Fever-Dream Preview

By JOSH SCHUR
Posted Jun 25 2012 4:01PM

The Atlanta Dream are looking to win two consecutive games for the first time all season.

The Dream will have to go through a team currently on a two-game winning streak of its own as they host the Indiana Fever on Tuesday.

The Dream (5-7) have not lost more than two games in a row this year, but they are having a hard time stringing together victories to start a streak in order to contend in the East.

Atlanta rebounded from two straight losses with a 74-64 victory Sunday on the road over the New York Liberty, outscoring the Liberty 25-10 in the third quarter.

Angel McCoughtry, who leads the league in scoring at 22.7 points, scored 23 and Sancho Lyttle had 19 to lead the Dream, while guard Ketia Swanier contributed nine assists.

"It's not because of me. It's a team effort and everybody coming together, regrouping after a loss,'' McCoughtry said of the win.

McCoughtry and Lyttle, ranked first and second in the WNBA in steals respectively, also set the tone defensively as the Dream converted 26 turnovers by the Liberty into 31 points.

Atlanta averages 10.8 steals, just behind the league-leading Tulsa Shock at 10.9.

Indiana (7-4) will look to minimize its mistakes as they have done all year, giving up the ball just 14.7 times a contest, the second lowest in the WNBA.

The Fever were able to do just that on Saturday, committing only 13 miscues en route to a 73-70 victory over the Tulsa Shock. Indiana is looking to win three in a row for the first time since starting the year 4-0.

Tamika Catchings had 16 points with eight rebounds against the Shock, and Katie Douglas added 14 points, making four 3-pointers.

Indiana needed some heroics down the stretch, though, after blowing an 11-point halftime lead as Tammy Sutton-Brown made a tiebreaking free throw and Erin Phillips added a key 3-pointer in the final minute.

"I thought they would make a run, I knew they would not go away. But we kept our poise and composure. We did what we needed to do to win," Indiana coach Lin Dunn said.

Catchings, who grabbed the offensive rebound and assisted on Phillips' 3-pointer, sealed the win with a pair of foul shots. The reigning MVP is averaging 18.8 points and 7.3 rebounds this season.

``I guess you could say the final 3 minutes was `Catchings time,''' Dunn said.

The Fever thrive with a lead at the end of games, converting on 80.3 percent of their free throws this season.

This will be the second game of a three game road trip for Indiana, who are 3-3 away from home.

Following this game, the Dream will begin a six-game road trip before the Olympic break, a daunting task for a team just 1-3 on the road.

This will be the third of five meetings between the two teams. The Fever have won the previous two contests against Atlanta, including a 78-62 victory at Atlanta on May 27th in which Catchings had 25 points and 12 rebounds.

McCoughtry has averaged 23.5 points in the two losses this season.

McCoughtry leads Dream to 70-58 win over Indiana

By GEORGE HENRY
Posted Jun 26 2012 3:43PM

ATLANTA (AP) A sore left knee is keeping Atlanta's Angel McCoughtry from playing at full capacity.

Even though the WNBA's scoring leader is still the focal point of the Dream, McCoughtry wonders if her knee will hurt for the rest of the season.

``It takes a little time to recover, but it's getting there,'' she said. ``I just want to get my explosiveness back and things like that so I can get up and down the floor. I look like grandma out there a little bit.''

McCoughtry scored 22 points, Sancho Lyttle added 17 and the Atlanta Dream won consecutive games for the first time this season with a 70-58 victory over the Indiana Fever on Tuesday.

Tamika Catchings missed her first six shots from the field and finished with a season-low eight points for the Fever. Indiana did not have anyone score in double figures. Katie Douglas and Jessica Davenport each also finished with eight points.

McCoughtry was held without a point in the first quarter, but was able to find her rhythm and scored 18 over a stretch during the second and third quarters. The game's early 12 p.m. tipoff caught players on both teams off guard.

``Once we got the blood pumping,'' McCoughtry said, ``we were a little bit better.''

The Fever took their biggest lead at eight in the final minute of the first quarter, but their offense all but disappeared - going 1-for-15 from the field - in the second.

Cathrine Kraayeveld's lane runner ended a 19-1 Atlanta run at the 4:37 mark of the second that put the Dream up 29-19.

Indiana, which won the first two series matchups with Atlanta this year, dropped to 0-4 when trailing at halftime.

``It was noon, and we didn't come with the energy and focus you need to play,'' Douglas said. ``I think we handled the first quarter well, but we know the game of basketball is runs and lulls and we had way too many lulls.''

Dream guard Lindsey Harding finished with six points and did not start for the second straight game as Keita Swanier took her place in the lineup.

Catchings, the 2011 league MVP, dropped to 2-for-9 from the field when she missed an 18-footer late in the third.

Lyttle followed on the next possession with a long jumper that gave the Dream a 55-40 lead.

``I felt like we got a lot of good shots,'' Catchings said. ``We just weren't hitting them today, and we would take the ball to the basket and not be able to finish. It was very bad for us.''

Indiana coach Lin Dunn, whose team lost in the Eastern Conference finals to Atlanta last year, held her starters out for most of the fourth quarter.

The Fever (7-5) had won two straight and three of four. They were out-rebounded 41-29.

``We need work on having other players get hot and if our shots aren't falling, we've got to do a better job defensively, with transition, rebounds, taking care of the ball,'' Douglas said. ``If the offense isn't flowing, we've got to find a way to improve on other areas of the game.''

Atlanta (6-7) plays its next seven games on the road and with the Olympic break coming next month, the Dream's next home game is Aug. 22 against Chicago.

But stopping an opponent as potentially difficult as Catchings, who ranks fifth on the WNBA's career list with 74 double-doubles, should give Atlanta some confidence. When they last faced Catchings on May 27, she scored 25 points and pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds in a 16-point Indiana victory.

``We basically know what she wants to do with the ball when she catches it,'' Atlanta rookie center Aneika Henry said. ``She wants to penetrate and go hard to the basket, so we just doubled down on her and helped out with Sancho on her and stuff like that.''

The Dream built a big enough lead in the fourth that McCoughtry, the league's No. 1 overall draft pick three years ago, only had to play 4:28 of the final period. She needs all the rest she can get.

``I'm just getting old,'' she said jokingly while standing in a postgame hot tub. ``I'm not 18, 19 like I used to be, so things at 25 are a little different now.''

Notes: Pat Summitt, Tennessee's head coach emeritus, attended the game. Former Lady Volunteers assistant Mickie DeMoss is currently a Fever assistant coach and Tamika Catchings was a Tennessee All-American. Summitt disclosed she had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, Alzheimer's type, last August. Catchings became emotional after the game when asked about Summitt sitting courtside, only saying ``it's always great to see Coach'' before walking away in tears.

• Fever: --
• Dream: de Souza

• Fever: --
• Dream: --

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA
• Officials: #38 Lamont Simpson, #7 Clarke Stevens, #57 Donald Hudson
• Attendance: 8388
• Duration: 2:07