On Tuesday, the Atlanta Dream and Las Vegas Aces scored their first wins of the season, with the Dream edging the Indiana Fever 91-90 due to a Rhyne Howard free throw and Nia Coffey block while the Aces won (much, much) more comfortably over the Connecticut Sun, 87-62.
Here’s what we learned about Atlanta and Vegas in victory:
Sweet, Smesko dreams
It looks like the Atlanta version of Smesko-ball is beginning to take shape.
Yes, new Dream head coach Karl Smesko is known for the 3-pointer-powered offensive system he installed at FGCU, and certainly he has encouraged Atlanta to fire away from behind the arc. On Tuesday, the Dream took 30 3-pointers, albeit making just eight; they lead the league with 66 3-point attempts through two games, eight more than the second-ranked Aces.
However, in contrast to the teams he coached in his more than two-decade tenure at FCGU, Smesko now employs two elite bigs in Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones. Although the pair also is being urged to embrace the 3-ball, with Jones reportedly swishing five-straight in warm ups on Tuesday, they’re still best around the basket. In Indy on Tuesday, that’s where they did their damage, with Griner leading the team with 21 points and Jones netting 19. While the duo went a combined 0-for-3 from…
