Crowd of 17,575 in Atlanta sees dream come to fruition, Caitlin Clark

Dream coach Tanisha Wright criticized her team in the post-match press conference.

“I promise you, if I had any answers, I would tell you,” Wright said. “I don’t have the answers. I know it’s my job to get this team to figure out how to play together – how to support each other; how to play hard for each other; how to sell for each other. I’m just going to keep working until they get to that point. Until they get to that point, we’re going to have games like this over and over again.

Credit: Jason Getz / [email protected]

Credit: Jason Getz / [email protected]

Four of Indiana’s starters were in double figures. Smith finished with a team-high 21 points and she had nine rebounds. Mitchell had 18 points, Caitlin Clark scored 16 with seven assists and Aliyah Boston had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“I think tonight (it was) just simple things — simple principles — that we’re working on (and haven’t),” Wright said. “When the ball is on one side of the field, everyone goes over the split line; in the gaps, (put) pressure on the basketball, don’t let easy post entries pass. It’s one of our principles. They set a cross screen, (it’s) understanding the post that’s sinking and the guard that’s hitting high. It’s one of our principles.

“It’s just the application of the things that we’ve put in place, that we’ve taught throughout training camp and the rest of practice, that we’re not able to execute at the moment . My job is to go to the gym, figure out what we can do and try to get us to do it at a higher level.

The Fever dominated in the paint, outscoring the Dream 48-26. Atlanta shot 33.8% (23 of 65) from the field.

“We were very active, we really talked about ball pressure,” Fever coach Christie Sides said. “You have to put a lot of pressure on the ball and make everything difficult. Our post players worked in the post, not letting them get hit easily. We really worked on these guard-to-guard screens that they use a lot. (We were) making everything difficult. I thought we did that tonight. Our goal is to keep them below 84 (points). We held them to 79. I couldn’t be more proud of them.

The Fever were also solid from distance, hitting 11 of 21 shots from beyond the arc. Clark was 4 of 8 and Mitchell was 3 of 4. Indiana made five of its first six 3-point attempts, all in the first quarter.

Indiana (7-10) is red hot, having won six of its last eight and four in a row. It was the first time since 2015 that the Fever won four straight.

Credit: Jason Getz / [email protected]

Credit: Jason Getz / [email protected]

Tina Charles was a bright spot for the Dream as she scored 24 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Like Wright, Charles was thoughtful and critical of her team.

“These players continue to grow,” Charles said. “Some of them are in their third or fourth year. It’s mental. Some of us (have) more (experience). This is the 10th season. It’s (about) growth. Personally, I only focus on tenacity and effort. (Wright), no coach should have to coach your efforts. It is essential. You are at this level. This should not accompany the whole thing. (Wright) always talks about how we lose. It may suffer losses. But that’s how we do it and it’s not fun.

Another bright spot was Atlanta’s free throw shooting as the Dream got to the line 35 times and made 31 free throws.

Atlanta sits in third place in the Eastern Conference and the Dream will face second-place New York at Gateway Center Arena on Sunday.

“We don’t have time (to work on things), to be honest with you,” Wright said. “I can’t take them to the gym and beat them. (Charles played) 32 minutes; Allisha (Gray played) 34 minutes; 31 for Haley (Jones); Naz (Hillmon) 26. We can’t get into the gym. It’s a mental thing. We must find small, incremental ways to improve. I hope they come back to watch tonight’s film and see the areas where they could have been a little better.