Rhyne

Howard

While Howard had a difficult night shooting the basketball, she was one of Atlanta’s best performers. The Dream shot a season-low 23.4 percent from the field and 7-of-34 from three, with Howard responsible for five of the makes. For the second time this season, she’s scored 20 points or more in consecutive games, and Rhyne finished Tuesday’s defeat an assist shy of a complete stat line. Outside of fantasy leagues in which field goal percentage is a scoring category, this was a good night to have Howard rostered. She and the Dream will look to bounce back when they host the Lynx on Friday.

Limited to 13 points in Friday’s win over the Mystics, Howard was more effective as a scorer in Atlanta’s final game of the week. She’s scored at least 20 points in five games this season, and Sunday’s performance was a step in the right direction after Howard endured a three-game slump. In Atlanta’s previous three outings, the 6-foot-2 guard shot a combined 11-of-39 from the field. While Howard came up big in crunch time on Friday, she was more impactful from the start against the Sky, shooting 3-of-5 from the field in the first quarter. Under first-year head coach Karl Smesko, the Dream have been a positive surprise thus far, with the entire rotation playing with offensive freedom.

Howard also struggled shooting accurately from the field but made sure that she still contributed. She led the Dream down the stretch scoring 7 of Atlanta’s 20 fourth quarter points. While Howard’s shooting efficiency wasn’t there on Friday night, her playmaking was. The majority of her six total assists were on drives-and-kicks to players wide open on the perimeter. It’s a point of growth for Howard who is looking to establish herself more as a driver and a downhill threat rather than just a perimeter shot creator.

Howard quietly put together another effective game for the Dream on Tuesday despite the team failing to extend their three-game winning streak. She orchestrated the offense beautifully to the tune of nine assists and, while chipping in a trio of steals and blocks. Howard’s shooting efficiency remains the biggest thing setting her back from even more production, but the well-rounded efforts continue to result in quality outings from a fantasy basketball standpoint. She’ll have a chance to get the Dream back in the win column on Friday vs. Washington.

After going off for a season-high 36 points in Friday’s win over the Sky, Howard cooled off a bit on Sunday. However, it did not matter much to the Dream, as Allisha Gray went off for 32 and the team hit a franchise-record 18 three-pointers. Since scoring three points on 1-of-8 shooting in a June 10 win over the Fever, Howard has scored 50 points, her second-most productive two-game stretch of the season. Needing a win over the Liberty on Tuesday to clinch the top spot in the East for the Commissioner’s Cup, as Atlanta holds the head-to-head tiebreaker with Indiana, Howard has to be more productive than she was against the Mystics.

So far this season, Gray has carried the majority of the Dream’s offensive load and that’s how the first quarter began when she started out the most aggressive out of Atlanta’s perimeter players. When Gray’s shots weren’t falling in the second quarter, however, Rhyne Howard and Jordin Canada stepped up creating offense and scoring the basketball. Gray made sure to get on the glass, and she looked very comfortable sharing the ball. She set up the hot hand in Howard to take over the game. She found Howard for open looks in transition and even on pitches and dribble hand-offs when Gray would also screen for Howard so she had more separation to fire off her shots.

It took Canada’s third game back for the Dream’s point guard to look like herself. It did take her until the second quarter, however, for her to regain her confidence and sense of aggression pressuring the rim and asserting herself as the fastest player on the court. Her most productive quarter was the second where she accounted for 66.7% of the Dream’s 27 quarter points as a result of her scoring and playmaking. When Canada became more confident, the Dream’s offense became less stagnant and as a result Rhyne Howard had easier looks in half court sets and in transition. Half of Canada’s eight total assists were to Howard with the other half going to both post players Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones. Canada’s most flashy pass came in the fourth when she got the ball following a blocked shot from her teammate Allisha Gray. Canada drove ahead of the pack and dribbled to her left to feed Jones a no-look behind-the-back pass that she finished on the run to the basket. Jones also drew a foul on the play and scored three points on the play the old fashioned way.

Reese took advantage of her matchup against Brionna Jones, a natural center that had to guard a more athletic power forward. She also successfully out-muscled Rhyne Howard under the basket when Howard got matched up with Reese in transition while Reese was running the floor. But once Dream coach Karl Smesko put more athletic stretch fours on Reese in Nia Coffey and Naz Hillmon, Reese had less of an advantage and struggled with both of their length and athleticism. Reese’s most productive quarter came in the second when she accounted for 52.4 percent of the team’s points scored.

After her worst offensive performance of the season against the Indiana Fever a days ago, shooting 1-for-8 and scoring just 3 points, Howard bounced back in dramatic fashion scoring a season high 36 points in the Dream’s convincing win over the Sky. Howard didn’t even score a single point until the second quarter, and went on a heater in the second half hitting 10 of her 12 total makes all in second half as she accounted for 56 % of Atlanta’s second half points. Dream point guard Jordin Canada and wing Allisha Gray each found Howard on 40% of these made field goals. In her second game back from a knee injury, Canada’s offensive aggression opened the floor up for Howard and allowed her to play her more natural position, the small forward, off the ball with limited on-ball creation.

Howard’s four-game streak of double-digit scoring performances came to an end on Tuesday as she was held under 10 points for just the second time all season. The fourth-year guard was in a facilitating mode from the onset, which led to a season-low in field goal attempts and points scored. Yet, the lack of scoring didn’t stop Howard from logging another productive game as a passer and glass cleaner, areas in which she’s sustained success throughout the season en route to career-highs in rebounds and assists per game. Her well-roundedness continues to provide her a solid floor in fantasy leagues on nights that she doesn’t fill it up as a scorer.