Dream vs. Mercury: Jordin Canada's 14 Assists Fuel a Late 13-0 Run as Atlanta Steals an 82-80 Win

With 2:28 left on Sunday, the Phoenix Mercury led the Atlanta Dream by nine, and they had been ahead for basically the entire afternoon. If you left Gateway Center for the parking lot at that moment, you beat the traffic and were wrong about everything.

Atlanta scored the next 13 points, Jordin Canada had her fingerprints on nearly all of them, and the Dream stole an 82-80 win that pushed them to 4-1 and handed Phoenix a third straight loss.

25-13 and a Long Way Back

Phoenix had this one looking like a blowout early. A 9-0 run in the first quarter turned 8-6 into 17-6, Kahleah Copper had 10 points in the period, and the Mercury led 25-13 after one. It didn't help that Rhyne Howard picked up three fouls in the opening eight minutes.

The lead reached 15 at 28-13 before the Dream found a little something, an 8-0 run that got them to 28-21. It was 44-37 at halftime. The third quarter was a 25-point group project nobody will put on a resume, with Phoenix winning it 13-12 to carry a 57-49 lead into the fourth.

Atlanta made noise early in the final period, but the Mercury kept pushing back. They were up 12 at 70-58 before a Te-Hina Paopao 3 and a Howard 3 made it interesting. Alyssa Thomas answered with a driving layup, and Copper followed with a technical free throw and a 14-footer that made it 75-66 with 3:03 to go. Against most teams, on most days, that's the end of the story.

Thirteen Straight

Canada fed Angel Reese for a layup at 2:28. Reese found Allisha Gray inside at 1:55. Canada found Isobel Borlase for a 3 at 1:30, and suddenly it was 75-73. Then, with 1:03 left, Canada drove, took the contact, scored and made the free throw for a 76-75 lead, Atlanta's first since the game's opening minutes. With 24.9 seconds left, she found Howard for a 25-footer, and it was 79-75.

That's five baskets in a little over two minutes, and Canada either scored or assisted on four of them. Phoenix, meanwhile, went scoreless from the 3:03 mark until Copper's own 25-footer at 20.3, which cut it to 79-78 and reminded everybody this wasn't over.

Reese made one of two at the line, Atlanta tracked down the miss, and Gray hit two more free throws at 7.9 seconds for an 82-78 lead. Copper got fouled on a 3-point try and made two of three with 3.5 seconds left. That's as close as it got.

Canada Ran the Whole Show

Canada finished with 11 points, 14 assists, seven rebounds and three steals, her first double-double of the season and a team-best plus-12. For context, the entire Phoenix roster had 14 assists. Her explanation sounded like a team policy.

"We are a resilient team, and the game is not over until it is over," Canada said. "We fight to the end. We always come together in the fourth quarter knowing we have to make a run or sustain a lead, whatever we have to do."

Howard scored 21 with eight rebounds, and six of her seven baskets came from 3, on 12 attempts. Gray added 18 on 7-of-15. Reese's line was 17 points and 10 rebounds, her third double-double of the season, with five offensive boards, four steals and four assists. She also shot 6-of-16 and 5-of-10 at the line, and her teammates did not seem bothered.

"She's doing all the little things we haven't done in the past," Howard said. "Oftentimes we would have folded, but because of the tenacity she brings, because of the energy she brings, we have no choice but to follow her."

Phoenix deserved a better ending. Thomas was terrific with 20 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists on 9-of-13 shooting, and Copper scored 20 while going 7-of-8 at the line. Jovana Nogic added 11, and Kyara Linskens gave the Mercury 10 in just 12 minutes off the bench. On Atlanta's side, the deep bench even got a moment: Indya Nivar played two minutes and hit the first 3-pointer of her career, according to the team.

The Turning Point Was a 2:43 Blackout

Phoenix won a lot of this game's fine print. It went 18-of-19 at the line while Atlanta went 11-of-21, and the Dream were at just 46.7 percent through three quarters, per the team. It shot the same 44 percent from the field. It blocked twice as many shots, six to three. Then you look at the 3-point line, where the Dream went 11-of-26 and the Mercury went 4-of-21, and at the fast break, where Atlanta won 21-6.

Those numbers kept Atlanta within reach all day. The final minutes were about something else. Over that scoreless stretch, Phoenix got nothing and Atlanta got 13 straight, most of it created by the same guard.

"(There were) so many big plays, and we needed every last one of them," Dream coach Karl Smesko said.

The Numbers Worth Keeping

• 33-23: Atlanta's fourth-quarter edge, after scoring 12 in the third.
• 13-0: The run that flipped a nine-point deficit into a four-point lead.
• 33-12: Points from 3-point range, Dream.
• 21-6: Fast-break points, also Dream.
• 11-of-21: Atlanta's free throw shooting, the one thing that nearly cost it.

Where Everybody Stands

Atlanta moves to 4-1 and 2-1 at home, with two straight wins after Friday's 86-69 victory over Dallas. A trip to Minnesota comes next on Wednesday.

Phoenix drops to 2-5 and 1-2 on the road. This third straight loss follows defeats to Toronto and Los Angeles, and the Mercury head to New York for Wednesday's game hoping to play the final three minutes differently.

An A for Attendance

Phoenix led for 95 percent of this game. Atlanta led for 3 percent. If basketball were graded on attendance, the Mercury would be on the honor roll. Unfortunately, the whole grade comes down to the final, and Canada showed up with the answer key.

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