Dream Defeat Storm 94-87, Part 2

Additional thoughts and interview quotes from Seattle's loss to Atlanta.

It was a wild game on Friday night at Climate Pledge Arena. The Seattle Storm started off in a similar fashion to their drubbing of the Las Vegas Aces last Sunday. Their defense bothered the Dream and took them out of rhythm early. Except in this game, the Storm weren’t able to carry that momentum through the full 40 minutes. The Atlanta Dream had one of the more impressive rallies I’ve seen in a game as they turned a 17-point second-half deficit into an incredible 94-87 win. It was a gutsy, character-building win. You can read the full game recap at this link.

In Part 2, I wrote about how I’m a big believer in the Atlanta Dream, some interesting thoughts on Allisha Gray, and I’ve included the best interview quotes from Gabby Williams, Nneka Ogwumike, and Coach Noelle Quinn.

The Atlanta Dream are Legit

Heading into the 2025 WNBA season, I thought quite highly of the Atlanta Dream and the off-season they put together. The Dream made a literal BIG splash in Free Agency by signing both 6’9” Brittney Griner and 6’3” Brionna Jones—two of the WNBA’s best centers.

They also hired Karl Smesko out of the college ranks down at Florida Gulf Coast. Smesko was known for his run-and-gun, analytical, three-point shooting offense down in Florida. It was a bit of an interesting hire when paired with their major off-season moves. But I could see the vision.

The Atlanta Dream are very talented in the backcourt with Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray. Last season, Jordin Canada was also an important piece to that group. But they were lacking a bit with their post players. They signed Tina Charles in 2024, but it just didn’t work out as well as they had hoped. They tried again for this season by adding Jones and Griner.

Through seven games, the Atlanta Dream are 5-2 and own the third-best record in the WNBA, only behind last year’s WNBA Finalists (New York and Minnesota). Atlanta also lost their season opener to the Washington Mystics, a game they led throughout before ultimately losing. Had they not blown that lead, they’d be 6-1 right now.

Let’s just say they made up for that game with their quality come-from-behind win on the road against Seattle.

There have been games this season where they relied heavily on Brittney Griner scoring in the half-court with the game on the line. And that has worked for them. On Friday against Seattle, BG didn’t have her best stuff. She’s dealing with a bit of a nagging injury, and she struggled, going 1-7 FG before sitting on the bench for almost the entire 2nd half. But in this game, the team was able to change course. Increase their tempo and start attacking downhill with Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray. Against Seattle, it was the Dream’s dynamic backcourt that led them to rally from 17 points down to win the game. And that’s the impressive thing about Atlanta right now. They have multiple ways they can beat teams. And if certain options aren’t working for them, they can try something different.

Rhyne Howard has struggled to shoot in some of Atlanta’s games, even in their wins. That wasn’t the case on Friday night. Howard’s hot shooting kept them within a respectable distance in the first half after she scored 14 of her team’s 34 points through the opening 20 minutes.

Even players like Shatori Walker-Kimbrough have been a great quality depth signing. Walker-Kimbrough hit some big threes in their 88-82 win over Los Angeles late in that game.

I really like the team they’ve put together in Atlanta. I expect them to be a playoff team, and I could even see them finishing in the Top 4. Especially, depending on how Seattle and Las Vegas perform throughout the season. I think the Dream are on the right track and they’re a fun team to watch.

Allisha Gray to the Storm

The 2022 off-season was a bit of a Butterfly Effect. Or it could have been. I recall that the Storm’s front office had courted Allisha Gray to come sign with Seattle. From what I remember, Gray seriously considered signing with Seattle, but she ultimately chose to re-sign with the Dallas Wings. Seattle finished 22-14 that season (4th best in the WNBA). Dallas finished 18-18, which was good for 6th best in the league.

Gray wasn’t happy and requested a trade out of Dallas. They sent her off to Atlanta where she developed into an All-Star and one of the game’s top shooting guards. Had she signed with Seattle in 2022, maybe that would have given the Storm enough firepower to defeat the Las Vegas Aces in the playoffs.

Similar to the 2018 WNBA Playoffs where whichever team won between the Seattle Storm and the Phoenix Mercury that season was likely to win the WNBA Championship. After Sue Bird’s heroics in Game 5 against the Mercury, arguably the greatest game in franchise history, Seattle went on to sweep the Washington Mystics 3-0 in the WNBA Finals. I feel the same about 2022. The Storm stole Game 1 at Las Vegas and had Vegas beat in Game 3 before Jackie Young scored at the buzzer to send the game to OT. Seattle lost that game and lost the series to Las Vegas after falling in Game 4. It was Sue Bird’s final game. Maybe if Seattle had been able to sign Allisha Gray, they would have won that series and won their 5th WNBA Championship.

To bring it full circle, Allisha Gray’s 28 points (a new career-high), including 21 in the 2nd half, were the catalyst to the Dream’s come-from-behind victory against Seattle in Game 6 of the 2025 season. Gray’s spectacular performance causes me to reflect on the big “What If?” moment of the 2022 off-season.

That also leads me to think more about 2026. If the Storm fall short again this year, they should be in the market for another talented guard to add for next season. With nearly all the top players entering Free Agency next season, the Storm should be aggressive in trying to recruit more top players. Allisha Gray would be near the top of my list.

