Dream 87, Sun 64: About what we expected

It took a while, but Monday’s game in Atlanta kind of ended how we thought it would, an 87-64 Dream blowout, although it was much closer at halftime and for most of the third quarter.

But there was never a point in the game where I was supremely confident Connecticut was going to win this contest, even as Saniya Rivers looked as confident as she ever has on the offensive end in the first half.

We’ve seen this movie too many times, at least on this occasion the Sun had some excuses, playing without Leila Lacan and Olivia Nelson-Ododa (as well as Bria Hartley), and it was encouraging to see some fight in the first half, even if the fact they were in the game seemed mostly due to Atlanta missing fairly easy shots more than anything the Sun did terribly well, although they get some credit for defensive intensity in the second quarter.

The script, however, was eventually the same as we’ve seen in perhaps a dozen road games this season: Marina Mabrey missing shots and not helping the Sun on defense, a tired Tina Charles forced to log too many minutes and therefore struggling on the defensive end, no one willing to really step up to lead the offense, and demoralizing transition points for the opponents off turnovers.

In the final analysis of the 2025 season, games like this deserve to be scrutinized heavily to see how the Sun can stop them and therefore improve. Does it mean different personnel? We’ll have plenty of time to discuss who the Sun might be able to recruit once there’s a Collective Bargaining Agreement and see if the team is indeed sold.

For now, this one didn’t hurt nearly as bad as some of the other losses because we pretty much knew it was coming, and we did see some bright spots from both Rivers and Aneesah Morrow (and Leila Lacan didn’t play, but we’ve seen her be brilliant). Those will sustain us through the offseason as we dream of better days.

What else did we learn as Rhyne Howard fell just 7 three-pointers short of her performance against Los Angeles?:

 

1. Atlanta’s defense is legit - I’ve pretty much been shouting this from the rooftop (it’s not a very tall building, unfortunately), but the most amazing part of the Dream this season is their defense and you saw it in the second half. Allisha Gray and Howard are both tremendous defenders with length, Jordin Canada is a handful, and you just bring Brittany Griner off the bench to stuff poor Morrow into oblivion (you have to admire Morrow’s guts, though). The Dream won’t catch the Lynx for the top defense in the league, but they might come close with a 0.78 points per possession outing here. 

2. At least the rookies got shots - Rivers took 17 shots, while Morrow added 12, with Mabrey only attempting five (?!?) in 32 minutes. I guess in this case there really weren’t too many people to give the minutes to with all the absences Connecticut has, so as I said, this loss wasn’t unexpected, but it doesn’t look like Mabrey is an answer in any way to what the Sun need going forward. But time will tell. 

3. We have to do this again? -  You really wish the home finale was against another team, the Dream will still likely be playing hard to grab that No. 2 seed (although they may have to pry it from Las Vegas’ cold, dead hands at this point), but even beyond that, it stinks to see the same team so many times at the end of the season. Maybe they can get the league to bring Dallas in so the Connecticut crowd can see Paige Bueckers one last time in 2025.

Player of the game:  Saniya Rivers - It’s fun to watch her play anyway, but it was so enjoyable to see her drain a bunch of shots in the second quarter as the Sun’s go-to option. That’s not something that looked likely back in May, and although she missed a bunch of shots in the second half and finished -22, she did score 16 points and showed some of the potential we hope to see down the road.

Inside the numbers : 10.4 - The final preseason line on over/under for wins for the Connecticut Sun, meaning they beat the number with Saturday’s win over Phoenix. Small consolation, granted, but it’s worth remembering it didn’t look like they were getting anywhere near it not too long ago. 

Under the radar: The Sun did have Karl Smesko slightly worried early in the second half, after Rivers tied the game, he yelled several “Let’s go!” at his team, imploring them to break out of the slump they were in. He didn’t have to worry, of course, but that’s what coaches do.

Aneesah Morrow got to be part of four jump balls, which may be a season high. In general, jump balls are silly, by the way, even the ones that aren’t forfeited by violations never come out even. One actually somehow stayed on a referee’s back for a second before Atlanta got it, another new one.

Official attendance at the Gateway Center was 3,319 for this one. I’m not sure how sustainable that building is for the future of the WNBA, but we’ll see how they deal with that in the future.

Quotable:  "No change in the second half, just better execution. Connecticut did a great job and hit some tough shots in the first half, but I thought we could go to another level, and I think we showed what we're capable of in the third quarter defensively." - Atlanta coach Karl Smesko

Next up: Wednesday vs. Atlanta, 7 p.m. EDT