Dallas Wings vs. Atlanta Wings, Preview and Odds - 5/27/21
It’s an interconference clash on the hardwood in WNBA action down in Hotlanta. The Dallas Wings are on the road as they make the trip to face the Atlanta Dream Thursday night. Dallas comes in off an 88-81 road loss to New York Monday night in their most recent contest. Atlanta earned a 90-83 road triumph over Chicago in their last game Tuesday night. In the bubble last season, the teams split two meetings with the Wings taking an 85-75 win as the “home” team in the most recent matchup on August 8, 2020. All told, we’ve seen these two teams split the last 10 meetings with the home team prevailing in eight of those contests.
Dallas Wings Looking to Fly on the Road
Dallas suffered their second straight loss since a season-opening victory as they were knocked off by a New York team playing the second game of a back-to-back situation. The Wings look to bounce back and fly to a win to even their record on the season. Against New York, Dallas led by five after the opening quarter and was even at the half before giving up a 10-2 run to start the second half to trail 49-41. The Wings were down 11 after three quarters but cut the deficit to two with 3:51 to play before giving up a 12-2 run that left them down 12 with 1:01 to go. That was too deep a hole to dig out of and the Wings went down in defeat. Dallas shot 41.4% from the field, including seven of 21 from three-point range, and went 16 of 22 at the charity stripe in the loss. Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 24 points in the loss.
The Wings come into this one second in the league in scoring with 90.7 points per game this season. Dallas is first in rebounding (41.7 boards per contest) but rank tied for sixth in the league in assists with 19 per game. The Wings are struggling defensively, ranking 10th by allowing 86.3 points per contest. Allisha Gray leads the team by averaging 23 points, six rebounds and five assists per game on the year. Arike Ogunbowale (23 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists), Marina Mabrey (19.3 points, six rebounds, 4.3 assists), Isabelle Harrison (12.3 points, 8.3 rebounds) and Kayla Thornton (11 points, 11.3 rebounds) are all capable scoring options as well. Charli Collier, Tyasha Harris, Chelsea Dungee, Moriah Jefferson, Dana Evans, Kristine Anigwe and Bella Alarie all can be looked to for minutes for coach Brian Agler. The Wings are second in the league in field goal percentage as they hit 46.3% as a team. Dallas is fifth in three-pointers per game (8.3) and stand fifth in the league in three-point shooting as they hit 36.2% from long range. The Wings are sixth in free throw shooting as they convert 78.3% of their chances at the stripe. Gray is out as she is with Team USA for the three-on-three qualifying tournament in Graz, Austria in an effort to qualify for the Olympics. She is expected to return in early June.
Atlanta Dream Shoot for Third Straight Win
Atlanta earned a second straight victory and avenged a home loss to the Sky earlier this season by picking up a road win over Chicago Tuesday night. The Dream now looks to maintain that positive momentum and ring up a third straight victory as they return home for this contest. Against Chicago, Atlanta used a 10-0 run to break an 8-8 tie in the opening quarter and didn’t look back as they led the rest of the way. The Dream were up six after the opening quarter, by 10 at the half and by eight after three quarters. They didn’t let the Sky closer than that the rest of the way to earn the win. Atlanta shot 41.9% from the field, including eight of 18 from three-point range, and capitalized on 21 Chicago turnovers in the victory. Tiffany Hayes led the Dream with 26 points in the win.
The Dream is 7th in the league in scoring offense coming into this contest as they average 79.3 points a game this season. Atlanta is 11th in the league in rebounding (30 boards a night) and stands 11th in assists with an average of 16.8 per game. The Dream are sixth in the league in scoring defense as they allow an average of 81.3 points a contest this season. Courtney Williams leads the team and is one of three players for the Dream scoring in double figures as she puts up 18 points plus 5.5 boards a night. Chennedy Carter contributes 15.3 points plus 3.8 assists per contest. Odyssey Sims, Crystal Bradford, Tianna Hawkins, Elizabeth Williams, Monique Billings, Tiffany Hayes (15 points), Aari McDonald and Shekinna Strickland are other key rotation pieces for coach Nicki Collen. The Dream are 10th in field goal percentage as they shoot only 39.3% from the floor as a team. Atlanta stands seventh in threes per game (6.8) and 4th in three-point percentage as they hit 37% of their long-range attempts. The Dream is 11th in the league in free throw percentage as they shoot 72.1% from the stripe as a team this year. Cheyenne Parker remains in the league’s health and safety protocols and likely is out for this contest.
Pick: Dallas Wings
While Atlanta has won two games in a row and seemingly has found some solid footing, the fact remains that their wins came over flawed teams. Indiana was winless on the season before splitting a pair of games at home with the Mystics Sunday and Tuesday. Meanwhile, Chicago was playing without Candace Parker, Allie Quigley and Stephanie Dolson, which was a major blow to the Sky’s rotation. In this case, Dallas is pretty much at full strength with the exception of Gray being missing. Ogunbowale has stepped up as the top scoring option in her absence and the Wings have several key options that can help carry the load. That’s going to be tough for the Dream to keep up with and that’s why Dallas gets the nod here.
Total: Over
While Dallas has seen the over hit just once in their first three games, the fact remains that the Wings are the second-highest scoring team in the league. For that matter, the games against the Sparks and the Liberty both fell just half a point short of their respective totals, so they easily could have exceeded the mark. Meanwhile, Atlanta has seen the under hit in three of their four games but their first matchup with the Sky fell half a point short while their win over Indiana fell 1.5 points shy of the mark. Facing a team like Dallas is going to be a fast-paced contest with plenty of good looks for both teams on the offensive end. This one ends up going over the mark.
