Caption: Nia Coffey #12 of the Atlanta Dream shoots the ball during the game on July 5, 2023 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tyler Ross/NBAE via Getty Images)

Allisha Gray scores 23 points as the Atlanta Dream cruise to victory on the road

By: Edwin Garcia

This is the second consecutive Atlanta Dream matchup against the Los Angeles Sparks and the result was the same, a dominant victory. This time, Atlanta got it done on the road 90-79 thanks to a stellar performance from Allishia Gray, who led the team with 23 points in her 34 minutes of play.

It wasn’t just the Gray show, however, as Rhyne Howard contributed 15 points, five rebounds and six assists in her 25 minutes of play and All-Star forward Cheyenne Parker cleaned up the glass, grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds.

Atlanta is playing some of their best basketball of the season.

“Our job is to try to be as consistent as we can be.” Head coach Tanisha Wright said postgame. “So that’s what we are trying to show as we get towards the break.”

The Dream will try to keep this momentum going and extend their winning streak to four when they head to Chicago for another two-game series.

The domination was from the jump as Rhyne Howard hit her first pair of three-point attempts picking up where she left off on Sunday when she had a career-high 43 points against the Sparks. After a Nia Coffey three, Sparks head coach Curt Miller was forced to call a timeout as the Dream opened up with a 15-5 advantage.

The rest of the half was a balanced attack from Atlanta, with coach Tanishia Wright going 10 players deep and getting offensive production from nine of them. It wasn’t just the scoring that was a team effort; Atlanta out-rebounded the Sparks 39-33 on the night, ending many Sparks possessions after one missed field goal.

Atlanta also contained Sparks forward Dearica Hamby, which was something Wright mentioned they needed to do a better job of in the rematch on the road.

“We need to match Dearica’s activity think she had great activity for them in that first game,” Wright said pregame. “Created some easy opportunities for them.”

Hamby ended the night with five points and just six rebounds compared to Sunday’s game, where she had 18 points and eight rebounds.

The game of basketball is one of runs and to start the third, Los Angeles showed signs of life, going on an 11-3 run to get within five points of Atlanta. The Dream responded with a 13-0 run of their own which included a dagger three by who else but Howard. Gray had six points during this pivotal run which all but sealed the victory.

“I feel like we responded well once we locked in,” Gray said postgame discussing the third-quarter run. “Tonight, just everybody, we all played well and found the right plays tonight.”

In the final frame, Gray shut the door for good, scoring the team’s first eight points and extending the lead to a game-high 21. L.A. never made a significant run and Atlanta is now back at .500 for the first time since June 18th.