Dream’s playoff hopes hurt by home loss to Lynx

The Minnesota Lynx took no pity on an Atlanta Dream team that is fighting for the eighth and final WNBA playoff spot.

Minnesota left Atlanta on Tuesday with a season sweep (4-0) of Atlanta under its belt after a dominant 76-64 victory at Gateway Center Arena.

Atlanta hung with Minnesota in the first half as the Lynx went into intermission with a slim 41-38 lead but Minnesota turned on the jets in the second quarter and outscored the Dream 34-26.

The 27-9 Lynx, who sit in second place in the league standings, have won 11 of their last 12.

“Playing a team like Minnesota really forces you to be perfect,” Dream coach Tanisha Wright said. “They capitalize on every single mistake that you make. I thought they did a really good job of being physical with us. I thought we handled it at times. At times we didn’t. Overall our focus has to move on. We’re still in control of our destiny and we have to look forward to what we can control.”

The Dream (12-24) are still in playoff contention but are 1-1/2 games back from eighth-place Chicago with four games left in the regular-season schedule. The Sky play the Washington Mystics on Wednesday and a Chicago win would put Atlanta in an even deeper hole.

Wright remains optimistic about her team that has mounted multiple late comebacks this season.

“I’ve learned (about) our fight (this season),” she said. “We’re still fighting for our lives and we’re fighting for that opportunity.”

Minnesota gave Atlanta’s offense fits as the Dream shot 30% (21 of 70) compared to the Lynx’s 50% (32 of 64).

“I thought defensively we played well enough,” Wright said. “We didn’t knock down shots. We shot 30 percent from the field. That’s a tough shooting night. Credit to Minnesota. Some of that was them. Some of that was us not really handling that physicality as well as we could have. I thought defensively we did a good job putting pressure on the basketball and not letting them get to the things that they wanted to. They had to work for a lot of the things they were trying to get to.”

Naz Hillmon scored seven points and eight rebounds for Atlanta. Her sentiment was the same as Wright’s about a Dream defense that kept the Lynx (82.9 points per game) under their average.

“We did some good things tonight,” Hillmon said. “On the defensive end we did a really nice job for a team who puts up a lot of points. Not to say that 76 points isn’t a lot but it’s under their average. We want to continue to build off those things. It’s not our last game of the season so we know that we want to take what we learned from this game into our next game and that’s exactly what we’re (going to) do. We’re (going to) build on some things and try to fix some things that didn’t go well.”

It was a rough third quarter for Atlanta. After winning the second quarter 24-21, the Dream were outscored 22-16 in the third and Atlanta shot 6 of 21 in those 10 minutes.

“I’m never (going to) not credit the defense,” Hillmon said of Minnesota. “I think they had some pressure as well. I just think some shots didn’t fall. (There were) things that usually go in with us (like) layups or just consistent shots that our shot-makers take just not falling and sometimes that happens. It’s a tough night for that to happen against a really good team but when you look at our percentages across the board, it just wasn’t our night.”

Though Atlanta committed just 11 turnovers, the Lynx converted those turnovers into nine points with a 12-point difference in the final score.

“(It was) their physicality,” Wright said of the turnovers. “That’s a physical basketball team. They don’t necessarily let you get to your stuff so you have to be super-intentional about doing early work so that you can get open on time and on target. I thought they did a good job of being physical with us early on and establishing that aspect of the game. I thought there were opportunities that the officials missed in terms of foul calls. In a game like this, you can’t let that affect you. You still need to get to what you need to get to.”

The Dream’s Allisha Gray led all scorers with 17 points. Rhyne Howard, who entered the contest with a three-game streak of 30-plus points scored, had a relatively quiet night as she was 5 of 19 for 14 points.

Tina Charles had a double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds and she tied the franchise record of double-doubles in a season with 18.

Atlanta looks to keep its playoff hopes alive as the Mystics visit College Park on Friday.

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