Fever, Dream collide in Atlanta (Jul 6, 2017)
The Indiana Fever are struggling with transition defense this season. The Atlanta Dream are at their best when they're getting up and down the floor, moving the ball and getting scoring from multiple players.
The two Eastern Conference rivals collide Friday at McCamish Pavilion in Midtown Atlanta.
The Fever (7-8) are trying to find consistency, especially on the defensive end. They surrendered 91 points in a home loss to Connecticut on Saturday.
"I think we have too many letups, especially in transition defense, and it's killing us throughout the course of games," Indiana guard Candice Dupree told the team's website this week. "So as long as we can clean that up, we should be OK.
"It's just the defensive aspect of the game. We know we can score whenever we want, but we got to be able to get stops."
The Dream nearly overcame an 16-point halftime deficit but came up short in a 94-84 loss at Dallas on Wednesday. Tiffany Hayes led five Atlanta players in double figures with 16 points in the loss.
"We're always successful when we do that (have multiple players in double figures)," Atlanta coach Michael Cooper said last week. "Earlier in the season, we were having five and six people in double figures, and that helps you a lot because you're moving the basketball, everyone's involved on offense and it's fun to play that way."
The Fever beat Atlanta 85-74 in the teams' first meeting this season on June 15. Indiana guard Erica Wheeler scored 20 points, including a late 3-pointer that helped squash a late run by the Dream.
Rookie guard Brittney Sykes has since been inserted into the Atlanta starting lineup and has provided a spark.
"It's just a credit to my teammates," Sykes said after scoring a career-high 19 points in a win over the New York Liberty last week. "They've stayed in my ear these past couple practices and during this losing streak to just stay positive and stay patient and just do what I do best. That's staying in transitions and giving my team energy on defense."
Indiana has won four of the last five meetings with the Dream.
Atlanta announced Thursday that it had waived guard Meighan Simmons.
