Inside the Dream's Boca training camp that set up Finals run - ESPN

ATLANTA — At the end of August, the Atlanta Dream had won five of six games, including four on the road, and were closing in on the right to host the first round of the WNBA playoffs. Within two weeks they knocked off the defending champion Las Vegas Aces and the presumptive favorite to win this season in the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx, with star Angel Reese recording her single-season record 29th double-double.

The Dream looked like one of the best teams in the league — and then everything came to a screeching halt: The WNBA season paused for 17 days for the FIBA World Cup.

Reese and teammate Rhyne Howard headed overseas to compete for Team USA, with Atlanta reserves Isobel Borlase (Australia) and Sika Kone (Mali) also making their way to Berlin. But the rest of the Dream roster later met up in a coastal Florida town about 45 miles north of Miami, known more for beaches and shopping and retirees and snowbirds than basketball.

Amid the prolonged disruption to the WNBA season that threatened to kill momentum for teams, the Dream used the time to fortify theirs — thanks to a mini training camp they held in Boca Raton, Florida, during the second weekend of the FIBA break.

«It was one of my [most] favorite trips of my career,» said DeWanna Bonner, a 17-year veteran. «That was the best trip. It was so fun.»

It's no coincidence the Dream have won 10 of 11 games since the break, including Monday's bounce-back Game 2 victory that tied the best-of-seven WNBA Finals against the Golden State Valkyries. Atlanta's 10 consecutive wins entering Game 1, which dated to that Aug. 30 victory over the Lynx, matched the 2017 Los Angeles Sparks for the longest win streak going into the Finals in league history.

The run coincides with Bonner's