With the second half of the season upon us, the Atlanta Dream have started strong out of the All-Star break, winning two games in a row as they’re now on a five-game winning streak. It was a dramatic win against the Dallas Wings, and the Dream were able to come back late with the help of Allisha Gray and her heroics.
Against the Seattle Storm, it was the combination of Angel Reese, Naz Hillmon and Brionna Jones that helped them get the win. After the Wings game, Gray noted that the team believes they can win any game, which shows why they never give up, no matter how many points they’re down by.
After their win against the Storm, Karl Smesko was asked about the team’s mentality, and he set a goal for them as they start the second half of the season.
“We want to get to the point where we expect to win, not that we can win,” Smesko said. “We know we can beat everybody, but we want to get to when we’re playing the best team, we expect to win because we’re the most prepared and we feel like we can accomplish anything when we put our minds to it. That’s gonna be our goal to get to over the next 17 games.”
The Dream have had their ups and downs this season, but for the most part, they’ve shown they can be one of the top teams in the league if they play 40 minutes of good basketball.
“One thing about it is, you always think there’s plenty of time and there really isn’t,” Smesko said. “The thing flies by; you only get so much time to work on stuff. We have to make the most of every game, every practice day and learn from things to best prepare ourselves to move forward.”
There are still areas that the Dream can get better in, but it’ll be better for them to fix it now rather than later. With Jones back in the fold, it allows for more versatility in the frontcourt, which opens up other things on the court. If everyone is clicking at the same time, it could be hard to stop them on a nightly basis.
With the trade deadline coming up, the Dream could also look to improve their team, but they might be content with what they have now and finish the season with this core.
With the second half of the season upon us, the Atlanta Dream have started strong out of the All-Star break, winning two games in a row as they’re now on a five-game winning streak. It was a dramatic win against the Dallas Wings, and the Dream were able to come back late with the help of Allisha Gray and her heroics.