WASHINGTON, D.C. — Another strong defensive effort wasn’t enough to stop Atlanta’s slide Thursday night.
Despite forcing 27 Washington turnovers and getting 24 points from Rhyne Howard, the Dream dropped their fourth straight game, falling 81-76 to the Mystics at Entertainment & Sports Arena.
Atlanta (29-for-79) generated 23 more field-goal attempts than Washington but couldn’t capitalize, shooting just 36.7% from the floor and 7-for-30 (23.3%) from three. The Mystics answered with one of their most efficient offensive performances of the season, shooting 55.4% overall and 9-for-16 (56.3%) from beyond the arc.
Howard led Atlanta with 24 points, knocking down five three-pointers while adding four steals. Allisha Gray finished with 17 points, Angel Reese posted another double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Jordin Canada contributed 10 points and seven assists.
Washington was led by Shakira Austin’s 21 points and nine rebounds, while Kiki Iriafen added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Alicia Florez finished with 13 points, seven assists and a game-best plus-16.
The Dream appeared to control many of the game’s hustle categories. Atlanta outrebounded Washington on the offensive glass 16-8 and forced nearly twice as many turnovers as it committed. But the inability to convert those extra possessions, combined with Washington’s red-hot perimeter shooting, proved decisive down the stretch.
“We’ve gone through adversity on this road trip,” Canada said afterward. “It’s up to us to figure out how we’re going to come together. Great teams go through adversity. We just have to go back, watch the film, see areas that we can get better and continue to grow.”
Atlanta’s frustration became increasingly evident during the closing minutes, particularly regarding the officiating. Canada did not hide her feelings.
“I’m gonna get fined, so I don’t really care,” Canada said. “I think tonight, the officiating was awful, horrible. I think in the crucial point of the game, when they started to make a run, I think the officiating kind of helped them out, to be honest.”
Canada also pointed to what she believed was inconsistent physicality throughout the contest.
“I don’t know how many times Angel has to get beat up in the paint for her to get a foul call,” Canada said. “Every time she had a fast-break layup she was getting hacked in the paint.”
Despite her frustration, Canada acknowledged the Dream still have to control what they can.
“We have to be poised and keep our composure,” Canada said. Rhyne Howard chimed in and said “If we react, we’re going to be bad guys. Especially our team, if we were to react. We continue to go to the ref, hey we’re getting that same contact, we are gettting that same call, and they’re like oh we’re are going to get it right, now we have to waste a challenge on someone jumping on my point guards back…” Howard also stated that the refs are telling the Dream that they are going to get it right and to that Howard stated “Get it right the first time… so we don’t have to continue to change our whole game plan…”
Canada later added, “I’m not trying to make an excuse for the officiating. Obviously there are things that we, as a team, have to improve on, but things have to be a little bit fair when we are playing.”
The game’s final moments included a controversial sequence involving what Atlanta believed should have been a five-second violation before officials instead awarded Washington a timeout.
“Ashley called the five-second call,” Canada said. “Then she turns around and says, ‘No, he called a timeout.’ … We did our job. They need to do their job.”
Head coach Karl Smesko echoed many of his point guard’s frustrations while making clear he wasn’t taking credit away from Washington.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Washington because they played great. They shot it great,” Smesko said. “But the officiating is horrendous.”
Still, Smesko pointed to basketball reasons for the loss.
“We have to make some shots,” Smesko said. “We’ve been playing teams that have shot the ball extraordinarily well, especially from three. We almost overcame that by winning possessions, but we weren’t able to execute down the stretch and get the kind of shots that we wanted.”
He also emphasized Atlanta’s pace disappearing late in the game.
“When we decided to walk the ball up, we weren’t getting the same type of shots,” Smesko said. “If we walk it up, we need to play with better pace than what we did.”
Howard, meanwhile, said the team’s veterans are focused on ensuring frustration doesn’t become an excuse as the losing streak reaches four games.
“We have to be better,” Howard said of Naz Hillmon’s message after the game. “We can’t use the reffing as an excuse. We can’t use the road trip as an excuse. Everybody’s tired. We have to be better.”
The Dream now head into another difficult test searching for answers before their skid grows any longer.
