Dream vs. Wings: Allisha Gray Scores 26, Angel Reese Grabs 16 Boards as Atlanta Starts 2-0

Angel Reese had eight offensive rebounds in Arlington on Tuesday night. The Dallas Wings, all of them, had seven. That sounds like a typo, but it was a pretty good summary of how a game between two teams shooting 38% got decided: one side kept getting another try, and the other kept watching it happen.

The Atlanta Dream beat the Wings 77-72 at College Park Center to move to 2-0, with both wins on the road. Allisha Gray scored 26 points, Reese's 16 rebounds and 12 points gave her a 51st career double-double, and Jordin Canada added 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists as Atlanta won the fourth quarter 19-13 to erase a one-point deficit.

Ugly Until It Suddenly Wasn't

For three quarters, nobody would have confused this for art. Dallas went up by as many as nine in the second and led 41-38 at the half. Atlanta answered out of the locker room with a 9-0 run, finished off by a pair of Gray free throws, and it was 49-43 with 6:31 left in the third. The Wings, with Arike Ogunbowale doing most of the pushing, came right back and nudged ahead 59-58 heading into the last 10 minutes.

Then Atlanta decided the game would be played its way. Gray buried two 3s and Canada added a layup in an 8-0 burst that took barely a minute, and it was 66-59. Ogunbowale's pull-up cut the lead to three with 7:23 left, but the Dream kept leaning on Dallas, and Canada's contested 3 off a Reese assist finished a 15-6 opening to the quarter for a 73-65 lead with about three and a half minutes left.

Gray's 12-foot pull-up and two Reese free throws pushed it to 77-67 with 1:47 to play. The Wings scored the last five, including a Paige Bueckers 3 with five seconds on the clock, which is great for the box score and not much else.

Gray Got Buckets, Reese Got Everything Else

Gray hit 9 of 20 shots, 4 of 9 from deep and all four of her free throws without a turnover, and after scoring 24 in Saturday's win at Minnesota she is picking up right where she left off. Her explanation was as low-drama as her game. "My teammates set me up in good spots for me to be able to get to my spots and hit my shots," she said. "And I just started out aggressive tonight."

Reese's night gets more absurd with context. The 24-year-old's 14 rebounds in the opener got her to 50 career double-doubles, making her the second youngest WNBA player to get there, with only Tina Charles ahead of her. She got there in 65 games, according to the AP, the fastest to that mark in WNBA history. Atlanta acquired her from Chicago on April 6 for first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, and two games in, the Dream have been getting their money's worth off the glass.

Canada was the steady hand, going 3 of 7 from deep with three steals. Rhyne Howard's 14 points are a small miracle of accounting, since she shot 3 of 14 overall and 1 of 9 from 3 but went 7 of 7 at the line. Naz Hillmon scored one point on 0-of-5 shooting and still led the team at plus-12. Atlanta played without Brionna Jones (right knee), and its bench managed only five points, so the starters had to carry almost everything.

Dallas got 20 from Ogunbowale, who went 0 of 4 from 3 and made up for it by going 6 of 7 at the line, plus 15 from Bueckers and 12 points and eight rebounds from Jessica Shepard. Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick, missed the game with a right knee injury. The Wings could have used the help. Alanna Smith was 0 of 6 from 3, Aziaha James was 0 of 5, and this was the same team that made 52% of its 3s in a 107-104 win at Indiana on Saturday.

Four Possessions in the Fourth

The game turned before the scoreboard did. Dallas got just one shot on each of its first four trips in the final quarter, according to the Dream, and that small stretch is the whole story in miniature. "We wanted to make sure that we didn't give up any second shots and that they didn't get their transition game going," head coach Karl Smesko said. "We wanted to make them play in the half court."

That plan is exactly what the numbers show. The Wings shot 33.3% in the fourth, and Reese's work on the boards kept giving Atlanta the extra chances Dallas never got. Once Gray started hitting, a defense that had been treading water turned into the thing that won the game.

Stats That Matter

• 4 of 26: Dallas from 3, good for 15%. Atlanta was not much better at 9 of 33, but it was enough.
• 44-34: Atlanta's rebounding margin, including 11-7 on the offensive glass.
• 8 vs. 7: Reese's offensive rebounds against the entire Wings roster.
• 16 of 17: The Dream at the free-throw line.
• 5: Atlanta's total bench points, in a game it still won by five.

Where Things Stand

Atlanta is 2-0 and has yet to play a home game. The Dream came back from 17 down to beat Minnesota 91-90 in the opener, and now they have another fourth-quarter comeback on the resume. The home opener comes Sunday against Las Vegas at State Farm Arena, home of the NBA's Hawks. Smesko sounded pleased but not fooled. "We haven't shot the ball well in either game, and we're still working out some things, just like everybody else, but showing a lot of toughness down the stretch in both games," he said.

Dallas falls to 1-1 and 0-1 at home after that wild win in Indianapolis, and a three-game homestand continues Thursday against Minnesota. Getting Fudd back would help. So would finding a few rebounds, since Reese seems to have taken all of them back to Georgia.

Time for the Kick

Inception is built on the idea that you cannot always tell when you have woken up. Atlanta has now slept through the start of two straight games and come to in time to win both of them, which makes for a great story right up until you meet a team that does not let you nap. Gray already knows what is coming on Sunday. "I just know with the Aces being such a great team, we can't have those slow starts," she said. Consider that the kick.

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