing spirit on this team,'' coach Marynell Meadors said of the Dream's turnaround. ``I'm very proud of them. There were many times when they could have folded up.''

The Dream trailed 88-83 with just over 2 minutes left, but took advantage of a steal by Armintie Price with about 6 seconds left to race downcourt for the winning shot by Lyttle, who had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

``I was just trying to go as fast as I could and I thought that Sancho would be there on my right,'' Price said. ``We can talk without talking, we know each other so well.''

Lyttle had missed two free throws with 29.9 seconds remaining. ``I couldn't miss that shot,'' she said of the winner. ``Nobody wanted to go to overtime.''

Erin Phillips had 21 points and Tamika Catchings scored 20 for Indiana. But the Fevor turned over the ball 19 times.

``We had way too many turnovers and the game ended on a turnover,'' said Indiana coach Lin Dunn, whose team shot 50 percent.

Price had 16 points, but it is her defense that always sets her apart.

``She just seemed to know where the ball was going to go,'' Meadors said of Price's heist of Catchings' pass. ``She is one of the best defensive players in the league.''

The Dream, in fourth place a half-game behind New York, won despite losing leading rebounder and second-leading scorer Erika de Souza to a right ankle sprain midway through the third quarter. De Souza, who averages 12.7 points and 7.9 rebounds, had nine points and four rebounds when she was hurt.

``I thought our defense really tightened up in the last few minutes,'' said Meadors, whose team has won eight of its past 10 games.

Dunn felt that a pivotal moment came early in the fourth quarter, when the Fever drew a flagrant foul that the Dream turned into four points. ``I really thought that was a bad call,'' the coach said.

``I think we played hard, just not smart in certain situations,'' Catchings said.

Indiana was 4 for 7 on 3-pointers while taking a 49-46 halftime lead. Catchings had 11 first-half points and Shavonte Zelious came off the bench to score nine, all in the second quarter.

The Fever jumped to a 15-9 lead, but the Dream went on a 10-0 run and were up 23-19 at the end of the first quarter. Price had seven points and Lyttle scored six in the period for the Dream, the pair combining to shoot 6 for 7 from the floor.

The Dream outshot the Fever 55 percent to 39.2 percent while winning 86-80 on Saturday in Indiana, and took the teams' first meeting in Atlanta 84-74 on July 19. The teams finish the regular season in Indiana on Sept. 11.

``They came into our gym and basically kicked our butts and we wanted to come to their gym and basically do the same thing,'' Indiana's Phillips said. ``But that didn't happen.''

``This team has a lot of heart,'' McCoughtry said. ``We showed that again tonight and we've shown it all season. When you have struggles in the beginning, it makes winning so much better.''

• Fever: --
• Dream: --

• Fever: --
• Dream: --

• Lead Changes: 18
• Times Tied: 18

• Arena: Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA
• Officials: #7 Clarke Stevens, #8 Daryl Humphrey, #45 Tom Mauer
• Attendance: 6467
• Duration: 2:08