DALLAS WINGS POSTGAME NOTES VS ATLANTA DREAM MAY 20, 2018
Dallas Wings Team Notes – The Wings opened up at home hosting the Atlanta Dream
defeating them 101-78 – The 101 points scored is the most points scored by the
team so far this season – The Wings are now 1-1 for the season, recording their
first win at home – The Wings 37 points in the second marked as a franchise
record since moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. – The Wings 25-point margin
to win the game ranks as the largest win for the team this season. They led by
as much as 24 points in the game, their biggest lead of the season. – From the
field the Wings shot 48.3 percent, the highest this season. – The Wings out
blocked the Dream this afternoon with 10 blocks to their three. The stops rank
as a season high for the team and two away from a franchise record. –
Defensively the team recorded a total of 40 boards – Four Wings players ended
the day in double figures.
Dallas Wings Player Notes – Skylar Diggins-Smith scored a season high of 25
points leading the team to their first win of the season. – Liz Cambage ended
the day scoring a season high of 21 points, just seven points shy a career high.
Her 10 points scored in the first quarter ranked as the most points scored in a
quarter this season. – The dynamic duo of Liz Cambage and Skylar Diggins-Smith
combined for a total of 46 points in today’s opener. It is the second
consecutive game they have combined for over 35+ points in a game – Kaela Davis’
15 points marks as a season high. She also led the team in total assists with
five which is a new career high. – Karima Christmas-Kelly scored her first
double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. It is the first
double-double for the captain since the 2016 season.
Atlanta Game Notes • With her 13 points, Angel McCoughtry topped 5,000 for her
career and now has 5,003. • Tiffany Hayes finished a team-best 10-10 from the
free-throw line. • The team finished with five players in double-figures
(Tiffany Hayes 14, Renee Montgomery 14, Brittney Sykes 14, Angel McCoughtry 13
and Jessica Breland 11). • Sykes led the Dream with a team-high seven rebounds.
• Maggie Lucas returned the WNBA after two years due to injury and connected on
a three-point basket. • The Dream played all 12 players on its roster. • Atlanta
lost its third straight game in Dallas and is now 13-6 all-time against the
Wings franchise. • The Dream move to 6-5 all-time in season opening games. •
Head Coach Nicki Collen falls in her first game as a head coach. • Atlanta
recorded 18 assists on 26 baskets. • The Dream were whistled for 31 fouls in
their season opener.
HOME QUOTES
Head Coach Fred Williams (On tonight’s game): “I think (Wings center) Liz
(Cambage) set the tone in the first half of getting inside play and was really
pleased with how she was able to put it on the floor. (Wings guard) Skylar
(Diggins-Smith) did a great job around the perimeter shooting the basketball and
breaking down the defense with some floaters. Defensively, we just stepped up
our game a little bit, especially in the second half.”
(On his first-quarter timeout call): “Just relax. Don’t go to the game, let the
game come to you. Just be patient with the ball movement. One extra pass and
you’ll get some things inside. I think what I’ve learned about our team so far
is that we will fight back to get ourselves back in the game.”
(On offensive changes since Friday’s game): “Learning how to read off Liz. She’s
like our Lew Alcindor back in the day. She’s learning how to read back-side skip
passes. The next game she plays, she is going to get better at it. She is still
learning our plays. Just with her athletic ability and her size, her finesse in
being able to get up in the air. It’s tremendous.”
Wings center Liz Cambage (On tonight’s win): “It was unfortunate to lose to
Phoenix the other night. We came back just wanting to win, needed to get this
first win at home. I think we’ve really developed a lot since the last game. We
had better team movement and a better team game tonight.”
(On the upcoming road trip): “We’ll have training before we leave. We’ll have to
look after our bodies and look after our minds. We’ve got to scout well, which
we will. It’s tough but we’ll get it done.”
Wings guard Allisha Gray(On the home crowd): “It’s great any time the crowd
comes out. The fans are why we play to have their support was just amazing. They
made it a home-court advantage tonight and to see so many fans in the stands, it
just shows that we are progressing, and they enjoy watching us play.”
(On the upcoming road trip): “Hopefully we can come out of it 3-0. We just have
to lock in, especially with Minnesota, Atlanta, and New York. They are all great
teams. We’ve just go to lock in, practice hard, and come prepared for all our
games.”
VISITOR QUOTES
Head Coach Nicki Collen On the first game of the season “I think with any new
roster it is a process. I think there were good things that happened and not so
good things. If you look at the breakdown it was pretty much even in the first,
third and fourth quarters. It came down to that huge run. We cannot give up 37
points in a quarter and expect to win games in this league. They made a run. We
hit first, but when they hit back we did not respond to that. With foul trouble,
we had some of our starters sit and that was a huge difference for us.”
On positives to take from the game “I like the fact that we had 18 assists. I
thought we shared the ball and played hard despite the store. I thought our team
always felt like we had a run in us that we could get back into the game. We
just could not get enough stops. I think we just have to figure each other out
offensively and really get on the same page defensively. I though Skylar
[Diggins-Smith] made a bunch of tough shots tonight, so hats off to her. And it
is hard to deal with 6-foot-9 in this league. [Liz] Cambage was a huge factor,
but I think at times we neutralized her and at times she dominated us.”
Guard, Renee Montgomery On takeaways from today’s game “We have to stop runs
sooner. We cannot let runs bloom in to double digits. On a positive note, I
liked how we stayed together throughout the game today during adversity.”
On looking forward to the rest of the season “I look forward to when we all
click and understand each other. It is a new system, new coach and new team. I
look forward to when we all have a flow. I know it is not going to happen
overnight, but I look forward to the moment when that does happen.”
