The Atlanta Dream’s season ended on Thursday, Sept. 18 as they lost to the Indiana Fever 87-85 in the first round of the WNBA playoffs. Despite leading for almost the entire second half, the Dream’s championship hopes died in dramatic fashion. The loss marks the end of a great season that saw Atlanta tie for the second-best record in the league, which was good for the best in the East. The Dream started the playoffs as the No. 3 seed before falling to the No. 6 seeded Fever in Game 3.
Atlanta started the series with a commanding 80-68 win at home. Guards Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard led the team with 20 points apiece, and the game was last tied at 40 with 7:24 left in the 3rd quarter. After that,the Dream never looked back.While the Fever never gave up, the game was not close.
Game 2 in Indiana was a complete 180. Atlanta never led, and, midway through the fourth quarter, the Fever led by as many as 24 points before the game eventually finished at 77-60. Atlanta’s leading scorer in the game was second-round rookie Te-Hina Paopao with 11. Paopao and Howard, who put up 10 each, were the only Dream players with double-digit points.
This loss by the Dream set the stage for a winner-take-all Game 3 in Atlanta with the Dream as betting favorites. The Fever were underdogs for good reason; they had their season seemingly derailed by injuries. Since early August, Indiana has had three guards — Sophie Cunningham, Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald — go down with season-ending injuries and received the news that superstar guard Caitlin Clark would also miss the rest of the season through injury.
As Game 3 progressed, Atlanta was consistently in the driver’s seat. They were never able to put away Indiana (the largest lead of the game was eight points for the Dream early in the third quarter), but the Fever hadn’t led since the second quarter, and Atlanta had been better all season — they were capable of closing out the game.
The cycle of the second half consisted of the Dream building leads of about five points, the Fever coming close to stealing the lead and Atlanta surging ahead again. With 2:32 left in the game, Howard hit a three-point shot to give her team one such lead, making the game 85-80. Then, Kelsey Mitchell and Lexie Hull each scored two-pointers to bring the Fever within one point of tying the game.
On a crucial play with seconds left in the game, Dream guard Jordin Canada, trying to defend Mitchell, fell over running into Fever forward Aliyah Boston as she passed the ball to Mitchell. Mitchell then lost her dribble for a second, causing Dream forward Brionna Jones to lunge for the ball, falling over herself. This led to a breakdown on defense as Fever guard Odyssey Sims was able to find an open Boston under the rim who put in a layup, giving Indiana their first lead since the second quarter. The game became 86-85 with 7.4 seconds left. Atlanta couldn’t get themselves a real opportunity for the rest of the game and their great season came to a disappointing end, 87-85.
While it ended in devastating fashion, the season shouldn’t be thought of as a complete failure for Atlanta. Gray had her best season, finishing 4th in MVP voting (Howard also received votes, landing 11th), forward Naz Hillmon won the Sixth Player of the Year award and the team improved from eighth in the regular season to third.
This said,it remains to be seen how many players from this core will return next year. Gray, Howard, Jones, Hillmon, Canada, Nia Coffey and Brittney Griner are all set to be free agents this year. The only Dream players not on expiring contracts are rookies. As the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement looms, contract prices are expected to balloon next year. Atlanta will have to consider which players they can afford to bring back and which they are willing to lose in order to build on their great season.