Howard knew this wasn’t just another game. It was the start of a chase for the franchise’s first championship. However, the Indiana Fever’s roster looked nothing like it did in the last clash between the two teams on July 11 in comparison to Sunday’s postseason showdown. The last time the Atlanta Dream clashed with the Fever, they stumbled to their second loss of the four-game regular season series.
And for Howard, that night carried another sting as it was her final game before a left knee injury sidelined her for nearly a month. Ten games slipped away before she made her return on Aug. 10 in Phoenix. Now, under the playoff spotlight, the three-time All-Star understood the Dream would need more from her and from everyone in an Atlanta uniform to keep alive the mission of turning a record-setting regular season into something historic.
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Howard never shied from the moment. She and Allisha Gray shouldered the load, each scoring 20 points to spark No. 3 seed Dream to an 80-68 win against a physical, short-handed No. 6 Fever squad. Howard also added six rebounds, two assists and a steal while Naz Hillmon nearly contributed a double-double outing with 16 points and nine rebounds in the victory.
Inside a sold-out Gateway Center Arena, the game swung like a pendulum for three quarters. Seven ties. Three lead changes. The Dream couldn’t shake the Fever until the final nine minutes of the contest. The Fever struck first, closing the opening quarter with a three-point lead that quieted the home crowd. Atlanta responded in the second, cranking up its defense and outscoring Indiana 22-12 to build a seven-point cushion at halftime. Still, nothing felt secure.
Kelsey Mitchell and Lexie Hull made sure of that. The Fever guards combined for 18 points in the third, including a blistering 7-0 run out of the break that cut into Atlanta’s edge. By the end of the quarter, the Dream’s lead had shrunk again. That’s when Howard and Hillmon took over, pouring in 16 of Atlanta’s 22 points in the fourth, creating separation and sealing the victory.
“I just thought in the second quarter, we kind of settled in, and, you know, we forced a lot more tough shots [for the Fever], and we forced a few more turnovers,” Smesko said postgame. “We really needed [it]. … I thought we kind of asserted ourselves in the second quarter and gave us a little bit of a lead going into the half. But, then we came out in the third quarter, and within a minute or two, all that lead that we built was gone just like that. This is a tough team. …We’re going to have to have to play really well to win another game in the series.”
Gritty barely scratches the surface of what unfolded in Game 1. Bodies hit the hardwood throughout the afternoon as whistles echoed inside GCA. The two teams combined for 43 personal fouls — 24 of them on Atlanta — in a contest that often looked more like war than a playoff opener.
Howard felt that physicality firsthand. Near the 8:00 mark of the second quarter, she collided with Fever’s Lexie Hull and walked off the court — and eventually into the locker room — clutching her mouth. Minutes later, she was back, settling into the same rhythm that has defined her season.
Neither side shot the ball cleanly. Both finished under 40 percent from the field, and Atlanta’s 7-of-22 showing from beyond the arc was hard-earned. Indiana came into Sunday’s game only allowing 7.1 made threes per contest, the second fewest in the league. Still, Howard took advantage of looks she had from beyond the arc, drilling four triples.
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Her 20-point night marked the 12th time this season she crossed that threshold, but the playoffs, she reminded afterward, are different. The fouls sting more. Every possession feels heavier. And if the Dream want to keep pushing forward toward a WNBA title, Howard knows they will have to embrace the grind.
“We know that the playoffs is a whole new ball game, way more physicality, less calls,” Howard said postgame. “Obviously, that wasn’t the case today, but just coming in with the mindset of wanting to punch first and knowing that it’s going to be physical, knowing that you’re going to be playing in a dog fight, I think that really helped us, even with the slow start.”
“We still were able to combat what they [Fever] were doing and making sure that we were able to get back on track and making sure that we were able to get ourselves back going.”
Turnovers also plagued the Dream. They coughed it up 15 times — the same number as Indiana — and the Fever turned those mistakes into 20 points. Each missed opportunity by Atlanta kept Indiana within striking distance for a majority of the contest. Still, Smesko didn’t flinch. Sitting between Rhyne Howard and Naz Hillmon in the postgame news conference, he expected some rough edges in the contest, especially when the intensity shifted from regular season to playoffs.
“I think it was kind of what you might expect from a first game in the playoffs, like these people are kind of feeling each other out seeing where there’s a weakness and trying to attack that weakness,” Smesko said. “… I really like our team. I think we have been playing really well going into the playoffs. I have a lot of confidence that if things don’t start off well, that we can pull it together and make comebacks.
“… This is a nice win, but you go into the next game, and the only thing that carries over is the win. … You got to win another one just to advance. So the big thing for us is understanding that the job is not done in this series, and there’s things that we can do better.”
Backed by Howard and Gray, and lifted by Hillmon and Brionna Jones — who chipped in 12 points as the Dream’s fourth double-figure scorer — Atlanta earned more than just a win Sunday. The 80-68 victory was the franchise’s first postseason triumph since Aug. 31, 2018, when the Dream defeated the Washington Mystics on the road in the semifinals.
For Howard, the perspective hit hard. Seven years ago, she was a freshman at Kentucky, dreaming of moments like this. Now, alongside Hillmon — her 2022 draft classmate — she helped deliver the Dream’s breakthrough in front of their home crowd.
The Dream’s youth was undeniable. Five players — Howard, Hillmon, Maya Caldwell, and rookies Te-Hina Paopao and Sika Koné — had never been part of a playoff win until Sunday. Entering the postseason, Atlanta carried the third-least playoff experience of any team in the field. Only the expansion Golden State Valkyries and the Seattle Storm brought less postseason mileage into September.
But none of that mattered once the final buzzer sounded. The Dream had their taste of playoff success, and Howard made it clear afterward that one win won’t be enough.
“This is me and Naz [Hillmon’s] first home game period in the playoffs,” Howard said after Sunday’s win. “For us to even have accomplished that much, to have homecourt advantage, we knew we had to make a good one. …We are looking to continue to have more.”
Howard and the Dream will seek to wrap up the best-of-three series when the Dream go on the road to face the Fever at 7:30 p.m. ET Tuesday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
