As you can tell, the Dream are going to the Eastern Conference Finals and I am very happy about that. It was farther than I thought we'd get, but there's a reason we play these games, you know.
The Dream did it three ways. They did it with defense, holding the defending WNBA champions to just 28.1 percent shooting. (This is the second time in the playoffs that Atlanta forced their opponents to under-30 percent shooting.) I don't have stats about playoff shooting, but that's just insane.
The second is with rebounding, a 43-33 overall advantage over Indiana.
The third is that Angel McCoughtry finally had that game she was looking for - 27 points on 10-for-21 shooting. The great thing about McCoughtry is that even if she's not shooting well, the mere potential that she might blow up can give opponents fits.
This puts Atlanta in the position of playing Minnesota, the team that swept us in the 2011 WNBA Finals. Since Atlanta is 0-6 all time in the Finals, the usual suspects are preaching sweep. Minnesota had the best record in the WNBA this year and of course, those first two games are going to be played on the road, where the Dream have struggled in the regular season (but are 2-0 on the road in the playoffs.)
My prediction is that the Dream should get at least one win in the Finals. This is the third time they've been there; they now know what it takes to win Finals games. Whether or not they'll actually win the Finals, I can't say; Minnesota is about as tough an opponent as you could pick and this is their third straight season as Western Conference champions. To go to Full Wishy-Washy, don't be surprised if the Lynx win Game One by 20 points...but don't be surprised if Atlanta takes a 1-0 lead, either.
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In 2009, the Dream had the infamous "Elmo Game", where the Dream were shoved out of Phillips for a performance of "Sesame Street Live". Atlanta was forced to play in Gwinnett, where the Dream lost the second game of the opening round to the (then) Detroit Shock.
Due to arena availability, it looks like Atlanta will be forced to play Game Three and Game Four (if necessary) back in Gwinnett. Last time it was Elmo and Friends shoving the Dream out of Philips, this time it's Disney princesses, with Disney on Ice: Let's Celebrate! Disney has the arena locked up from October 9th through 13th.
I remember being in the Dream locker room after Game Two, where someone was handing out paychecks to the disconsolate Dream. There's some bad mojo there that will need to be dispelled.
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I was up and down all morning about whether to see the Full Court Fresh 50. I couldn't abandon Atlanta in its hour of need, and I rubbed Malcolm the Cat's foot for good luck. I believe the Full Court game was a blow-out; I went over to Fullcourt.com this morning, but no writeup. Maybe later. Hoping for video, as the game was apparently live-streamed.
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The next question is what the hell am I going to do until Thursday? Much less, what am I going to do when the pro women's season ends?
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