Dream’s Rhyne Howard reveals how Karl Smesko question sparked win over Wings

COLLEGE PARK – The Atlanta Dream defeated the Dallas Wings 86-69, and it was midway through the fourth quarter where things clicked for them. After a few games where they’ve had to come back and win, the Dream led for most of this one, and it looked like they were going to walk out with no problem.

That’s when the Wings stormed back in the fourth quarter and took a one-point lead with 7:35 remaining. Karl Smesko called a timeout, and the rest was history.

“In that particular timeout, I just said, ‘What do you want to do now?’ Like, we put ourselves in a situation,” Smesko said after the game. “Are we ready to do what we need to do to get out of it? And we talked about what we wanted to do in the timeout for the first two possessions, and they did exactly that.”

Rhyne Howard got a layup to take the lead back, and on the next offensive possession, Allisha Gray got a layup as well. It was a 21-5 run to end the game for the Dream, and it all started with the timeout.  

“[Karl] really didn’t have to say anything that we weren’t already saying. Just continue to lock in and do the things that were working,” Howard said. “I think we took our foot off the gas a little bit in that period, but being able to come back after that and get back to what was working and get back to doing things and making the easy play for us.”

The Dream were on the other side of the coin tonight, but all it showed was that they can win in many different ways.

“Oftentimes, we’re coming from behind, so we’re still trying to have that fight and still trying to make it a game and try to come back and win,” Howard said. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that’s been a good thing because we’re down, but the fact that we can do it in the 4th quarter when it starts to matter the most, it just shows our resilience.”

Howard returned from her one-game absence, and she probably played her best game of the season, finishing with 25 points, eight rebounds and four steals. She set the tone from the beginning of the game on offense and held Paige Bueckers until the end, as she finished with the lowest point total of her young career.

“Rhy had just an amazing all-around game,” Smesko said. “I’ve seen it in training camp all year. This has been a different approach for Rhy from the very beginning of this year, and I think we’re starting to see what she is capable of becoming. I’m just really proud of the way she played today, and hopefully it keeps building from here, but that was just an all-around high-level, exceptional game.”

The Dream are now 3-1 on the season, and will face the Phoenix Mercury in two days back at home.

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