Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Dream
Jordin Canada turned in a season-high 23 points and climbed into 10th place in Atlanta Dream history in steals, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Golden State Valkyries from taking both ends of this week’s home-and-home, with Friday’s 75-72 win completing a two-game sweep of the season series so far
“I tried to be a little bit aggressive tonight to start, and then I just had a flow, but to be honest, it doesn’t even really matter,” Canada said. “I had a good game, but at the end of the day, we needed to execute down the stretch, and we didn’t do our job.”
The loss marked the first time all season that Atlanta (12-6) has dropped back-to-back games — and both defeats came at the hands of Golden State, which beat the Dream 77-66 just two nights earlier in the same building. It’s a tough stretch for a team that came into the Bay Area on a roll, and it’s part of a brutal scheduling crunch: six games in 10 days, with no time to dwell on it.
“We’re a really good team, and we don’t get the kind of respect from officials that we deserve,” Atlanta Head Coach Karl Smesko said, also voicing frustration with the night’s whistle. “If the same official misses six or seven calls, I want to know that something’s going to be done about it.” The Dream was called for 21 fouls to Golden State’s 22.
But Smesko was careful to separate the officiating gripes from his team’s performance. “I’m not making excuses for our players, and they wouldn’t want me to; we’ve got great players,” he said. “They really competed about as hard as they can. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a great shooting night. Those things happen, but I’m all on board with them.”
A Cold Stretch From the Field
Shooting was the story of this back-to-back. Atlanta hit just 34.3% of its field goals and 30% of its threes on Friday, after shooting 39.1% and 22.2% from deep in Wednesday’s loss — two uncharacteristically rough nights for a Dream team that’s been one of the league’s more efficient offenses this season.
It wasn’t a talent problem; it was a flow problem. “Overall the defense was really, really good for the vast majority of the game,” Smesko said. “Just offensively, we didn’t have like multiple actions on any possession.”
The Dream actually built a 35-32 halftime lead almost entirely off defense, turning nine first-half steals into 14 points despite shooting just 33.3% as a team. Atlanta’s two leading scorers, Rhyne Howard and Angel Reese, combined to go just 1-of-14 from the field in the half. The defensive identity carried into the third quarter too — three more Dream steals and three additional offensive rebounds (turned into seven second-chance points) helped Atlanta push the lead to 55-51 entering the fourth, even as the shooting numbers (35.3%) barely budged.
Where Atlanta’s defense really showed up was on the perimeter: Golden State shot just 22.7% from three on Friday, a sharp turnaround from the 46.9% clip (15-of-32) the Valkyries hit on Wednesday.
Canada’s Big Night, Howard’s Quiet Milestone
Canada’s 23 points were a season high, and the way she got there fit the profile of a player who’s quietly emerged as one of the league’s better two-way guards in 2026. She entered the week among the WNBA’s steals leaders and has been credited around the league for disruptive defense that doesn’t always show up on the box score — Kelsey Plum said as much on a postgame broadcast earlier this season, calling Canada one of the best defensive guards in the league. Friday’s performance pushed her into 10th in Dream franchise history in career steals, another marker in a Dream tenure that’s included two stints with the franchise and a reputation as the team’s primary table-setter.
Rhyne Howard’s night looked different on the stat sheet — just nine points — but it came with its own piece of franchise history. Howard passed longtime Dream forward Sancho Lyttle to move into third place on the team’s all-time scoring list, now sitting at 2,637 career points. She trails only Angel McCoughtry (5,648) and Tiffany Hayes (3,828) on that list. It’s the latest in a string of franchise milestones for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft, who has been enjoying a career-best season by most efficiency measures in 2026.
Angel Reese continued her stretch of two-way dominance, posting 15 points, 12 rebounds and six steals — her 12th game this season with at least 10 points and 10 rebounds. Allisha Gray added 15 points of her own.
How the Finish Unfolded
The game was tied at 69 with 1:49 to play before Golden State’s Gabby Williams took over. Williams gave the Valkyries a four-point cushion with back-to-back baskets, and although Howard answered with two free throws to trim the deficit to two with 1:17 left, Golden State controlled the final stretch from the line. Williams and Reese traded free throws to keep the margin at two with 26.4 seconds remaining, then Williams added another to push it to three.
Atlanta’s last real chance came on a Canada drive that Smesko described as well-defended, a tough layup attempt that missed and turned the possession into a broken play. Williams capped the night with one more free throw for the final 76-72 margin — the box score reflects 75-72 with the final attempt, per the Dream’s own recap.
Up Next
Atlanta heads to Seattle for the next stop on its West Coast trip, with Smesko making clear there’s little time for the team to dwell on the result. “We’ve got no time to feel bad about it,” he said. “We have our sixth game in 10 days tomorrow.”
About the Author
