Dream look to avenge season-opening loss to Mystics

Washington opened the season with a 94-90 win over Atlanta. The Mystics have since endured two separate three-game shedding skids, the newest ending with a convincing 104-67 win over the Connecticut Sun final Sunday.

That victory was additionally Washington’s first in three Commissioner’s Cup outings.

Atlanta , in the meantime, rebounded from a loss in its first Commissioner’s Cup recreation 84-76 at Connecticut on June 6 with 77-58 and 88-70 routs of Indiana and Chicago on Tuesday and Friday, respectively.

Rhyne Howard’s career-high 9 3-pointers on 19 makes an attempt powered her 36-point effort in Friday’s win over the Sky. It was her second 30-point effort in 4 video games, and was a major bounce-back after scoring solely three factors on 1-of-8 capturing from the ground Tuesday vs. the Fever.

“She’s obviously a special player,” Atlanta coach Karl Smesko mentioned of Howard. “Her recreation in Seattle was unbelievable so she’s able to having these sort of nights. It’s only a matter of her seeing her alternatives.

“The more aggressive she gets looking for opportunities, it opens up a lot of things for everybody.”

Howard’s two particular person eruptions propelled the Dream to 2 of their 5 video games with 88-plus factors this season. Atlanta’s 84.2 factors per recreation rank third within the WNBA.

Washington ranks within the decrease half of the WNBA permitting 79.4 factors per recreation, however the 67 factors the Mystics allowed to the Sun snapped a spell of three straight video games permitting at the least 85.

Washington leveraged its defensive effort to create scoring alternatives, Mystics coach Sydney Johnson mentioned. Johnson credited getting stops for resulting in transition probabilities within the crew’s highest-scoring effort of 2025.

“Maybe it won’t always look so flawless, but the improvement has been something they’ve embraced and the fast break looked a little bit better,” Johnson mentioned.

Brittney Sykes leads the Mystics with 20.6 factors per recreation. Her 28 factors in opposition to the Sun marked her seventh recreation with 20-plus factors in 9 appearances, together with 22 within the opener in opposition to Atlanta.

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