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The Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty experienced frustrating weekend trips to Midwest cities, and watching the film of those performances was not enjoyable viewing.
Both teams get a chance to rebound from subpar showings Tuesday night when the Dream visit the Liberty at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, N.Y.
Atlanta (6-5) is coming off a 96-64 loss to the previously winless Indiana Fever. After squeaking by Indiana at home last Thursday with a five-point win, the Dream shot 37.3 percent and got outscored 61-26 in the second half on Saturday.
Atlanta ranks as the lowest scoring team in the league at 73.8 points per game and has topped 80 points three times. The Dream also have shot below 40 percent in the last three games, and their 38.6 field goal percentage ranks last in the league as does their 26.5 percent on 3-point attempts.
"We're getting there. It takes time. I hate to say it's a process because now it's cliche, but it takes time to learn each other," Atlanta guard Renee Montgomery said last week. "We're trying to figure out how to win in tough situations. We did last game, but it takes time."
Angel McCoughtry scored 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting in 26 minutes Saturday. Her performance occurred after she was 7 of 25 from the floor in the previous two games.
Tiffany Hayes, who has scored at least 20 points six times this season and was the Eastern Conference Player of the Week last week, injured her right ankle in the third quarter Saturday and is questionable for Tuesday.
While Atlanta ranks at the bottom in three major offensive categories, it is allowing 77.5 points, which ranks second in scoring defense behind the Los Angeles Sparks. The Fever are hoping Saturday was an aberration on the defensive side.
New York (3-6) began the season with seven straight games decided by six points or fewer but is coming off consecutive losses by double-digit margins.
The Liberty trailed by 26 in a 78-63 home loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday and followed it up by trailing by 24 in an 85-71 setback at Minnesota on Saturday.
"The past few games, we've just been getting lucky," New York forward Tina Charles said after the loss to Las Vegas. "We've just been getting by. I believe we needed this. We needed to get smacked around to know what it feels like."
The Liberty are hoping they can shore up their interior defense and rebounding after a dismal showing in both areas.
They allowed 42 points in the paint on 21-of-30 shooting while totaling only 22 points inside themselves. New York also was outrebounded 35-22, resulting in a 19-3 disparity in second-chance points as it could not stop Minnesota star Sylvia Fowles from constantly getting layups in a 25-point night.
Offensively, the Liberty are hoping for more support for Charles. She scored a season-low 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting, but nobody else reached double figures as the Liberty were held below 80 points for the fourth time in five games.
New York took two of three meetings with Indiana last season and has won 11 of the 14 games with Atlanta.
