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ATLANTA – The Atlanta Dream hosted the Indiana Fever on Aug. 26, but not where they always play. The game was played at State Farm Arena, a bigger venue where more people could come out and watch the game, and most specifically, Caitlin Clark. Even though the Dream were still at home, they lost to the Fever for the third time this season, 84-79.
Both teams have been playing good basketball since coming back from the Olympic break, and as the season is winding down, they're fighting to get into the playoffs. The Fever were able to improve their chances tonight, and it was with the play of Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, who have been a dynamic one-two punch for the team this season. After the game, Dream head coach Tanisha Wright spoke about what Clark and Mitchell were able to do in the game.
“Two great players. Obviously Kelsey Mitchell’s ability, her quickness, her speed. Caitlin Clark’s ability to shoot the ball. I think we did a great job in the second half of staying in place and forcing contested looks for both of them,” Wright said after the game. I think both of them where they really got off is in that second quarter, but the second half, the fight and the resiliency that we had, I thought our players did an amazing job.”
Final at SFA, the Dream fall to the Fever 84-79
Tina Charles led the Dream with 28 points and eight rebounds and Rhyne Howard finished with 16 points and seven rebounds.
Up next is the Seattle Storm on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/SwSSkeuh5V
— Malik Brown (@_MalikATL) August 27, 2024
It was the second quarter that doomed the Dream, and Mitchell and Clark were able to get going and heading into halftime they helped the Fever grab a 52-38 lead.
Dream not able to contain Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston
The Dream knew coming into the game that they would have to contain Caitlin Clark, but Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston have been playing some good basketball over the past few games as well. In the first half, the Fever were attacking the Dream in the paint and from the perimeter, and they didn't have an answer.
“Points in the paint and Kelsey Mitchell. She’s a bucket as well in this league, but we changed our post-defense. I personally changed my post-defense on Aliyah Boston to be more aggressive and get in front of her more,” Tina Charles said after the game. “We were able to get into the passing lanes, we got a couple of deflections. I know we switched [Allisha Gray] on Kelsey Mitchell to give her a bigger body in front of her instead of Jordin Canada so that definitely disrupted her a bit.”
It was the second half where the Dream fought back, and Rhyne Howard got into a groove after shooting poorly from the field in the first three quarters. After being down as much as 15 points in the fourth, the Dream slowly cut the Fever's lead by as much as two points. With 53 seconds left, the Dream trailed by three and had several opportunities to tie the game, but they couldn't get any shots to fall.
Nonetheless, Wright was happy with the Dream's fight, and they're still trying to gel together after having most of their key players healthy in the second half of the season.
“I thought our team had great fight and resiliency. It's just one game,” Wright said. “We're going to refocus, get back to the drawing board, see some areas where we can get better, and take this on the road. What I really like is that we're doing a great job of forming an identity with this new team, so that's going to be our focus moving forward.”