There are other factors to consider. Jordan Horston should be returning from injury and would be able to fill in with the guard rotation. The Storm also own the LA Sparks’ first-round pick. As Los Angeles continues to lose early on (they are 2-5), that pick becomes more and more valuable, considering the Sparks were the league’s worst team one year ago. I know I’ve already harped on this a lot, but there is a very legitimate chance that the Storm could have a Top 3 draft pick in 2026. That could lead to them drafting Azzi Fudd, Olivia Miles, or Flau'jae Johnson. Lastly, depending on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, if teams are still able to use the Core franchise tag, the Dream could use that on Gray, preventing her from signing with any other teams.

But if she is a true free agent in 2026, then Seattle should 100% pursue her.

Player Interviews

On the difference between the two halves.

Nneka said, “I mean, I think they turned up their aggression, you know? And with that, they were getting to the basket and getting fouls and a lot of foul continuations. I think that we weren't as disciplined at the end of the defensive plays, which led to fouls AND1s. And then, of course, the rebounding was something that really lacked for us in that second half.”

On whether the rebounding was the difference in the game.

Gabby answered, “Extra possessions. I'll be watching film until 2 a.m. tonight, I'm sure, on my turnovers. And they created a lot of extra possessions with offensive rebounding. So whenever we got the ball to the rim, we had a good percentage. But they were able to create a lot more possessions than we were.”

If they felt they got out of rhythm offensively.

Ogwumike responded, “I didn't feel like it was difficult necessarily to find rhythm, but I think that there were moments when perhaps we were being a little bit too cerebral with what we needed to be doing, on the offensive end at least. We were kind of flowing in the first half, and then I guess a combination of them being a little bit more aggressive at the point of the ball, picking up the ball, caused us to now start calling different plays instead of just flowing in transition and secondary.”

On all of Atlanta’s AND1 opportunities in the 2nd half and how that affected the momentum of the game.

Gabby told me, “Yeah, it was frustrating because that's how I've been playing defense all year, and it hasn't been getting called. So it was kind of like a mental test of like, all right, I need to adjust to this refereeing crew. You just have a million thoughts in your head. And then, of course, they're building off of those And Ones. They're depleting for us. They're building off that energy. And it wasn't even about how it was being called. It was just about how they were being aggressive to the rim. And they're putting us in tough spots. And as they saw that was working there, it's hard to guard those players who were able to go downhill that way with Allisha Gray and Rhyne, and then you have someone who's crashing on the boards like Hillmon. Yeah, I think they were just feeding off of that, and just, we have to be tougher. We were a step slow. We have to just relax a bit less on defense.”

Nneka on helping bring Zia Cooke to the team and her impact so far.

“I think that Zia, she's transformed as a person and a player since she came to Seattle. And she's totally locked in. She pays attention to everything. She asks the right questions. And I have to say that she is kind of the energizer when she comes off the bench. It's very rare that she comes in and makes mistakes. She comes in and she can easily get a couple of buckets here and there and is attentive to her defensive matchup. And I think it just shows exactly how much she can grow in a system like this.”

Coach’s Quotes

Coach Quinn on what happened in the 2nd half of the game. And how no lead is safe.

“Yeah, especially when you play against a team that's taken that many threes, pretty effective in it, and giving up the timely offensive rebounds. Anybody in this league can get you. No lead is safe, correct? And I would have to take a look at the film for the third and fourth quarter. But I think just timely, the turnovers and the offensive rebounds in those positions.” Quinn stated.

On Erica Wheeler’s impact coming off the bench, if it changed with her starting for Alysha Clark, and if there was an update on Wheeler’s late-game injury.

Coach Quinn, “No updates on E. Either way she goes, she's the energy provider. Off the bench, she's commanding a different unit. When she's in the starting lineup, we were able to get a different look. She gave some good pressure defensively.”

After Atlanta took 20 more three-point shot attempts (31-11), I asked if the team needs to implement more three-point shooting into their offense.

“No, I think we can be efficient in the ones that we do take. I think that shooting 50% and getting more possessions, continuing to shoot efficiently in our twos. And then the ones that we get, the good looks that we get, whether it's Nneka, Ezi, Sky, we just have to be locked in and be a little bit more efficient there,” Quinn told me.

On whether the team needed to be more aggressive with its rebounding.

“Yeah, it's 50-50 balls. 50-50 balls, extra possessions, quicker to them. It's desire, heart. Sometimes it's not about… it is about being fundamental. We have to box out. We weren't even in a lot of rotations today. BG was not on the floor. And though they were shooting three, they weren't long. We weren't getting the long ones. We weren't showing up the short ones around the rim. The long ones were, you know, there. I think we were mindful of those, but... At the end of the day, the possessions, the physicality, the want to get a rebound, that's necessary when we're trying to finish plays.”

On all of the Dream’s AND1 opportunities in the 2nd half.

“There was quite a deficiency there. I thought we were playing on our back foot. They were getting downhill. I felt like a lot of those, we talk about marginal contact. We talk about verticality and all those things. I felt that we teach that at a high level, and I thought that our team was doing that. We talked about that before the game. Like, if we're not going to get, putting them out there for the line. We were good at halftime. But in the second half, we weren't very good. But those can’t be AND1s when we're fouling. We have to make sure we're kind of staying in place and having defensive discipline, and we were not.”

On the big differences between the two halves.

“60 points in the 2nd half. That’s not a good defensive effort. Our turnovers, our timely ones, our live ball turnovers, and our rebounding. We have to be a better rebounding team.”

On the message to the team after a tough loss.

“Short-term memory. We have a hungry Vegas team coming in, starting the Commissioner Cup on Sunday. We have to watch the film get better and be ready for Sunday.”

Notes:
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