Dream drops fifth consecutive game in loss to Valkyries
And so it continues …
Though a close battle to the finish, the Atlanta Dream took an 88-83 loss to the Golden State Valkyries, making their record 0-3 on the season against the 2025 expansion team.
The Valkyries set the pace early, building a 10-point lead in the first quarter and limiting the Dream’s shot attempts, as Atlanta didn’t score its first basket until a little more than three minutes into the first quarter. Once the Dream picked up momentum midway through the quarter, they carried it through with second-chance opportunities and precision at the paint, but fell short after the Valkyries 6-0 run to close the half for a 42-35 lead.
Key moments
The second half is where things started to shift for the Dream. Effective communication and consistency throughout the rotation gave the Dream the boost they needed to carry momentum into the fourth quarter, specifically after a clutch steal by Jordin Canada, which led to an assist to rookie Madina Okot with 1:43 left in the third. But the Valkyries answered in the fourth. After the Dream took a 77-74 lead with 3:16 remaining, Golden State went on an 8-0 run and never looked back.
Top performers
Dream
- Allisha Gray: 22 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST
- Rhyne Howard: 19 PTS, 5 REB, 3 AST
- Angel Reese: 17 PTS, 13 REB, 3 AST
- Okot: 11 PTS, 5 REB
- Canada: 7 PTS, 4 REB, 8 AST
Valkyries
- Veronica Burton: 21 PTS, 4 AST
- Gabby Williams: 19 PTS, 1 REB, 2 AST
- Janelle Salaün: 14 PTS, 2 REB
Highlight play
The Dream struggled to get points on the board early, with Reese accounting for the team’s first five points. Howard then knocked down her first 3-pointer with 5:23 left in the quarter to spark an 8-0 Dream run and give Atlanta its first lead of the game.
Quotable
“No excuse, absolutely no excuse. We just have to be better. If it’s shooting 100 free throws after practice, 53 free throws after practice, that’s what it is, but we haven’t shot great, not just from the free throw line, for our field goals, too. So we just have to get back to the drawing board and figure out what works. — Reese on missed free throws
“Losing five games in a row, it sucks, but like I said, the morale in the locker room is great. We’re all sticking together; we just got to figure (it) out and get over this hump. We have five games before the All-Star break, so it’s time for us to really lock in and come out with wins, but overall, I mean, everybody’s spirit and morale is still up.” — Gray on dealing with the mental and physical aspect of the game
“We’re on the wrong side of the streak here, you know. Obviously, we’re disappointed that Golden State got us three times. That’s really frustrating. We definitely wanted to get one tonight, but they’re a really good team, and you have to go beat them, and I don’t think they’re a team that you’re going to beat if you miss a good percentage of open shots, or if you miss your free throws, those are things you have to overcome. We just haven’t been able to overcome it against the really good teams, so we’ll get back to work. We got five games until the break. I expect us to play really well.” — coach Karl Smesko on the team’s mentality moving forward