The Mystics were confident coming into the first round of the playoffs riding a six game winning streak, playing against a team that it had beaten three times in the regular season and by all accounts simply outplayed on Sunday. But this is no longer the regular season, it is the playoffs when coaches and players make adjustments. The Dream came in as the top rebounding team and second highest scoring team in the WNBA, however, it hadn’t played well against the Mystics during the regular season. Searching for answers the Dream changed its starting line up, turned to Coco Miller, a player who spent eight years with the Mystics, and went small to runaway with the first game of the series 95-90.
The Dream was powered by Angel McCoughtry’s 28 points and 9 rebounds and Iziane Castro Marques chipped in with 19 points. The Dream beat the Mystics in fast break points 16-9; field goal percentage 53.5% to 39.4%; 50% to 31.3% on three point shooting; but the rebounding was even. The story of the game, however, was the Mystics lack of defense. Coach Plank said it best as she was very disappointed in the defensive effort, “you can’t give up 95 points I don’t care if its regular season — definitely not the playoffs.” The Mystics had defensive problems whether in man or in zone and allowed too much dribble penetration throughout the game. It was obviously disappointing given that the team had played great defense all year holding teams to 73 per game.
The Dream started the game playing small ball. It surprised the Mystics as the Mystics fell behind early by a score of 10-1. By the end of the 1st quarter the Mystics rallied to take the lead 19-17. The second quarter, however, set the tone for the rest of the game as the Dream ran away with the game. Playing its normal uptempo style, the Dream built a 48-33 lead with sharp shooting of 58.3% with 22 points inside the paint, 60% from behind the arc, and 8 fast break points. The Mystics were plagued by lapses in defensive intensity throughout the game but in the second quarter the Mystics defense dug the team into a deep hole.
The crowd at the Verizon Center was terrific. With 10,332 fans in attendance cheering the Mystics on, the team fought back to cut the lead to 10 by the end of the 3rd quarter. The Mystics Marissa Coleman known for her defense did not score in the first half, but she was huge in the second half scoring a career high 18 points in 18 minutes. Matee Ajavon scored 16 points in only 11 minutes.
The Mystics fought hard in the fourth but every time the team cut the lead or started to gain some momentum, the Dream would make a big shot or get in the lane for an easy shot. In the fourth quarter, the Mystics started attacking the basket and they were rewarded for aggressive offensive play. Coleman, in particular, was very aggressive on the offensive end in terms of driving and hitting two threes. Crystal Langhorne (16 points and 9 rebounds) picked up her 4th foul with 6 minutes to play. Down 7 with 5:33 to play, Ajavon entered the game and provided instant energy on the offensive and defensive end. Ajavon hit a short jumper and was fouled on a three point attempt. After nailing three free throws, the Mystics were finally in range as the Mystics had cut the lead to two at 77-75. Within seconds, the Mystics as the team had done all evening had a lapse in defense and gave up a lay up so the lead was back up to four.
The Dream would extend the lead back to eight with 3 minutes to play. Coleman hit a three with 2:10 left to cut the lead to four at 84-80, but again, the Dream answered. With 14 seconds left, the Mystics were within four point at 92 – 88 but it wasn’t to be. Fittingly, Coco Miller with a season high 21 points finished off the Mystics at the foul line to end the game 95-90.
Coach Plank, however, firmly stated that the team is disappointed but not discouraged. ”We are confident that we can go into Atlanta and beat this team we have done it the last two times.” So the Mystics are looking forward to Friday night with the hope of bringing the Dream back with them on Sunday for game 3.
