The Dream puts New York to Sleep in closing minutes

The Atlanta Dream defeated the New York Liberty 90-81 on Sunday, with Brionna Jones tying a season-high 21 points, Allisha Gray contributing 20 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Jordin Canada scored 15 points and added eight assists, Brittney Griner scored 13 points, and Naz Hillmon had 10. Rhyne Howard exited the game in the second half due to an upper-body injury sustained from a hard hit, finishing with five points in 24 minutes.

Breanna Stewart scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Natasha Cloud scored 20 points for New York (11-5), which has now lost four of its last five games. Sabrina Ionescu added 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting.

The Dream maintained a double-digit lead throughout the third quarter and most of the fourth until Marine Johannes capped the scoring with a 3-pointer with 1:05 remaining. Gray made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter to extend Atlanta’s lead to 88-70.

Atlanta scored 62 points in the paint, their highest since the 2012 season. Despite shooting 0 for 10 from beyond the arc and 5 of 12 from the foul line in the first half, the Dream led 47-34 at halftime. They shot 21 of 29 from inside the arc, scoring 40 points in the paint. New York shot 37.5%, with Stewart and Cloud scoring 11 points each, while the rest of the team went 4 of 16.