What surprised Karl Smesko about Dream’s dominant win vs. Tempo

COLLEGE PARK – After a poor shooting night against the Washington Mystics in their last game, the Atlanta Dream turned the tide in their 105-97 win against the Toronto Tempo. The Dream shot 51% from the field and 44% from the 3-point line, and it was one of those games where almost everybody who was on the court found a groove.

Six players finished in double digits for the Dream, and they know when that happens, they’re a hard team to beat. As much as them clicking at the same time was big, it was how they got their shots that made Karl Smesko feel good about the performance.

“I thought we took good shots. We worked to get the shots we wanted,” Smesko said after the game. “We passed the ball to the open teammate. We were a little surprised. We thought they’d double-team the post a little more, so we had some things for that, but we made the adjustments in the game.

“When the ball was moving, and we have players moving as well, and then the ability to cut when somebody drives, I think then we become a different team.”

The ball was on a string for the Dream in this game, and it was evident after finishing with 29 assists. On defense, Marina Mabrey was a hard cover at times as she finished with 36 points and shooting 7-of-13 from the 3-point line, but the Dream were able to hold her off at the right moments to keep the Tempo out of the game.

“I think just our ball movement and our ability to play off each other; I think we’re continuing to get better at that and we’re continuing to work on that,” Brionna Jones said. “And then I think on the defensive end, just making sure that we’re sticking to the game plan and executing it the way we want to do. 

“I think the combination of those things helped us out tonight, and we were able to play for 40 minutes.”

For Jones, she’s still working her way back into a consistent flow on the court after missing most of the first half of the season. Her minute restriction is 20 minutes, but during that time, she’s building chemistry in the frontcourt with Angel Reese, and they’re making life easy for each other.

“It makes it so easy playing out there with her, just being able to have that inside-outside,” Jones said. “I can find her in the post. She can find me in the post. I think we’re still building that chemistry a little bit, but I think we’ve found a rhythm working together in that way because when she’s posting it down there, I’m going to find her.”

Though the inside game was their biggest advantage, it turned out to be one of their downfalls late in the third quarter, which helped the Tempo go on a run.

“I think sometimes when we’re trying to get the ball inside, we start to stare inside and want to see what’s happening,” Smesko said. “When really we still got to keep our movement, even when you pass it in, you got to have some split action or at least make the defense have to worry about you as well as the post.

“Sometimes when we know we’re throwing it inside, we kind of take that as, all right, that’s their turn to work. We can take a break now, and that’s really not the case.”

The Dream were able to get back in rhythm during the fourth quarter, and a few big Rhyne Howard 3-pointers helped them stay afloat and walk away with the win.

“We’re a very dangerous team right now, but we haven’t been consistently great, and the goal is to be consistently great. You only have so much time left to get there. But today was a step in the right direction,” Smesko said.

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