Tempo’s brutal skid has them counting down the days until the All-Star break

The Toronto Tempo dropped their second straight game and seventh in their last nine games, falling to the Atlanta Dream 111-92. 

Toronto was dominated almost the entire night and even trailed by 19 points at one point, as the trend of having no offense outside of Marina Mabrey continued. Mabrey had an impressive 26-point showing on an efficient 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from three. But her efforts couldn't match an Atlanta starting five that all finished the game scoring in double figures, with both Angel Reese and Naz Hillmon finishing with 23+ points each. This was the Dream’s third win over the Tempo this season.

This loss felt like it exemplified the steady decline Toronto has been on since their exciting 5-4 start that had many thinking they could be this year's version of the Golden State Valkyries. At first, it really seemed like the Tempo would be a playoff threat. They had the breakout guards in Mabrey and Brittney Sykes, a great rookie in Kiki Rice, awesome coaching, and a high-octane offense. But things have come to a halt with Toronto now sitting at 10-15 and 11th in the league, as they desperately look forward to the July 23 All-Star break.

The Tempo are limping into the break

The All-Star break offers Sandy Brondello, her coaching staff, the front office, and the players an opportunity to do something they haven’t been able to do all season, which is regroup. They finally have time to figure out what the plan is for the second half and where changes need to be made.

Very early in the season, the Tempo’s offense was flowing and carried them to several wins, but questions remained about their defense. The question always was what happens when shots stop falling at the ridiculous rate they were to start the season, and Toronto finds themselves in games where every single stop matters? And we got our answer: losses start to pile up. Whether it’s their rim defense or getting stops from the point of attack, the Tempo have the league's worst defensive personnel, and the stats reflect that.

Following Friday’s loss, Toronto has the league's worst defensive rating at 113.0.

Then you factor in the extended absences from both Rice and Sykes, and Mabrey starting to be run into the ground, and you can see this entire group is begging for a break. Even Sabally can’t catch a break as she went down with a rib injury late in the fourth quarter against Atlanta. 

Everyone on this team is battered, bruised, and drained from an incredibly trying first 25 games of the season, and getting some time to recharge and reset is much needed. However, there is one more challenge before the break, and it may be their hardest yet, with defending WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces in town Monday night.

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