The Atlanta Dream have started the season on a good note at 6-3, and are currently in second place in the Eastern Conference behind the undefeated New York Liberty. They’ve won five of their last six games and have the chance to build on that as the season goes on.
With the team finally fully healthy, head coach Karl Smesko can see what the team is capable of, and he knows that there is room for improvement.
“I do think we’re still in a learning stage, and I’m looking forward to getting to the next stage where we have a pretty good understanding of how we want to play together, and then we can start to invest more time and developing game plans for other teams,” Smesko said before their game against the Indiana Fever.
“Right now, we’re still learning who Atlanta is, and that’s not surprising, because it’s only been a month, and we’ve got a lot of new players working together,” Smesko continued. “But we do want to see a lot of progress over the next couple of weeks so we can start hitting both ends of it, really get into a game plan and be able to do some things that we want to do to help us win that way, while already knowing that we can play the way we want to play.”
The Dream have been playing well on offense, and are second in the league in points per game. The defense is solid is well, as their perimeter defenders have been causing havoc for opposing backcourts.
Dream continuing to find balance through season
The Dream had a week break before their game against the Connecticut Sun, which allowed them to get healthy, but also work on some things they needed to clean up. Smesko spoke about the things he wanted to get turned around for the team.
“One, our offensive spacing,” Smesko said. “It started to get a little constricted. We’ve got to stretch people out and get more space for people. Defensively, we’re taking away shooters, but we can’t let people get to the rim as much as they’ve gotten to the rim on us.”
The break also gave Jordin Canada a chance to return, and her presence should be able to take the pressure off Rhyne Howard, who’s had to do a little bit of everything for the Dream.
“Allowing Rhy to be off the ball and at times get back on the ball and be our primary decision maker, I think it helps her. I think that’s how she likes to play, so Jordin will be able to put her back into her comfort zone,” Smesko said.
As the season continues, the Dream should only get better from here, and both sides of the ball will be clicking.
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