WNBA: It’s been a nightmare season for the Atlanta Dream

The month-long Olympic Break can’t come quickly sufficient for the Atlanta Dream (7-16).

Losers of seven-straight video games, the Dream will wrap up their first stretch of the season with a go to to the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday (1 p.m. ET, League Move). If the sport resembles the primary two contests between the 2 groups, one other unfavorable consequence possible is on the way in which for Atlanta. Minnesota unleashed an offensive onslaught in late Could, profitable 92-79. Within the mid-June matchup, an lack of ability to attain sunk the Dream in a 68-55 loss.

Win or lose on Wednesday, the Dream will sit in ninth place, out of the playoff image. And since they don’t personal their 2025 first-round draft decide, the prospect of some lottery luck supplies no solace for pissed off followers.

It’s simple, and never unsuitable, to attribute Atlanta’s bleak scenario to harm. Rhyne Howard is predicted to return to the lineup on Wednesday after lacking 10 video games because of the ankle harm she suffered final time the Dream traveled to Minnesota. Jordin Canada has performed simply 4 video games, as her comeback from the hand harm that saved her out of the primary 14 video games of the season quickly was adopted by a damaged finger. Aerial Powers, Atlanta’s off-the-bench power booster, additionally has missed seven video games, the vast majority of them on account of a calf harm.

Offensive woes in ATL

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Damage-induced absences, significantly these of Howard and Canada, have exacerbated the Dream’s woes, particularly on the offensive finish. Howard is meant to be the group’s offensive engine, with Canada because the offensive organizer. With out the pair, the offense has been pitiful. The Dream rating a league-low 75.0 factors per recreation, which is greater than three factors per recreation worse than the second-lowest scoring group. Over their seven-game dropping streak, scoring has been much more troublesome, because the group has averaged simply 72.9 factors per recreation.

The offense, nonetheless, wasn’t precisely buzzing with Howard. Within the 13 video games she performed, the Dream had an offensive score of 94.8. With out her, the offensive score is 92.3; for the total season, it’s 93.7. No matter who has or has not been out there, discovering and sustaining an offensive circulate has been problem for the Dream. The ball not often pings across the halfcourt; as an alternative, each participant usually takes a beat or two earlier than making the following move, attacking the basket or taking a shot, thereby failing to bend the protection and, in flip, demanding that the Dream offense stay by robust pictures, whether or not that be a working hook or quick fadeaway from Tina Charles, a drive right into a contested midranger by Allisha Grey or a deep, late-clock 3-pointer from Howard.

Whereas the return of Howard and eventual return of Canada will elevate the Dream’s offensive ground, it’s misguided to imagine that the pair will relieve Atlanta’s ills. Final season, the Dream’s offensive effectivity sunk over the second half of the season; the issues have continued. As an alternative of injecting extra movement, motion or creativity, the one new wrinkle has been dumping the ball to Charles and letting her go to work. And though the third all-time main scorer in WNBA historical past can nonetheless get buckets, her scoring not often facilitates a dynamic, team-wide offensive assault.

The Dream want difference-making protection

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Defensively, the Dream have carried out a greater job of surviving with out two of their star starters; their 101.1 defensive score places them in the midst of the pack.

Nonetheless, the group has missed the defensive playmaking punch that Howard and Canada can present. Earlier than her harm, Howard had ramped up her depth on that finish of the ground, averaging a career-high 2.2 steals per recreation, which is the second-best mark within the league. Final season, Canada led the league in steals with 2.3 per recreation. Throughout her quick time carrying a Dream jersey, she averaged 1.3 per contest. The flexibility of Howard and Canada to show opponents over might juice Atlanta’s transition offense, a precedence for the group that, with out the injured pair, they solely intermittently have achieved. The Dream induce opponents into a mean of 13.2 turnovers per recreation, which ranks tenth within the league. They’ve then been ineffective in changing turnovers into factors, as they’re second-to-last in factors off turnovers per recreation with 13.7.

Atlanta’s battle to show protection into offense is illustrative of how nearly every little thing that results in profitable basketball is troublesome for the Dream proper now. In brief, it’s been a nightmare season.