League Pass
Tickets

Atlanta Dream Bounce Back By Defeating Mercury

Rhyne Howard #10 of the Atlanta Dream drives to the basket during the game against the Phoenix Mercury on July 25, 2023 at Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia. Copyright 2023 NBAE (Photo by Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images)

 

Bench Added 42 Points for Atlanta

 

By: Jameelah Johnson
 

The Atlanta Dream (13-10) defeated the Phoenix Mercury (6-17) at Gateway Center Arena in a dominating 78-65 victory on Tuesday night. After falling to the Connecticut Sun, Atlanta came out on top in a matchup where Phoenix never took the lead. 
 

Atlanta found their offensive rhythm in front of their eighth sellout crowd leading by as many as 22 points. The Dream hope to carry this momentum into Thursday’s game at the New York Liberty.
 

“Overall, just a good bounce-back win for us. We’ll take it. Nice to have the fans in the house and to get a good win, a good feel-good win,” said Coach Wright in her opening statement.
 

Lineup Notes: 

ATL: Danielle Robinson, Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard, Nia Coffey and Cheyenne Parker started for Atlanta. 

PHO: Moriah Jefferson, Sophie Cunningham, Michaela Onyenwere, Brianna Turner and Brittney Griner started for Phoenix. 
 

Game Action: 

It was a lot of Gray a lot of the time in the first quarter, the guard scored eight points in just under eight minutes. She hit the first three of the game to put Atlanta on the board and set the tone.  

 

Dream’s McDonald continued to be a spark coming off the bench, she hit a spin move for the layup and followed it up by drawing a foul for the and-one on a subsequent possession. She scored seven points in right under seven minutes. 

 

Rhyne Howard became the fastest player in the WNBA to reach 150 career 3-pointers by knocking them down in just 57 games, the previous record was 65 games for Katie Smith. Howard hit two in the game. 

Robinson passed Dream’s Head Coach Tanisha Wright in all-time assists by dishing it to Coffey who cut to the basket.  

 

The Dream shot 17-36 from the field and ended the first half up 12. Gray had 10 points for them, Brittney Griner had 16 for Phoenix. Defense kept Phoenix at bay as the Dream had six blocks at the half and finished the game with eight.
 

Atlanta outscored Phoenix 19-13 in the third quarter, 10 points coming from the bench (Dream’s Monique Billings leading with four points).
 

AD Durr scored 7 of their 12 points in the final quarter, knocking down 3-out-of-4 shots. 

McDonald finished with 11 points, the bench scored a season-high 42 points for Atlanta. Gray finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. She now has 100 career blocks.  

 

Postgame Sounds: 

“Overall, just a good bounce-back win for us. We’ll take it. Nice to have the fans in the house and to get a good win, a good feel-good win,” said Coach Wright in her opening statement.
 

“She’s that good. She’s a generational talent, you know what I mean. That’s for sure. Not too many people like her come through our league so when we see those, we gotta appreciate them in the moment.” Coach Wright remarked on Howard becoming the fastest player to make 150 career 3-pointers.
 

“It felt good. I’m just trying to get better and challenge myself on both sides of the floor, not just about scoring but about defense, too,” AD Durr commented on coming off of the bench and having an impact.
 

Stats:
 

ATL: 31-67 from the field 

PHO: 24-67 from the field
 

ATL: 22 total assists 

PHO: 11 total assists
 

ATL: 35 total rebounds 

PHO: 33 total rebounds
 

Leading Scorers: 

ATL: Allisha Gray, AD Durr- 12 points 

PHO: Megan Gustafson- 19 points
 

Leading Assists: 

ATL: Haley Jones- 5 assists 

PHO: Moriah Jefferson, Sug Sutton- 3 assists
 

Leading Rebounders: 

ATL: Iliana Rupert- 7 rebounds 

PHO: Megan Gustafson- 8 rebounds