Dream vs. Tempo: Naz Hillmon Goes 8-for-8 for a Career-High 24 as Atlanta Runs Past Toronto 111-92

Somewhere around the eighth make, the box score started to look like a typo. Naz Hillmon took eight shots on Friday night in Toronto and all eight went in, four of them from behind the arc. She went to the foul line four times and cashed those too. Add it up and you get a career-high 24 points, according to the Dream, in 25 minutes of basketball without a single miss to her name.

The rest of Atlanta spent the second half turning a coin flip into a track meet. The Dream beat the Toronto Tempo 111-92 at Coca-Cola Coliseum, scoring 63 points after the break, and the 19-point margin at the horn was their biggest lead of the night. It's a rare game where the beating peaks at the exact moment the clock runs out.

Down Seven, Then 16-2

For most of the first 18 minutes, this was precisely the game Toronto wanted. The teams were knotted 23-23 after one, and the Tempo stretched their edge to 45-38 with a little over two minutes left in the second. That seven-point cushion turned out to be as good as it would get.

Allisha Gray lit the fuse with consecutive 3-pointers, the first act of an 8-0 run that put Atlanta in front 46-45. Toronto got one basket back. Then the Dream ripped off another 8-0, a burst that straddled halftime and made it 54-47 with nine minutes to go in the third. Do the math and it's 16-2 in a little over three minutes of game clock, which is the kind of stretch that empties a coach's clipboard of ideas.

Rhyne Howard refused to let Toronto catch its breath. She opened the third with two straight baskets, drew an early Tempo timeout, and closed the quarter with an and-one that gave her eight points in the period. Atlanta made 13 of 19 shots in those 10 minutes while Toronto managed seven field goals, and a 48-47 halftime lead had become 77-66.

The fourth was a victory lap with the volume up. Atlanta went 10-for-14 from the field, put up 34 points, and got a pair of long 3s from Isobel Borlase, the second of which, with 28.7 seconds left, set the final margin.

Perfection and Its Supporting Cast

Hillmon's 8-of-8 line deserves a frame in somebody's office. She grabbed just one rebound and had no assists, which only adds to the strangeness: she wasn't doing everything, she just wasn't ever wrong. She led Atlanta with seven points in a first quarter that ended tied, and afterward she handed the credit to the people delivering the ball.

"We have great guards who help find the open person or the hot hand, and we have great bigs as well, whether they're finding their moves or kicking out," Hillmon said.

One of those guards had a night worth its own column. Jordin Canada posted 18 points, 13 assists and three steals without a single turnover in 33 minutes, her sixth double-double of the season by the team's count. She finished plus-27, the best number in the game. Angel Reese was messier and just as loud: 23 points, 12 rebounds, three steals, 9-of-11 at the line, plus five turnovers and five fouls. It was her 17th double-double of the season, per the Dream. Gray added 18 on 8-of-12 shooting, and Howard reached 10 despite going 0-for-7 from deep.

Then there's Brionna Jones, who made her season debut after opening the year sidelined by a right knee injury and supplied six points, six rebounds and four assists in 15 minutes off the bench.

"It's so exciting to have Bri back," Reese said.

Toronto's offense wasn't the problem. Marina Mabrey scored 26 on 7-of-12 shooting and went 9-for-9 at the line, and Nyara Sabally gave the Tempo 16 off the bench on 7-of-10. Mabrey also coughed it up five times, which brings us to the real story.

The Shots Toronto Never Got

Here's the strangest thing about a 19-point loss: Toronto shot 54 percent. The Tempo made 48 percent of their 3s. Atlanta shot 55 percent, so on a pure splits basis this was a dead heat.

What separated them was volume. Atlanta attempted 71 field goals and Toronto attempted 56, and those 15 extra swings came from somewhere specific. Toronto gave it away 20 times, and the Dream, who had 11 steals, turned those giveaways into 29 points. Atlanta also pulled down 11 offensive rebounds to Toronto's four. The 16-2 run supplied the lead. The possession math made sure nobody was ever taking it back.

"I think you set the tone when you play defense," Reese said, and the stat sheet agrees with her.

Stats That Matter

• 60-38: Atlanta's advantage in points in the paint, a funny number on a night its hottest shooter was perfect from 3.
• 71-56: Field-goal attempts. Two teams shooting about the same percentage, one with 15 more chances.
• 29-22: Points off turnovers in Atlanta's favor, even though the Tempo squeezed 22 out of just 10 Dream miscues.
• 69.7 percent: Atlanta's shooting over the final 20 minutes, per the team.
• 11-0: Fast-break points. Toronto didn't score one.

What It Means

Atlanta moves to 15-10, level with Indiana, and is 7-6 on the road. The Dream have won two straight and three of four, and the 111 points are their second-highest total of the season, topped only by a 113-96 win over the Fever on June 20. They're also 3-0 against Toronto after wins of 102-77 and 94-87 in June. Next up is a Sunday home date with Chicago.

Toronto falls to 10-15 and 6-9 at home. The Tempo have dropped two straight and have one win in their last seven, and Las Vegas is coming to town Monday night.

The Dugout Would Have Gone Quiet

Baseball has a whole etiquette for this. When a pitcher is perfect through six, teammates slide down the bench and stop making eye contact so nobody jinxes it. Basketball has no such tradition, which is lucky for Hillmon, because the Dream were too busy scoring 111 points to leave her alone. Eight shots, eight makes, and one very long Friday for Toronto.

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