COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — It feels like a brand new season.
That was the sentiment shared multiple times by fans, media, staffers and coaches at Gateway Center Arena Thursday night.
The Dream went from Aug. 30 to Sept. 17 without playing a game thanks to the FIBA World Cup; and while their final win before the break was taking down the No. 1 team in the league, the Minnesota Lynx, it’s hard not to remember what took place right before that game.
A loss at home to the Portland Fire — a trap game, some would say.
So, when the Dream returned to the court Thursday night, they had four games remaining: Thursday’s tilt against the Connecticut Sun, Saturday’s against the Chicago Sky, and then back-to-back Monday and Wednesday dates with the New York Liberty in Brooklyn to finish the regular season.
Prior to the game Thursday, The IX Sports asked Atlanta head coach Karl Smesko about not overlooking the Sun and Sky as potential trap games before the big matchups with the Liberty to end the season. Playoff probabilities giving the Dream a 52% chance at the No. 4 seed and a 33% chance at the No. 5 seed.
“I think the teams we’re playing are really talented and they can beat anybody, and they’ve shown that. Connecticut beat the best team in the league in Minnesota,” Smesko told The IX Sports. “In this league, the difference between the top teams and the teams with the worst records isn’t that great. And then now you’re adding in a variable that, since we’re talking probabilities, of how often is it that you have two weeks off and 40% of our minutes kind of rejoined us in the last day?
“Even though we had a great week of practice for the players that were there, a good portion of our team wasn’t there for that. Getting everybody back up to speed in what we do and being able to execute at a high level — this is a different situation. I don’t think anybody really knows how it’s going to play out. … It’ll be an interesting board of games for everybody here.”
It was the message you’d expect from Smesko and, really, all of the 15 head coaches in the WNBA. It’s the right answer. The media-trained answer.
But the Dream had to beat the Sun on Thursday and they have to beat the Sky on Saturday.
If the outcome of Thursday’s Sun game was any indication, which the Dream won 103-59, there are no concerns of a trap game.
This team is ready for October basketball.
“It feels really good,” Dream forward Angel Reese told The IX Sports after she recorded a 30-point, 10-rebound double-double against the Sun. “I was joking in the locker room that I’m very well rested, and I was ready to play today, especially with this team, knowing how good we are, knowing how I felt after the last win against Minnesota, and right now, it’s important to make sure we’re setting a tone and leaving a taste in everybody’s mouth about what the playoffs is going to look like. No matter what team we’re playing against, we have to be consistent every single day and every single game.
“I want to play the first round right now, but, obviously, we just have to continue to just be ready and and look forward to these games right now, and then get ready for the playoffs.”
The 40% of minutes rejoining after the FIBA break that Smesko was speaking about include not only Reese, but also guard Rhyne Howard – both of whom won a gold medal for Team USA.
Both showed little signs of rust against the Sun — Reese became the only player in WNBA history with 30 points and 10 rebounds while playing 25 minutes or fewer — and while Thursday was an off night for Howard shooting the ball, she impacted the game in many other ways.
“She’s one of our best passers, best penetrators, and smartest players,” Smesko said of Howard. “She’s just been exceptional. And today was a great game. It wasn’t a great shooting performance, but you saw how she impacted the game in so many other ways when the ball wasn’t going in the basket, and I think she’s been playing her best basketball this year, and I think that that’ll continue the rest of this regular season, and I think it’ll continue into the playoffs.”
It wasn’t a good shooting performance by Howard, but she still broke the single-reason record for most made 3-pointers with 129 — breaking Sabrina Ionescu’s record of 128 set in 2023.
“I’m breaking a three-point record every year, so I mean, I expect nothing less of that,” Howard said postgame. “But obviously, I like to shoot. Shooters are going to shoot, so I’m gonna keep doing that. There’s going to be plenty more records, three-point records, with my name on it as long as I’m in the league, I believe. But I mean, that’s what I like to do. I’m gonna keep doing it, and I’m glad I finally got one to fall there at the end.”
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The Dream will need Howard’s all-around play if they want to make a run in the playoffs. For Reese, it’s going to be her first WNBA playoff appearance, now in her third season in the league.
As of Friday morning, the Dream have a 54% chance to land the No. 4 spot and a 34% chance to land the No. 5 spot. Grabbing that No. 4 spot would grant the Dream home court in the best-of-three first-round series for a second straight season.
“We know what’s going on around the standings, but like I said earlier, we’re making sure that we take our business ourselves,” Howard said. “We’re not gonna be like, ‘Oh, we need them to lose. We need them to do this.’ … We gotta handle ourselves, and making sure that we handle everything that we can, everything that is to our capability, we take care of. If we end up at home, we end up at home, and it should be deserved.”
The odds give the Dream a 53% chance to play the Fever in the first round of the playoffs for a second straight season. Last year, despite being the higher seed and the Fever dealing with injuries to Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, teammates Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston were able to lead the Fever to a first-round upset over the Dream.
“I never want to experience that feeling again,” Allisha Gray said earlier this year.
In order for that not to happen again, Reese is taking away a lesson from playing for Team USA and her role there: the bench is going to make the difference.
“Obviously we [Reese and Howard] had a different role when we went to Team USA and being able to come off the bench and being that spark, and that’s what I was trying to pour into the girls today that are coming off the bench because I think they did a really great job,” Reese said of the Dream’s reserves, who all scored in the win over the Sun. “They are the ‘SRC’ — Stay Ready Crew. When you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready, and you come in and have that spark.
“It’s going to take everybody to win in the playoffs. Our first five are actually really good, but we need our six through 12 to win a championship.”
Two of those players also experienced success in the FIBA Women’s World Cup, including Izzy Borlase and Sika Koné. Borlase has been a fixture in the Dream’s rotation, whereas Koné has mainly played in garbage time.
While playing for Team Australia, Borlase had a 30-point game, showing what she is capable of offensively.
“My role is different here to where it is in the Australian team,” Borlase said. “I think just learning how to impact the game differently was what I learned here, and I could bring that over to the World Cup.”
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Despite it being Reese’s first go in the postseason, she’s confident in the Dream’s chances and a big part of that is due to the arrival of veteran DeWanna Bonner.
“I believe that we’re going to go all the way, and obviously there’s going to be a lot of chatter on the outside,” Reese said. “As long as we continue to focus on what’s in our locker room, that’s all that matters. [Bonner], she came in and was telling us about how important it is right now to be together, and she’s obviously [played in] a lot of playoffs. She’s won a championship or two, and she knows what it takes to win.
“When you have people in the locker room that just know, it gives you that leverage. And I’m excited. This is my first time going to the playoffs, so I’m really leaning on everybody else. But I know my mentality of being able to come out every single night and. Just doing the work.”
One thing is for sure — the Dream aren’t treating Saturday’s game like a trap game. They know that they have a tough Liberty team awaiting them before they get into the playoffs. But they are ready and they have the experience of last year’s first-round exit to build off of this year.
“You want everybody confident, feeling good, healthy, and you want to go into the playoffs on a high note,” Smesko said. “Once the playoffs start, what you did before doesn’t really mean anything. You have to go do it on that day. But you want everybody in the locker room feeling like, ‘Hey, we’ve got this.’ We’ve been putting it together. We’ve been making improvements. We’re ready to go, and I think today was a step in that direction.”
