ATLANTA — At the end of the 2024 season, the Atlanta Dream skidded into the WNBA playoffs on a three-game win streak and some help from other teams’ miscues. In 2025, under head coach Karl Smesko, the Dream are in the driver’s seat after making the postseason following a 100-78 win over the Dallas Wings. However, they aren’t breathing easy about their latest accomplishment. They understandably want more.
Atlanta already eclipsed last season’s 15-game win total and broke a franchise record for most wins in a season earlier in August with 24 victories (and counting). On Friday, Smesko fittingly described his first season and mindset as a head coach in the WNBA with an Iron Maiden song, “Brave New World.” (Fun fact: He’s a massive heavy metal fan.)
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“It’s a whole new world out there, let’s go attack it, and let’s see what we can do. I want our players to have the same mentality,” Smesko said.
“This is new for them. They’re playing a different style, all that, but I think we’re capable of something amazing. But I don’t think we’re there yet, and time is running short. … Hopefully we’ll start attacking this last couple of weeks so that when it comes playoff time, everybody [will be] thinking they don’t want to see the Dream.”
How good is Smesko’s Dream team?
After a sluggish start, Atlanta rattled off four 3-point shots from guard Rhyne Howard, a block, a forced jump ball and a steal from the seven-minute mark in the second quarter to take the lead, 49-40, into halftime.
The crowd even shouted “MVP chants” for guard Allisha Gray, who unfortunately took a shot to the face area as she walked to the locker room before the half ended. (Gray would later return.)
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The Wings put up quite the fight in the 3rd quarter, trimming Atlanta’s once 16-point lead down, but in the fourth quarter, it was Howard who led the attacking. Howard hit her fifth 3-ball at the nine-minute mark and then followed it up with a block moments later, her fifth — yes, fifth! — of the game. Just for good measure, she nailed another 3-point shot because why not?
In all fairness, it wasn’t hard to predict Howard going off for 24 points and six total made 3-point shots. After a tough loss against the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday, she called out fans for loudly chanting “MVP” for forward A’ja Wilson.
Howard, who typically doesn’t speak up, told them not to “switch up” just “because of one player.” The next game would inevitably be a prime opportunity for Howard to essentially back up why fans should cheer for Atlanta, and she unequivocally did.
Howard’s huge night, which made WNBA history as the first game with six 3-pointers and six total blocks, helped Atlanta secure a 100-78 win and a playoff spot. However, the team seemingly isn’t satisfied.
“We gotta finish out,” Howard said. “Yeah, we clinched, but that doesn’t mean out spot can’t change. We don’t clinch a spot. We clinched a place in the playoffs, and we have to take care of business, finish it out, and make sure that we’re trying to have the best outcome possible to make sure that we’re doing everything we need to be doing.”
Smesko did not walk into Friday’s postgame presser with wet clothes (from a presumed water party) that’s often seen in sports when teams make the playoffs. Instead, he seemed unmoved when asked if he could breathe a little easier knowing that his team made it to the postseason.
“Not really,” he said matter of factly.
“If you have high goals, you’re not gonna be breathing easy at any point. The stakes just get higher and higher and higher. You have to be prepared for that. … We had expectations of being in the playoffs. We have higher expectations than that. We have the possiblty to do it.”
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