It’s a short turnaround for one of the hottest teams in the WNBA.
After getting a season-high 33 points from Breanna Stewart in a 98-88 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday, the New York Liberty travel to Atlanta to face the Dream Sunday afternoon.
New York is off to a franchise best 14-3 mark and has won 10 of its past 11 games. The Liberty beat the Dream 78-61 on June 6.
Atlanta is struggling, losing four of its past five. The Dream rank last in the WNBA in scoring (75.9 points per game) and field goal percentage, shooting 39.3 from the field.
“I don’t have the answers, but I know my job is to get this team to figure out how to play together and support one another,” Dream coach Tanisha Wright said after her team’s 91-79 loss to the Indiana Fever on Friday. “I am just going to keep working until they get to that point.”
The Dream (6-8) are without Rhyne Howard, who hurt her left ankle Wednesday and will be out for an undisclosed period of time. Howard is tied with fellow guard Allisha Gray averaging 15.4 points a game.
Wright sounded beleaguered Friday night after her teams’ performance in front of a sold-out crowd at State Farm Arena, there to see the Fever and Caitlin Clark.
“We don’t have the time,” Wright said. “I can’t take them to the gym and pound them. … It’s a mental thing. We have to try to find small incremental ways to get better. Hopefully, they will watch the film and see the areas where they could have been a little bit better.”
Dream veteran center Tina Charles is 77 points away from tying Indiana Fever icon Tamika Catchings for third on the all-time WNBA scoring list.
Stewart, the two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player, has scored in double figures in every game for the Liberty except one and leads the Liberty with 19.9 points a game. Sabrina Ionescu is averaging 18.9 and is shooting 36.4 percent from beyond the arc.
–Field Level Media