After reeling off a rousing three-game road winning streak, the Atlanta Dream dropped two consecutive games, falling to the Dallas Wings in the final game of their four-game road trip before getting run off the floor (again) by the New York Liberty in their return to Gateway Center.
Can signs of sustainability be excavated and replicated from Atlanta’s three straight victories? Or, were the trio of wins a product of less repeatable variance? A closer look at some shooting and shot distribution stats indicate the second question can more confidently be answered affirmatively.
The Dream can get wins by making tough shots
To a significant extent, strong shooting spurred the Dream during their winning streak.
On the season, the Dream are an average shooting team, ranking sixth in the league at 42.7 percent. Atlanta also ranks sixth and seventh, respectively, based on true shooting and effective field goal percentages.
In wins over the Connecticut Sun and Indiana Fever, Atlanta shot over 50 percent from the field. Those are the only two games in which the team has hit over half their shot attempts this season. Against the Fever, the Dream also were on fire from three, going 7-of-15 from behind the arc while the Fever were a frigid 4-of-19.
In defeating the Liberty in…
