The Atlanta Dream are still rolling to start the season after recently defeating the Washington Mystics 89-56. The Dream were clicking on all cylinders, and it was the second half where they turned things up. Two of the players who helped lead the Dream to victory were Allisha Gray and Te-Hina Paopao, as they both finished with career-high numbers.
Gray finished the game with 32 points, which was a career-high and the first time she ever scored 30 points in a game. She couldn't be stopped, and she had it going from deep, shooting 6-of-9 from the 3-point line.
“It's about time I got 30,” Gray said after the game. “At first, me and 30 had a love and hate relationship, but I think 30 loves me now.”
Not only did Gray have a great game, but Paopao also had her best performance of the season, finishing with 16 points and shooting 4-for-6 from the 3-point line. Throughout the start of the season, Paopao has been playing some important minutes for the Dream with injuries in the backcourt. With Jordin Canada back in the fold, Paopao is now coming off the bench and helping the second unit.
With the win, the Dream are now 8-3 on the season, and 3-1 in the Commissioner's Cup.
Article Continues BelowUnder head coach Karl Smesko, the Dream are playing some good basketball this season, and it looks like they're starting to find a groove at the right time. Gray has been leading the team in scoring, but it's been a team effort for how successful they've been.
Though they've been playing well, Smesko shared that the team is still improving and trying to get better.
“Right now, we're still learning who Atlanta is, and that's not surprising, because it's only been a month, and we’ve got a lot of new players working together,” Smesko said. “But we do want to see a lot of progress over the next couple of weeks so we can start hitting both ends of it, really get into a game plan and be able to do some things that we want to do to help us win that way, while already knowing that we can play the way we want to play.”
The Dream's next matchup will be against the New York Liberty, who have been playing some of the best basketball in the league this season.
