The Atlanta Dream ended a five-game losing streak in their last outing.
They’ll try to continue heading in a better direction when they host the Portland Fire on Saturday afternoon.
The Dream (13-9) had the longest losing streak in the WNBA before they defeated the visiting Seattle Storm 89-78 on Thursday night.
“I think this past week we’ve been very intentional about getting back to Atlanta Dream basketball and doing what works best for us,” guard Jordin Canada said.
The Dream, which hadn’t won since June 22, had four full days between games to work on improvements after an 88-83 home loss against Golden State, which handed the team three of its losses during the skid.
Atlanta recorded 14 steals and scored 28 points off 21 Seattle turnovers. They made 23 of 26 free throws.
“We know when we come out aggressive on the defensive end, that initiates our offense,” Canada said. “So as much as we can get stops and get out in transition, that’s when we’re at our best. … We have to keep that.”
While the Dream were experiencing a victory for the first time in a while,, the Fire (9-13) were experiencing a home game for the first time in an even longer span the same night.
Portland was at home for the first time in three weeks, but never led during an 88-80 loss to the Las Vegas Aces.
The Fire turned the ball over 17 times, which could be a concern Saturday given the way Atlanta took the ball away from Seattle.
“The story of the game really was those turnovers,” Portland coach Alex Sarama said, “especially so many of them being on live balls, which are the ones that hurt you the most because then it’s literally just transition layups, wide-open shots that you’re conceding.”
The Fire allowed 25 points off turnovers. Sarama hopes his team can fix that problem as effectively as it fixed a rebounding problem against the Aces. Las Vegas outrebounded Portland 42-19 in the Aces’ 105-89 road victory June 11, but the Fire had a 30-27 edge on the boards Thursday.
The Dream defeated the Fire 86-66 on May 29 in Portland.
Angel Reese paced the Dream in that game with 18 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Sarah Ashlee Barker came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points.
Barker, who scored in double figures in six of seven games to conclude June, has totaled only 12 points in 53 minutes across two July contests.
–Field Level Media
