The Atlanta Dream have grown a lot since their first outing against the Washington Mystics, when they fell 94-90 on opening night. Back then, rookies Sonia Citron (19 points) and Kiki Iriafen (14 points) led the charge for Washington, while veteran Brittney Sykes made Karl Smesko’s coaching debut in Atlanta a bit disappointing. But fast forward to this rematch — and the scoreboard tells the story of how far this Dream team has come.
On a day when Brittney Griner was held to only 2 points, and Rhyne Howard — fresh off her historic nine 3-pointers last game — was held to 14 points, it was the Sisters from South Carolina who completely took over. Te-Hina Paopao poured in a career-high 16 points, while Allisha Gray, who is building a serious case for league MVP, delivered a career-best 32-point performance, adding 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals to her dominant night.
The Dream were locked in from start to finish, suffocating the Mystics defensively and exploding offensively from beyond the arc. Atlanta knocked down a franchise-record 18 three-pointers, coming within one of tying the WNBA record (19). They also held Washington to just 58 points — the third time this season they’ve kept an opponent under 60 — and closed out the night with a 33-point blowout victory, their largest margin of victory since 2014.
Coach Smesko said: “The year she’s having is extraordinary (speaking on Allisha Gray), every game she looks more and more comfortable, she’s looking for opportunities and she’s just a fantastic player so we’re very fortunate to have her and hopefully she can keep this going and I expect she will.”
Coach Smesko also reflected on how far his team has come defensively since that opening night loss:
“That first game, to be honest I was kind of disappointed with myself because we weren’t really ready to defend at a high level. We spent so much time on offense, we came in here and they really kind of exposed us, exposed our defense. I’m glad we’ve made some progress since then; it was a team effort on the defensive end today and hopefully we can continue to grow on that side of the ball.”
The defensive improvement was obvious. This time around, Kiki Iriafen, Brittney Sykes, and Sonia Citron were all held to significantly fewer points than they posted in the season opener.
The Dream improved to 7-1 in their last eight games, marking their best start through 11 games since 2016. They’re now 3-1 in Commissioner’s Cup play, sitting in a three-way tie with the New York Liberty and Indiana Fever. With a head-to-head win already over the Fever, Atlanta’s next matchup is a critical showdown against the Liberty on Tuesday in New York.
The Liberty, who suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday at the hands of Caitlin Clark and the Fever, will be looking to bounce back — but they’ll face a Dream team that may be the hottest squad in the WNBA right now.
Allisha Gray shared her excitement about the Commissioner’s Cup race:
“It’s very cool, this is my (both of our – her and Paopao) first time being in this position to compete to go to the Commissioner’s Cup championship, so the biggest thing is just locking in. We know New York is a great team, they have great players, so just gotta play hard.”
And for rookie Te-Hina Paopao, it’s an opportunity she’s embracing fully:
“I’m excited, it’s my first Commissioner’s Cup so I just gotta keep learning, keep showing up and being there for my teammates and do what I can do to help them win.”
A win against the Liberty on Tuesday would mark another huge accomplishment for Coach Smesko in his first season leading the Dream. If Atlanta continues to defend like they did today and if Allisha Gray keeps playing at an MVP level, the rest of the league better take notice — because this Dream squad is quickly becoming a real problem.
