The tide has finally turned.
In a complete 40-minute performance, the Atlanta Dream pushed the pace for a strong 97-82 win against the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday night.
Both teams entered the night coming off disappointing losses and were looking for a bounce-back victory in this playoff push to build their momentum.
The Aces started off making steady baskets, with the Dream matching their energy in the first quarter. But once the game went into halftime, the Dream pulled away and never looked back.
“I’m sure all of us had a bad taste in our mouth after the last game,” Angel Reese said. “I’m sure everybody wanted to win that last one. And being on the road for what 10 days and knowing how much these roadkills are going to matter coming down the stretch, especially with seeding going into the playoffs, is important. And we really wanted to beat Vegas. I think all of us came together and wanted to beat Vegas for 40 minutes, and I think everybody came together and did that.”
Reese picked up her 24th double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while also adding four assists and four steals.
She also explained how the last game was a tough one for her. She said she would stay awake thinking about her missed shot and what could have gone differently.
Coach Smesko remarked on this in the post-game press conference and explained how they had a team mentality and try not to dwell on mistakes after they’ve learned from them. He believed Reese did a good job of keeping that in mind against the Aces.
“I thought Angel had a great bounce-back game today. You know, she’s really playing good defense on MVP (A’ja Wilson). So you know it was nice to see her have the night that she had, and nice to see that everybody kind of rallied from the disappointing loss a couple days ago to beat a really good team on the road.”
With the encouragement from her teammates, along with the competitive drive to make up for her dismay in the next game, she showed up for her team and put together an aggressive performance in the paint.
She even knocked down her seventh 3-pointer of the season off an assist from Jordin Canada.
Speaking of Canada, the speedy point guard came up big for the team in her return after missing the team’s last game against Indiana.
Not missing a beat, she concluded the night with 17 points, six rebounds and three assists. Her prior absence was due to illness, and though she was also under the weather in Tuesday’s matchup, she was able to pace herself and give full effort in helping the Dream complete the win.
“I think she (Canada) was just really disappointed that she was unable to play in the Indiana game,” Smesko said. “And she didn’t even she couldn’t even come to the arena. She had to be at home and watch it at home. And I think that’s kind of the toughest thing when you want to help so bad and you can’t be there to do anything about it. So I think she just was determined to go out there today and give everything she had. And she truly did. She played great out there, and she just made a huge, huge difference for us.”
It’s safe to say Canada’s absence was missed.
Rhyne Howard was the team’s leading scorer with 23 points, while also adding four rebounds and three assists to the stat sheet. She also became the second player in Dream history with 20-or-more-point games, which she accomplished in 57 games.
Howard said the defensive mindset the team developed early in the matchup was a key component that carried throughout the game.
“When we’re really locked in on defense, when we’re getting deflections, when we’re getting steals, when we’re making them take tough shots, I think it forces us to be in a better confident state on the other end because you know we’re putting them in tough positions,” Howard said.
A few things happened throughout the game that played a part in Atlanta shifting the momentum for the Aces.
Not only were the Dream counterpunching all of their shots with bigger ones to lead by as much as 15-points at one point, but Las Vegas’ head coach Becky Hammon was [ejected](https://x.com/Dhoopster_/status/2089892843930451995?s=20) from the game with five minutes left in the second quarter, forcing her assistant coach to step in and take the reins.
By this point, however, Atlanta had already picked up their pace, disturbing their opponents’ rhythm, and stayed disciplined in transition. The Dream also limited the Aces’ second-chance opportunities and converted them into baskets of their own — something Allisha Gray said the team prioritized.
Gray finished the night with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists. Naz Hillmon also contributed seven points, four rebounds and one assist. The bench added depth on the floor with Madina Okot scoring six points and Isobel Borlase adding two.
For Las Vegas, A’ja Wilson led all scorers with 27 points and 14 rebounds. Jackie Young followed with 24 points and five rebounds, while Chelsea Gray added 13 points and two rebounds.
Though the Dream ran into foul trouble near the end, it didn’t dampen the team’s style of effective play. They shot 92.59% from the free-throw line and 45.07% from the field.
Ending on a 9-0 run, this victory marked the first win Atlanta clinched in Vegas since 2022.
And for Howard, this win was summed up in one word.
I’d probably just say big, you know, we haven’t beat Vegas in quite some time, and so being able to do it, do it in their place, coming off of a loss that we felt should have win, I think it was really big for us,“ Howard said. ”And it’s gonna instill a lot of confidence, especially this being the first game of this road trip that Angel talked about. You know, we’re gonna go in feeling good. We’re gonna go in knowing that we can play for a full 40 minutes, knowing that we can keep our foot on the gas for a whole time against the top team.
“I think it just shows that you know we don’t let anything define us. You know, we’re not gonna let that last game define us. We have other losses as well, but I think we’ve always found ways to find ourselves again and come back and make sure that we have a good one up after it.”