Game 1 of the WNBA Finals was a low-scoring defensive battle. The Golden State Valkyries won 68-64. The Valkyries shot just 32% from the field and 21% on 3-pointers. The Atlanta Dream didn’t fare much better, shooting 33% from the field and 16% from deep. 

Allisha Gray was the Dream’s leading scorer with 19 points after missing most of the semifinals with a hand injury. Angel Reese scored 14 points in the first half and grabbed 12 rebounds. Rhyne Howard was the only other Dream player to score in double figures. She scored 12 points on 3-for-14 shooting from the field and 2-for-9 from deep—a very quiet game, considering that Howard averaged 19 points over the first two rounds. 

Moreover, DeWanna Bonner, who was invaluable in the first two rounds, finished with just 2 points on 1-for-2 shooting in 13 minutes. 

Despite such quiet games from Howard and Bonner, the Dream were just two shots away from beating the Valkyries or at least forcing overtime. They need to get more out of Howard and Bonner next game and avoid going back to Atlanta down 2-0. Falling into a 2-0 hole would leave the Dream with a tiny margin for error in home games and only make it more difficult to grind out a road win later in the series. Gray and Naz Hillmon can also step up in the scoring department, but Howard and Bonner are the players that really need to get going for the Dream. 

Karl Smesko Believes That a Big Rhyne Howard Game Is Coming Soon

Rhyne Howard is very capable of big scoring games. She made nine 3-pointers twice in a game last year, which was a WNBA record until Kayla McBride broke it with 10 made 3-pointers this season. She also scored 43 points in a game in 2023 and cracked the 25-point mark in seven games this season. 

Having that type of game against the number-one defense in the league is tough, and Howard didn’t have great scoring games against the Valkyries in the regular season either. Between Gabby Williams, Kaila Charles, Kayla Thornton, and Cecilia Zandalasini, the Valkyries have a ton of defensive talent, size, and length to throw at Howard. Still, Smesko will have to find a way to get more than 12 points out of Howard if the Dream want to win their first championship. 

He, for one, seems confident that the four-time All-Star is primed for a big game. 

“Golden State is a great defense, but I got a lot of confidence that we’re gonna see some really big games from Rhyne and others and that we’ll take care of what we need to take care of,” Smesko said in the postgame media availability.