Last Monday, the Dream were back at Philips Arena for a full week of afternoon practices. With more than two weeks before their next game, head coach Marynell Meadors will treat much of the early part of practices like another preseason, as players fight for their spot in the rotation.
“I think when we come back we are going to look like a whole new team,” Lennox said. “We have five games left to give it all we’ve got.”
The Dream return to game action starting on Friday, Aug. 29, with a home game against the Connecticut Sun at 7:30 p.m. The Dream were blown out by the Sun in the season opener back in May, but nearly beat them just over a month later before falling 109-101 in overtime. They follow up that game with a road matchup in Indiana the following night at 7 p.m.; the Dream defeated the Fever in Indianapolis on July 16 for one of their three victories on the season.
DESOUZA GOES DOWN AGAIN
It’s been a rollercoaster ride of a season for Erika DeSouza. She got off to a great start, averaging 11 points and nine rebounds in the first three games of the season. Then she suffered a right-leg injury that kept her out until just before the Olympic Break, which seemingly opened up the door for her participation in the 2008 Summer Olympics for her native Brazil.
After returning to the floor in an 81-75 defeat against the Washington Mystics, DeSouza was looking like her old self again in the New York game, scoring nine points and grabbing 11 boards in 31 minutes. But she felt soreness after the game, and soon it was discovered that she had re-injured the leg.
The injury forced DeSouza out of the Olympics, but she still made the trip to Beijing to support the Brazilian team. Her status is uncertain for the rest of the season.
IN THE COMMUNITY
The Dream have kept busy during the Olympic Break. Each player enjoyed six days off since the July 27 loss to New York. But the vacations were staggered over the two-week break, so that players were always in town to make appearances in the community.
First-round pick Tamera Young joined Allison Bales, Katie Feenstra, Chioma Nnamaka and Ann Strother to sign autographs at Six Flags over Georgia on July 31. Also, several players passed on their basketball knowledge and spent time with kids ages 6-17 last week at Camp Twin Lakes. Attending the camp were leading scorer Betty Lennox, Jennifer Lacy, Iziane Castro-Marques, Kristin Haynie and Chantelle Anderson. The camp is a non-profit organization for children with illnesses.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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