Dream look to strengthen playoff seeding in road game at Sun

The Atlanta Dream will be looking to improve their playoff seeding when they face the increasingly competitive Connecticut Sun on the road Monday in Uncasville, Conn.

Atlanta (25-14) is in the midst of the playoff race, one of four teams in a clump behind league leader Minnesota as the WNBA seeding race plays out. But at 4-3 in their past seven games, the Dream are struggling to find consistency ahead of the playoffs.

On Friday, Atlanta blasted Dallas 100-78, clinching a playoff spot with the win. Rhyne Howard dropped 24 points on Dallas, including 6-for-11 3-point shooting. She also blocked a career-best six shots in the win.

Four other players joined Howard in double-figure scoring, with Allisha Gray tallying 19 points. Brionna Jones scored 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting, and point guard Te-Hina Paopao added 14 points with 4-for-7 3-point shooting and a team-high eight assists. Veteran Brittney Griner chipped in 11 points off the bench.

Coach Karl Smesko acknowledged the Dream's bigger-picture goals and impending seeding situation.

"We kind of had bigger goals in the playoffs from the beginning, but you can't reach those goals unless you make the playoffs," said Smesko. "We'd like to be in the best position at the end of the regular season in terms of hosting as much as we can, and there's a whole bunch of teams super tight."

Connecticut (10-29) will miss the playoffs, but comes in having won four of the past six games. On Saturday, the Sun fell to the league-leading Lynx 94-70. Connecticut shot just 36.2 percent (25-for-69) for the game, and was led by veterans Marina Mabrey and Tina Charles with 14 points each, with Charles adding eight rebounds. Reserve Aaliyah Edwards added 11 points.

Coach Rachid Meziane has addressed the big picture for his squad.

"I'm proud of our improvement," Meziane said. "One of my main goals is to make this team better during the season. So I can be proud of that and all credit is to the players."

This is the third matchup of these teams, with the teams having split the first two.

--Field Level Media