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Yup, it’s true. The Atlanta Dream notched its third win of a very long season on Wednesday. They downed the Indiana Fever 81-77, avenging a nine-point loss from June.

That puts the Dream at 3-19 on the season, but 2-2 on their current six-game road trip and 3-2 in their last five games. See, numbers can be parsed to make things look positive. But seriously, the Dream continues to gel, making progress and coming together as the WNBA’s newest franchise.

“We played good team wise,” coach Marynell Meadors said after the game on Wednesday. “Our defense was really good. It was a great game to watch. It was a game of runs. We rebounded the ball well.”

The Dream returns home on Tuesday to play the Sacramento Monarchs. It’s an early game, with the tip set for 11 a.m.

Tamera Young and her pigtails are making quite an impact with the Atlanta Dream.

The rookie forward, the Dream’s unexpected first draft pick, ranks among the WNBA’s top five rookies for both scoring and rebounding. That comes as a member of the Dream and its 2-19 record, the worst in the league.

“I see a star,” coach Marynell Meadors said. “I see a star who’s getting ready to be born.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution profiles Young in a lengthy piece today. The Dream, in the middle of a six-game road trip, plays again Wednesday at Indiana.

The Atlanta Dream notched its first-ever win against the Chicago Sky on July 5. Apparently, the mediocre Sky, which sits just above the Dream in the cellar of the WNBA’s Eastern Conference, wasn’t about to let that happen again.

The Sky dumped the Dream 79-66 on Sunday, their third win over the expansion team. They dominated the game, leading by as many as 31 early in the third quarter. The loss marked the second in a row for the 2-19 Dream, who put together two consecutive wins earlier this month.

“I just think that for whatever reason we just did not play a good game,” says Marynell Meadors, the Dream coach and general manager. “We did not come out with fire that we have normally come out with. This is an expansion team and usually you are going to have setbacks, but we felt like tonight we did it to ourselves. So we just have to keep battling and we can’t make the kind of mistakes that we made tonight, especially on the defensive end.”

The Dream, 1-2 on their six-game road trip, head to Indiana on Wednesday.

The struggles and successes of the Atlanta Dream have been chronicled here. Unfortunately, once the season started the former soon outweighed the latter.

But the New York Times provides a fresh look at the WNBA’s newest franchise, from their youthful roster to the inner calm that helped the team weather an 0-17 start.

As confetti floated down on the players, their relief was evident as they high-fived front-row spectators and hurled T-shirts into outstretched arms. Coach Marynell Meadors frolicked about in a pantsuit she could now wear again. Guard Tamera Young unleashed screams of joy, shaking the retro-college pigtails that had replaced her standard ponytail a week earlier. Players who had grumbled before the game about having to wear orange wristbands in conjunction with a charity promotion no longer wanted to remove them.

“I had forgotten what winning felt like,” guard Betty Lennox said.

Read the full story.

In a clash between two streaks – the Atlanta Dream’s two-game winning streak and the San Antonio Silver Stars’ collection of six consecutive wins – the Silver Stars came out on top Friday. The Dream fell to 2-18 with the 82-74 loss, despite leading by 16 points with 2:07 left in the third quarter.

“I thought we played a great game,” says Dream coach Marynell Meadors. “We had them on the rope. We made them play hard. I felt like we deserved to win the game.”

The Dream is 2-1 on their six-game road trip, with Chicago on tap Sunday.

Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes says the Dream outplayed them for much of the game.

“We made a run in the third quarter that helped make it a back and forth type of game in the fourth quarter,” he says. “They came in with a lot confidence and were making all the right plays that put us in a hole, but I think our team dig deep and we were able to come out with a win.” 

Make that two in a row.

The Atlanta Dream downed the Minnesota Lynx 73-67 last night, avenging an early June loss that marked the fifth defeat in what would grow into a WNBA record 17 consecutive losses to open a season.

But let’s not dwell in the negative. It’s now two wins in a row for the struggling expansion team and they are clearly relishing the moment.

“It’s huge, it’s just huge. Any win for an expansion team is just huge,” says Dream coach Marynell Meadors. “This team has played with so much heart and so much spirit and enthusiasm from April 20th through now, and we have made some changes on our team and I just think that the chemistry on this team is good.”

Does two consecutive wins make life in the WNBA a little easier?

(more…)

Money seems to be the theme of the day. Mike’s got too little and Chipper’s got too much. A rundown on the best in local pro sports happenings:

Michael Vick is broke. Or so says his “trusted advisor” who claims to be a medical doctor who has transitioned into a financial planner and management consultant. Aren’t these the types of friends and advisors who led Vick to the federal pen in Kansas? Vick filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday.

