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Dream-Liberty Preview

Jul 10, 2009 - 7:16 PM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Atlanta (6-7) at New York (3-7), 7:30 p.m. EDT

The Atlanta Dream have already seen significant improvement from their 2008 inaugural season. Their upcoming road trip could determine just how far they've come.

The Dream begin a five-game stretch away from home Saturday when they take on the New York Liberty.

Atlanta (6-7) has already surpassed its win total from last season, when it finished last in the league with a 4-30 record. Its road struggles, however, haven't abated. The Dream went 3-14 on the road as an expansion team in 2008 and are just 1-4 this season away from home, where they are averaging almost 15 fewer points per game. Chamique Holdsclaw, the team's leading scorer at 14.2 points per game overall, is averaging 8.6 on the road.

The Dream are feeling some confidence, though, having won two of their last three including a 72-67 victory over Connecticut on Tuesday. Holdsclaw had 19 points and seven rebounds while Erika DeSouza finished with 12 points and 17 boards. Atlanta let a 19-point halftime lead dwindle to two, but Sancho Lyttle hit two free throws to seal the win for the Dream, who shot 37 percent from the field on the night.

"We struggled offensively, but our defense pulled us through," DeSouza said. "We gave up games like this last year. But now, we're different."

New York (3-7) swept the season series with Atlanta in 2008, including one meeting at Madison Square Garden. The Dream will play at MSG twice during this road trip, which also includes a visit to the conference-leading Indiana Fever on July 17.

While the Dream lost all three 2008 meetings to New York by double-digit margins, the Liberty - who won 19 games in 2008 - are looking like a much different team than the one that dominated Atlanta last season.

New York has lost four of its last five and owns the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference - one-half game ahead of Detroit. The Liberty are coming off a 69-60 loss to Los Angeles on Thursday, when they got outrebounded 38-24 and shot only 36.8 percent. Janel McCarville scored 18 points and added six rebounds to lead New York.

"It all comes down to focus," said Shameka Christon, who scored 10 points after entering the night fifth in the league with 18.4 per game. "We have to execute our assignments and we didn't. We made a lot of mistakes. It's frustrating, but we got to keep fighting. Somehow or another we got to keep fighting and get things off the ground."

The Liberty are the lowest-scoring team in the WNBA at 70.4 points. They averaged 83 against Atlanta last season.