The Atlanta Dream made an intentional effort to work the ball inside early and often in last night's game against the Indiana Fever. It was an adjustment the team made after their first game, a loss to the Washington Mystics. In the first half of the first game, the talented and experienced frontcourt of Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones attempted only 7 paint shots. Last night, the two attempted 13 shots in the paint. Here are the attempts:
Indiana is notorious for getting into the open court, finding the space, and pressing to get easy baskets. Having dynamic players like Caitlin Clark and Aaliyah Boston means Indiana's offense is always going to be, at the very least above average, but the easy baskets in transition theoretically allows Indiana to integrate the bevy of role player talent they have into an unstoppable force. With the effort to get the ball into the paint, Atlanta controlled the pace of the game. Made shots in the key forced Indiana to take the ball out, which allowed Atlanta's defense to get set up. More shots in the key means less shots from three, which means long rebounds. Less long rebounds means less easy transition opportunities.
Because of the success of the Atlanta frontcourt in the first half, Indiana opted to play a zone defense in the third and fourth quarter. That zone defense allowed Atlanta to hit 5 three pointers and a fouled 3 point shot in the third quarter, resulting in 17 points for Atlanta en route to their highest scoring quarter of the season (32 points). It also slowed the game down even more for Indiana's offense, resulting in the Dream taking an 11 point lead into the fourth quarter.
Indiana saw some success with a full court press in the fourth quarter, which made it tough for Atlanta to get into their offense, find the ball inside, and resulted in some suboptimal shot attempts. When the two teams play again Thursday night, we will see if Indiana elects to use the strategy even more.
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