Speaking of the Atlanta Falcons, they open training camp July 26. The team scrapped its popular Midtown Touchdown Fan Fest at Piedmont Park, replacing it with a simulated game on Aug. 2 at the Georgia Dome.

Chipper Jones, on the other hand, has so much money he doesn’t even keep track. The Atlanta Braves third baseman notched a $2 million bonus for making the All-Star team this year, one of several baseball players to do so thanks to clauses included in their contracts. But Jones says “he’s not worried about the money”:

“That deal was signed a long time ago, so you forget about the little sidebars, as far as your contract goes, when you immerse yourself in the game,” Jones said. “I’m not worried about the money. I’ve made my money in this game. I just want to get back healthy and get back to the point where I’m producing at a high rate like I was earlier in my career. The people who play this game just for the money, they’ll get weeded out eventually. I’ve never played this game for love of the money.”

Hat tip to Outsports.

Zach Bogosian (photo), the teen sensation and rookie defenseman for the Atlanta Thrashers, is still a week away from turning 18. But on Tuesday, he was already impressing his new team. The 6-foot 2-inch, 200-pound jock left us impressed with his good looks and charm during the NHL entry draft last month, where he went third overall.

Frenchy’s back but still pissed. The Atlanta Braves slugger returned to the Bigs on Wednesday, helping a rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers. But Francoeur remains upset about his three-day demotion:

“It’s been something that I never thought I would have to deal with, but at the same time I’m looking forward to getting back and helping these guys out,” said Francoeur, who reiterated twice Tuesday that he didn’t think the minor league assignment was necessary.

Tonight, the Atlanta Dream goes for its second win in the first of a six-game road trip. They face Minnesota, which dropped the Dream by a slim four points in early June. They enter the game with the Lynx with the services of guard Iziane Castro-Marques, who will start tonight despite being dumped by from Brazil’s Olympic qualifying team over a dispute with her coach.

Photo: Getty Images

The drought is over.

No, not that one. The one that kept the Atlanta Dream winless for their first 17 games. They made history again tonight when they beat the Chicago Sky 91-84 and won their first game. Ever.

“I just know I’m so proud of each and every one of them,” Dream coach Marynell Meadors said after the game. “Everyone made valuable contributions. I thought it took an entire team effort today. We’ve always had our spirit all year – that energy and enthusiasm for playing the game.”

The Dream already owns one record this season – the longest winless streak to open a WNBA season. So understandably, players were excited about notching that first win and doing it in front of fans who continue to support them to the tune of nearly 10,000 per game.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” guard Kristin Haynie said. “We are a young team and we have to learn how to close out games. We kept our composure and we didn’t let their run get to us. It was a great team effort.  It’s a new season we are 1-0 now.”

More on the win and the Dream’s upcoming six-game, 10-day road trip here.

Photo: Todd R. McQueen, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Ron Terwilliger can sum things up pretty succinctly: “I think it would be better if we were winning some games.”

With his new WNBA team hemorrhaging both and off the court, Terwilliger let on to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Atlanta Dream is losing more games and more money than even he expected for their first season in the league.

Terwilliger thought his fledgling franchise would have won at least a few games by now, and although not unhappy with the attendance, “I think it would be better if we were winning some games,” he said. “We need to keep building the franchise and build on that core [fan base].”

The Dream averages 7,942 fans per home game, surprising given that the team fell to 0-17 and is suffering through the longest losing streak to open a season in the history of the 12-year-old league. The team still draws slightly above-average crowds for the league.

Terwilliger hasn’t been shy about his expectations for the team – a championship within five years. With the Dream’s 72-65 loss to Houston on Thursday, it’s clear he and the team have a long way to go.

Update | 10:05 p.m. Unfortunately, now a nationally TV audience knows what local fans figured out a couple of weeks ago: The Atlanta Dream isn’t good.

The Dream dropped to 0-16 last night, with a loss in the first of a three-game home stand. The 97-79 loss to the Phoenix Mercury came on ESPN2, the Dream’s first home game in front of a national audience.

“It’s tough losing, but we will continue to work, forget about this game, and continue to stick together as a team,” says Marynell Meadors, the Dream coach and general manager.

The upside is that efforts to fill Philips Arena for the game – including $4 tickets, a rally towel giveaway and a sign campaign by fans – boosted attendance to 9,795, one of the highest of the season for the Dream. That comes as they are winless and expanding the WNBA’s winless record to start a season to new heights.

They’ve got another chance on Friday against Chicago, a team the Dream has lost to twice this season.

Update | Hat tip to Jill for pointing out that I can’t read a schedule. The Dream play Houston on Thursday and Chicago on Saturday. How embarrassing.