ATLANTA -- The No. 3 seed Atlanta Dream secured a first playoff win since 2018 on Sunday when they took down the visiting No. 6 seed Indiana Fever 80-68 in their opening game of the WNBA playoffs.
Under the new WNBA playoff format, the best-of-three series will shift to Indianapolis for Game 2 on Tuesday, and with a win the Dream would punch their ticket to the semifinals.
"This is [this group's] first home game, period, in the playoffs," said Rhyne Howard, the Dream's 2022 No. 1 overall pick. "And so for us to even have accomplished that much, to have the home-court advantage, we knew we had to make it a good one. We know that was our first playoff win, and we're looking to continue to have more."
The Minnesota Lynx have the league's best record, the New York Liberty are the defending champs and the Las Vegas Aces have a historic 16-game win streak, but the Dream, arguably under the radar, have put together a stellar season to establish themselves as title contenders. Under first-year head coach Karl Smesko, Atlanta secured a franchise-best 30 wins and .682 win percentage in the regular season while finishing with the league's second-best net rating.
The Dream asserted that version of themselves in the second quarter, where they outscored the Fever 22-12 to take a 40-33 lead into the break. The second frame, plus a 22-15 fourth period where Atlanta led by as many as 16, proved to be the ultimate separators.
"I think the biggest thing is our defense," Dream forward and Sixth Player of the Year candidate Naz Hillmon said. "Our defense is what I truly feel fuels our offense. Indiana is a great offensive team, and if you let them get hot, you let them get going, it can turn into a really ugly game."
The Dream didn't let that happen. Indiana's 68 points marked its fifth-worst output in a game this season, its 34.9% clip its fourth-lowest this year and its two made 3s a season low. Star guard Kelsey Mitchell finished with a playoff career-high 27 points, but no other Fever player besides Odyssey Sims (10) reached double figures.
Standout guards Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray led the way for Atlanta with 20 points apiece, but Atlanta also edged out Indiana in points in the paint (40-34) and second-chance points (18-10) to help build its advantage.
The Dream entered the postseason with the third-fewest combined playoff games on their roster, but they are now within reach of the franchise's first postseason series win since 2016. Historically, teams that win Game 1 in a best-of-three series win the series 71% of the time.
"This wasn't going to be a year that we were going to be satisfied with everybody telling us that, 'Wow, you really improved over last year,'" Smesko said. "That's not what we're trying to do. We're trying to be the best team in the league. We're trying to win the championship. We are all aware how hard that is, because everybody's trying for that. But we weren't going to let a year go by where we didn't go for it."
The Fever, on the other hand, started the season as championship contenders but have had an adversity-filled season with star Caitlin Clark and four other players suffering season-ending injuries. Mitchell said that while the game's physicality and stoppages (there were 43 fouls called) made it difficult to establish rhythm, the group also made self-inflicted mistakes.
"We shot ourselves in the foot in a lot of different areas that impact being able to make plays and do what you want to do on the offensive end," Mitchell said. "So I think that once we stop doing that, we give ourselves more of a chance to be who we are offensively."
The Fever now have to win two straight games, including a potential Game 3 back in Atlanta, to keep their season alive. Tuesday will mark the franchise's first home playoff game since 2016.
"I think you give yourself an edge as the home team. When they punched us, they punched us hard," