So, the Washington Mystics lost to the Eastern Conference leading Atlanta Dream, 75-67.
There were two things that really defined this game for me. First, it was the offensive rebounds. The Atlanta Dream only shot 38.2% for the night (26-68), and that was actually worse than the Mystics, who made 41.9% of their shots (26-62).
But when teams miss shots, those are also offensive rebounding opportunities. The Washington Mystics had four offensive rebounds, and no player had more than one. As for the Atlanta Dream, they had 17. Erika De Souza, as you might expect, grabbed three of them.
But Angel McCoughtry grabbed three more offensive rebounds. Tiffany Hayes and Shoni Schimmel grabbed another five. Amanda Thompson, who played less than six minutes, also grabbed three more while she was on the floor. The Mystics can't just have multiple opposing guards and players who do not play many minutes for a game do this, and expect to win.
Not surprisingly, with Atlanta dominating the offensive glass, the Dream had a field day with second chance points. They had 18. The Mystics had zero.
There was another stat that stuck out during this game. That was the free throw disparity. The Dream was 20-of-31 at the line, while the Mystics were 8-of-13. Yes, both teams shot poorly at the line, but when you see a free throw disparity like that, it doesn't bode well for a team's chances to win the game.
Yes, the Mystics had some chances to win the game because there were multiple instances in the fourth quarter where they got the deficit down to one. But the Dream found an answer to get a basket, so the outcome of this game was never really in doubt.
You can watch Mike Thibault's post game presser in the embed above. If you cannot see it, click here for the link from Monumental Network.
Both the Mystics and the Dream will play each other again on Wednesday, this time in Atlanta. It is also the first game on a four game road trip for D.C., with three of those games against Western Conference opponents.
Those three opponents are the Minnesota Lynx on Friday, June 20; the Seattle Storm on Sunday, June 22; and the San Antonio Stars on Tuesday, June 24. The Mystics have already lost to the Lynx and Storm at home earlier this season, so it will be a daunting road trip for sure.