Dream vs. Fire: Angel Reese Posts 18, 12 and 5 as Atlanta Forces 28 Turnovers in 86-66 Win

Portland shot better than Atlanta on Friday night. Portland made just as many threes, too. Neither fact mattered, because the Fire kept handing the Dream the basketball and the Dream kept saying thank you.

The Atlanta Dream beat the Portland Fire 86-66 at the Moda Center behind 18 points, 12 rebounds and five assists from Angel Reese and a defense that turned 28 Portland turnovers into 33 points. Rhyne Howard added 14 points and six steals, Naz Hillmon had 14 and five steals, and a Fire team riding a three-game winning streak found out how quickly a good week can curdle.

Hands Everywhere

Atlanta opened on a 10-3 run with threes from Hillmon and Allisha Gray, though Portland hung around and trailed only 16-14 after one. In the second quarter, Howard got all nine of her first-half points on three threes, Madina Okot gave the bench a jolt with five points and the Dream went to the break up 38-31.

The third quarter was two games in one. First came a 14-1 Atlanta run, fed by a period in which the Dream forced nine turnovers and collected six steals. Then Portland found a pulse. A 14-5 finish to the period, punctuated by Sarah Ashlee Barker's three with 20.1 seconds left, made it 59-53, and the crowd of 13,602 suddenly had something to yell about.

That lasted a little over two minutes of game time. Atlanta scored the first nine points of the fourth to make it 68-53 with 7:48 to go. Hillmon later grabbed an offensive rebound and scored through contact at 4:49, and her free throw pushed the lead to 77-57. Te-Hina Paopao added a floater and a 26-foot three that made it 82-59, Indya Nivar got two late layups, and the Dream won the quarter 27-13.

Reese Runs the Middle

Reese was the constant. She shot 6-of-14 from the field and 6-of-7 at the line, grabbed five offensive rebounds, handed out five assists and finished plus-18 with her fourth double-double of the season. She also had a clean explanation for what changed after halftime.

"We've kind of emphasized a lot on having that second-half surge," Reese said. "We haven't always come out in the third quarter and doing what we were supposed to do, but I think tonight we came out in that second half and did what we were supposed to."

Howard and Hillmon combined for 11 of Atlanta's 16 steals, which is an absurd number for two players in one game. Howard's 4-of-7 from three carried the perimeter offense while Hillmon went 1-of-9 from deep, and Hillmon's value showed up everywhere else: seven rebounds, four assists and 36 minutes of pure nuisance. Gray scored 13 on 3-of-12 shooting and still finished a game-best plus-26, and she passed 1,000 career made free throws along the way. Jordin Canada went 5-of-5 at the line and finished plus-25.

For Portland, Barker scored 14 off the bench on 6-of-9 shooting. Carla Leite had 11 points on just four shots, though she also had four turnovers. Emily Engstler and Megan DiLeo each scored 10, with Engstler's six giveaways leading the team. Holly Winterburn made her first career start in place of Bridget Carleton, who sat with a back issue, and had six points, seven assists and four turnovers. Carleton is second on the team in scoring at 15.3 a game, and her 2.1 steals a game rank second in the WNBA behind Canada's 2.3. The Fire missed her at both ends, and they missed her most every time a tired ball handler needed a second option.

"I think we put good pressure on them and we made a lot of defensive plays," Atlanta coach Karl Smesko said, which is a polite way to describe a team that spent 40 minutes picking pockets.

The Turning Point: The First Two Minutes of the Fourth

Portland had done the hard part. It had erased most of a big third-quarter deficit, had the building back in it and needed only a stop or two to make this a real game. Instead Atlanta came out of the quarter break and scored nine straight, and the Fire never got closer than double digits again.

That response is what stood out to the Dream's coach. "I just like that when we got the lead, even when they hit a couple threes, we kept our composure and were able to get the separation at the end," Smesko said.

Stats That Matter

• 28: Portland's turnovers, a season high. Every Fire player who took the floor committed at least one.
• 33-8: Atlanta's edge in points off turnovers.
• 16-4: Steals, Dream.
• 68 to 56: Field-goal attempts. Portland shot 45 percent to Atlanta's 44, but 12 fewer shots is a hard math problem.
• 17-of-20: Atlanta at the line. Portland attempted only eight free throws all night.

What It Means

Atlanta moves to 5-2 and 3-1 on the road, answering Wednesday's 96-81 loss at Minnesota by finishing a short road trip on a high note. The Dream go home to host Connecticut on Tuesday, and a defense playing like this should have the Sun worried.

Portland falls to 5-4 and 3-3 at home, ending the run that included wins at Toronto, at New York and against Connecticut. There is no time to sulk. The Fire close their three-game homestand against Indiana on Saturday, less than a day after this one, and cleaning up the ball handling is the entire homework assignment.

Ocean's Eleven at the Moda Center

Call it a heist movie with very few plot twists. Howard and Hillmon swiped 11 balls between them, the rest of the crew added five more, and everyone walked out with 33 points in the bag. It may be the rare Ocean's Eleven remake where the number actually checks out. Smesko's summary was simple enough: "We got a lot of steals." Hard to argue with the man. Portland can only hope Saturday brings a better security system.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes from the Atlanta Dream. Game details as reported by the Associated Press and the Dream.