Atlanta Dream: 2019 Schedule breakdown

The 2019 schedule has been released, lets take a look at the breakdown of the upcoming season for the Atlanta Dream.

The 2019 WNBA season is still almost six months away but the schedule has already been released. The Dream were an extremely solid basketball team last season, missing a probable berth in the WNBA Finals due to the untimely injury to superstar Angel McCoughtry.

This success was set up thanks to an incredible off-season. They signed new head coach Nikki Collen who got the players to buy into her system. They also re-signed McCoughtry as well as luring free agents Jessica Breland and Renee Montgomery amongst other moves.

This season is going to be a little more difficult for the Dream. They have made a great move by going back to State Farm Arena which is where they belong. They have two home games in May which is a great way to re-establish themselves in their new home. However, they need to be careful in these two games as they could be 0-2 to start the season. They play the Dallas Wings in the first game of the season, then host last years champions the Seattle Storm.

The month of June starts out tough. They open the month on the road against the Washington Mystics which is the second night of a back-to-back, the first night against the Storm. They host the Mystics in a return match later in the month.

They will need to establish a winning mentality early on in the month as they play other playoff teams in the Connecticut Sun twice as well as a Las Vegas Aces team who could be anything. They will receive the first overall pick in the 2019 draft to go along with the improvement to the rest of the roster. The Dream will need to take care of business in the relatively easier games of the month against the Indiana Fever and the New York Liberty.

July is another tough month which sees the Dream travel for the first three games of the month. They take on the Minnesota Lynx, Storm and the Phoenix Mercury in six nights. They then come home for three games where they take on the Sun, Lynx and Sparks in five nights.

The Dream are then again on the road for three more games where they will face an improved Chicago Sky then travel to Connecticut and Washington for another three games in five nights. They then host the Sparks for their fourth game in seven nights. The Dream then have a week off before taking on the Fever in Indiana. How the Dream handle this month will go a long way to determining their playoff seeding.

Fortunately for the Dream, the schedule appears to open up in August. Their first two games of the month are at home. against the Sky and the Lynx. They would have to win both these games to be taken serious come playoffs. They then travel to Indiana, Las Vegas and Phoenix for another three game road trip.

They then close the month out with a home game against the Sky follow by two games on the road against the Liberty and Wings. The month closes at home against the Mercury. They have two fewer games in the month and they are playing more teams who finished last season in the lower half of the standings.

There are only four games in the month of September for the Dream and these games will be important for what should be a deep playoff run. They open the month on the road against the Storm followed by a game two nights later against the Sparks. They then play their final two games at home where they should be able to gain some momentum against the Aces before finishing the season against the Liberty.

These four games are played over eight games so the Dream will need to find ways of conserving the legs of their stars. If they can take most of the game off against the Liberty, this will set them up for a solid start to the playoffs. If the Dream don’t get the work done in July, this game could be the one which decides their seeding, after all, there are very few easy games in the WNBA.

If the Dream can take care of business at home, they should be able to earn themselves at least home court advantage for at least the first round. While their eventual seeding will be determined by the health of their core, McCoughtry in particular. However, the Dream have such good depth and with another season knowing Coach Collen’s system they will be a top-tier team this season.

For the full Atlanta Dream schedule, click here.