It’s been a very difficult season for the first-year Atlanta Dream. Heading into the Olympic Break, their record sits at 3-24, the worst in the league. Fans must now wait until late August before the Dream take the floor again. In the meantime, here’s a look back at the season so far.
LOW POINT
The 0-17 start says it all. The disastrous opening to 2008 went down as the worst start in WNBA history. The final loss of the streak came in a frustrating 72-65 loss to the Houston Comets, who looked vulnerable heading into the game without Tina Thompson. A dreadful six-point first quarter set the tone, and a fourth-quarter comeback fell short. The Dream notched just 11 assists and turned the ball over 18 times. They also shot 30.6 percent from the field.
The 17th defeat was a culmination of a frustrating month and a half for Atlanta. They looked to be in line for a victory several times, but the young team continuously let opportunities slip away. They blew a 13-point halftime lead against the Detroit Shock in their home opener to lose 88-76, and in their next home game they led 72-65 over Minnesota with 3:33 to play before losing 81-77. They also suffered an overtime defeat in Connecticut on June 27.
Atlanta lost games in almost every way imaginable. They were out-rebounded routinely and ranked at the bottom of the league in most offensive and defensive categories. Clearly, this is a stretch of play that everyone involved wants to forget.
HIGH POINT
Though the 2008 season will forever be remembered for the aforementioned start, the Dream managed to get the monkey off their backs with a fantastic performance at home on July 5 against the Chicago Sky.
With a balanced scoring attack that featured six different players scoring in double figures, the Dream showed the Sky their best performance of the season. Chicago refused to make it easy, leading the game by two heading into the final quarter, but Atlanta left no doubt in the fourth, outscoring their opponents 27-18 en route to a 91-84 victory, the first in Atlanta Dream history. Jennifer Lacy and Ivory Latta paced Atlanta with 18 points apiece, while second-string point guard Kristin Haynie broke out by dishing out 11 assists.
The team and crowd rejoiced wildly as they finally enjoyed a win. It was more of the same in the locker room, as the team breathed a collective sigh of relief and celebrated a victory that was a long time coming.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Haynie said. “It’s a new season and we are 1-0 now.”
The Dream followed up the performance with another win on the road in Minnesota. They defeated the Lynx 73-67 thanks to a furious second-half comeback.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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