Atkins sparks Mystics to win in WNBA Finals opener

WASHINGTON — For the first time this season, the Connecticut Sun saw the full force of the Washington Mystics. That’s not a good sight if you’re an opponent watching a parade of red-clad Mystics be red-hot from the floor — in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, no less.

The Mystics shot 54 percent from the field in a 95-86 victory. And unlike the three regular-season meetings — two of which the Sun won — both Elena Delle Donne and Emma Meesseman were on the court for the Mystics. Delle Donne missed the teams’ first game in May with knee soreness, and Meesseman missed both June games because she was with the Belgian national team.

But the “E-Squared” forward duo didn’t do the only damage against the Sun. Guards Ariel Atkins and Natasha Cloud combined to get the Mystics off to a fast start and continued to spark the team throughout a game that got tighter than Washington wanted in the fourth quarter.

But even then the Mystics had answers, and Atkins was a primary one. Atkins didn’t score in double figures in the Mystics’ four semifinal games against Las Vegas — with 18 points total — but she had 21 points Sunday, making 6 of 7 shots from the field and 6 of 6 from the line. It was her fourth game of at least 20 points this season, and Washington has won all of them. Cloud had 13 points and seven assists.

Atkins, a second-year player out of Texas, hit a 3-pointer with 4 minutes, 7 seconds left to put the Mystics up 85-76. Everyone is used to Delle Donne, Meesseman and guard Kristi Toliver hitting clutch shots for Washington.

But Atkins and Cloud can do it, too, and that’s a big reason the Mystics were such a nightmare for opposing defenses all this season. Their biggest weapons, including league MVP Delle Donne, were a big story. But not the entire story.

Atkins and Cloud are also catalysts on defense, and they did their job there, too. Atkins got a key rebound off a Meesseman miss with 3:27 left, giving the Mystics another chance they took advantage of with Toliver’s finger-roll layup 11 seconds later.

It was one of those “I may be under 6 feet tall, but nobody else is getting this ball but me” kind of rebounds by the 5-foot-8 Atkins. And it was fitting that she also grabbed the Mystics’ last rebound and finished with five boards. She tends to be a woman of few words, at least to the media, letting her game speak for her. Which it did Sunday.

“Focus on what we do best,” Atkins said going into the game of what the Mystics needed to do. “I think not getting so involved with what they do. They’re good at what they do and have been doing it all season long. We can’t get so wrapped up trying to play their game and not play ours.”

The Mystics did that. They were the league’s best offensive team all season, and Delle Donne led the way with 22 points Sunday, while Toliver had 18 and Meesseman 11. And while coach Mike Thibault might have wanted a little better defensive effort, it was a bend-not-break performance from Washington. Courtney Williams had 26 points to lead the Sun, who shot 48.5 percent from the field.

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