Atlanta Dream beat Los Angeles Sparks 124 to 88 in the Women's NBA on Friday night. The visitors made it four victories in their last five games while the hosts have now lost six of their last seven outings. The scoreline looked comfortable from the second quarter onwards, though the opening period told a different story.
And here's the thing — Sparks started decently enough. They held a 2-point advantage at one stage in the opening minutes before Atlanta found their rhythm. By then the visitors were moving the ball properly, picking apart the defence with crisp passes. They finished with 35 assists against just 19 for the hosts.
The match turned when Dream went on a run in the third quarter. They built a 42-point lead — and it stayed there. Sparks tried to respond but kept switching off at the back, allowing Atlanta to get in behind repeatedly. The visitors converted 16 of their 26 three-point attempts while the hosts managed only 10 from 27.
Statistics tell the story clearly enough. Atlanta shot 46 per cent from the field compared to 29 for Los Angeles. They won the rebound battle 34 to 24 and took 16 second-chance points. Points off turnovers came in at 35 for the Dream against 19 for the hosts — that gap alone explains a good deal of the difference.
To be fair, Sparks had been losing regularly before this one. They dropped 77-85 to Connecticut and 70-80 to Washington in their previous two games. This time they simply had nothing left in the tank. The result keeps Atlanta top of the table with 26 wins from 40 games.
Los Angeles sit sixth with 15 victories and 25 defeats. They've played the same number of matches as the leaders but are 11 points behind in the standings. Atlanta won 97-82 against Las Vegas on Wednesday night and were 91-95 losers to Indiana two days before that. The pattern is clear — they're winning when it matters.