Atlanta Dream Bounce Back By Defeating Mercury
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.
Your Atlanta Dream Starting 5! #atlantadream | @GeorgiaLottery pic.twitter.com/K0OE0NDl2Q
— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) July 25, 2023
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.
.@Graytness_15 with the first 🪣 of the game!!!#atlantadream pic.twitter.com/oFG8dkNVRk
— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) July 25, 2023
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.
.@Graytness_15 with the first 🪣 of the game!!!#atlantadream pic.twitter.com/oFG8dkNVRk
— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) July 25, 2023
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.
.@howard_rhyne lets it FLY FOR THREEE 🪣🔥!!!#atlantadream pic.twitter.com/52w3f55cYR
— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) July 26, 2023
Robinson passed Dream’s Head Coach Tanisha Wright in all-time assists by dishing it to Coffey who cut to the basket.
THAT BALL MOVEMENT THOUGH🔥🎯🪣!!!#atlantadream pic.twitter.com/yxX7bdf393
— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) July 26, 2023
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.
THREEEE BALLL🗣️🔥 @A_Hooper25 !!!#atlantadream pic.twitter.com/Qof0FFiP3n
— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) July 26, 2023
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