The Atlanta Dream Backcourt Bullied Dallas & Then Talked About Jesus

The Atlanta Dream rolled into Saturday afternoon like a team that’s still piecing things together.

However, they left the contest looking like a team that found its edge. As a team who figured out exactly who they are. A team that is physical, unbothered, and flat-out tougher than Dallas.

Atlanta outmuscled, outshot, and outright punked the Dallas Wings in an 83–75 win. A statement game for a squad that decided it was done searching and ready to start swinging.

Allisha Gray? Still on fire. She’s scored in double figures every game this season and has hit at least three triples in all but one. Against her former team, she turned revenge into an art form: 27 points, 4-of-9 from deep, and enough scorch marks to warrant a fire inspection. Leaving burn marks on every matchup the Wings threw at her.

Dallas threw every perimeter defender they had at her. They all got lit up. While Gray lit up the scoreboard, she locked things down on the other end too.

Paige Bueckers, one of the best point guards in the league, did not have a big impact. The rookie guard was on lockdown. Bueckers was held to 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting. Bueckers filled out the stat sheet by adding five assists, four boards, and two steals. The obstacle was the buckets did not come easy.

All-WNBA performer Arike Ogunbowale fared even worse. Ogunbowale was held to five points on 2-of-10 shooting, and a goose egg from three.

The game against Atlanta was her lowest scoring game of the season.

Dream Dominance, Wing Woes

Gray and Rhyne Howard hounded the Wings’ backcourt as if it was their personal mission.

“With Arike and Paige, they can score,” Gray said postgame. “Only thing I can do is make the shots difficult… they’re shot makers and great players.”

Gray did more than make it difficult. She made it miserable.

The Wings’ starting backcourt looked out of sync all night. Credit Atlanta’s defense — physical, switchy, long.

 

“Their guards are extremely physical and long,” Wings head coach Chris Koclanes said. “They really disrupt your freedom of movement.”

Still, Gray tipped her cap to the rookie:

 

“Paige is a great player, great rookie. Making a great impact. I’m excited to see her future.”

Brionna Jones played like she was still mad about 2023 playoffs, racking up 11 points and 15 rebounds while bullying the Wings on the glass. Brittney Griner? Calm, composed, and casually dominant—15 points, 8 boards, and zero sweat broken.

Atlanta simply out played Dallas. The Dream shot better from the floor, three point line, free throw line, grabbed more rebounds, had more assists, and obviously scored more points.

Atlanta also beat the Wings to every 50/50 ball like it was a tryout for the ‘04 Pistons.

The good news is that Wings showed late life with a 15–2 run that sliced Atlanta’s lead down to 13.

The bad news is it was not enough. The Dream stayed poised.

“I like how we responded,” Dream head coach Karl Smesko said. “We didn’t get frazzled. We just locked back into what we were doing.”

And what they were doing was dominating. Atlanta had six players with at least one assist, including Rhyne Howard with 10.

She only scored six, but her fingerprints were all over this one, especially defensively.

“Rhy should be an all defensive team player,” Smesko added.

Bench Sparks, But the Search Continues

For Dallas, their bench mob was once again led by Maddy Siegrist. The forward chipped in 12 off the bench and was one of the only Wings with any rhythm offensively.

The issue is that Dallas’ starters shot a rough 13-for-47 from the field (27.6%), but the second unit sparked the fourth-quarter rally that at least made it interesting.

 

“It doesn’t feel good when you lose the game,” Siegrist said. “Playing hard is something we have to continue to do as a group.”

NaLyssa Smith stayed positive.

“We’re headed in the right direction… it’ll all work out… There’s no need to panic.” She had 13 points in 19 minutes but was a -10 in her time on the floor.

The Wings are 0-4, and nothing’s clicking consistently yet.

But Koclanes isn’t panicking either.

“I’m encouraged by our continued fight and not laying over,” he said. “That’s something you can get behind.”

Maya Caldwell, who gave the Dream solid minutes off the bench, had maybe the most heartfelt words of the night: “I’ve been wanting to play in Atlanta, something I’ve been praying, asking God. He delivered, so I’m trying to take advantage of this opportunity.”

With the Dream at 2–2 and finally building rhythm, and the Wings searching for their first dub, Saturday night felt like a crossroads game — and Atlanta looked like they knew which direction they were heading.