Dream 91, Sun 75: Things looked great until they didn't

There was a moment in the third quarter Tuesday night where you could believe the Connecticut Sun could challenge for a playoff berth, leading by five at Atlanta - a team that may not be the WNBA title favorites, but certainly one of them - late in the third quarter, and making it extremely difficult for the Dream to do anything on the offensive end.

There was a good rotation, a set lineup that appeared to be their best that Rachid Meziane went to in big spots. The Sun still weren’t hitting three-pointers, but they didn’t need to, able to get to the rim, even against the largely bigger Dream.

But then the offense went away.

The Sun scored just 26 points in the second half, including a painful stretch to start the fourth quarter in which they failed to score in 10 straight possessions. Eventually, the resistance was broken and Atlanta won fairly easily in the end (sorry, Sun bettors), leaving another lopsided road loss.

In a way, it was a very positive performance. Connecticut showed they would not be a pushover every night the rest of the way and ways that they could compete, even against the best the WNBA has to offer. Aneesah Morrow and her young teammates were not scared and even made things extremely difficult for Atlanta’s offense.

However, this was a movie we saw several times last season as well, and it always fell apart in the second half like it did Tuesday. Karl Smesko made his adjustments (largely forcing the Sun to shoot from the outside), and Meziane made very few with the game slowly getting away from them.

Might his young team grow into being better in situations like that? Possibly (in Houston, sadly). But we’ll see how that develops as the season progresses.

What else did we learn from a 91-75 loss to Atlanta that at least made us watch the whole thing?:

1. The Sun should be good defensively  - Atlanta finished with 91 points and finished with 1.14 points per possession, but there were moments (like the third quarter) where they definitely made things difficult for the Dream. They didn’t eventually stop Rhyne Howard (36 points) or Allisha Gray (26 points), but you saw flashes of really good defense, like Nell Angloma getting three steals in 10 minutes. But they’ll have to be more consistent about it. 

2. Struggle for Kennedy Burke - With all the young players on the floor, it was Kennedy Burke that had the toughest fourth quarter, turning it over three times. She finished with just two points in 18 minutes and no idea where she stands in the rotation, especially when Aaliyah Edwards. The Sun need (and signed her because of) her shooting, but she can’t even get any shots off at the moment.

3. More ONO -  I’ve mentioned for a while here how the advanced metrics love Olivia Nelson-Ododa, and she had a very solid 11 minutes, scoring 10 points and getting to the free throw line eight times (going just 4-for-8, the Sun continue to struggle at the foul line). She did get only one rebound, but we’ll see if Meziane can find a way to get her more minutes creatively somehow.

Player of the game:  Aneesah Morrow - You want to go somewhere else, But Morrow’s 20 points and 13 rebounds (nearly half of the Sun’s total) is impossible to ignore. Morrow kept Atlanta’s edge on the glass to a minimum and was 7-for-12 from the field and 2-for-5 from behind the arc (the rest of the team was 2-for-12).

Inside the numbers : 3 -  Number of offensive rebounds for Connecticut in this one. Atlanta is so tough on both sides of the glass and that will make them tough to beat.

Under the radar: Lacan punished the Dream for going under the first screen of the game with a three-pointer, but it largely worked very well for Smesko and his staff. The Sun just don’t have someone that can shoot consistently (Marina Mabrey would obviously help although she was far from consistent with the Sun). Morrow has gotten better, we’ll see if Lacan and Rivers (or maybe even Diamond Miller) can do the same.

At the other end, it wasn’t the worst strategy to force Atlanta to shoot from deep, even if Howard hit eight of them (she did take 19). The Sun are still having a lot of trouble with rotations, however, and I think that’s the next step for them to take on defense, which should help force more turnovers and at the other end as well.

Quotable:  “In the first half, we did what we wanted to do. We forced some hard shots and they made some, but at least we made them take them. In the second half, especially in the last quarter, we lost what we were supposed to do, especially on offense." - Rachid Meziane

Next up: Friday at Chicago, 7:30 p.m.