Each team has something to prove.
Atlanta’s Chennedy Carter suffered an injury against the New York Liberty in late May, but the Dream still beat NY that night. However, the Dream has lost consecutive games since. Before those losses, Atlanta was riding a four-game win streak and had a top-five WNBA power ranking.
Now Atlanta will host the Western Conference-leading Seattle Storm, a team loaded with stars, including Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird, and Jordin Canada. Atlanta and Seattle play not just once but twice this week in a series that begins Wednesday and ends Friday. The outcome will go a long way toward answering just how much Atlanta misses Carter–assuming she misses one or both games.
If there’s good news in Atlanta, it’s in the person of Aari McDonald, the rookie guard who is playing in Carter’s place. In that role, McDonald is averaging 20+ minutes and 15 points a game.
On the other side of the court, Seattle is coming off a tough weekend (two-game split) against the cellar-dwelling Dallas Wings. But “cellar-dwelling” doesn’t mean much in the highly competitive Western Conference. Seattle’s Western competitors are good–undefeated collectively in their last 11 games (as of Monday night, June 7).
First, though, Atlanta is on tap for Seattle. The first of two tilts will be played Wednesday night with a 7 p.m. tip at the Gateway Center in College Park, Georgia.
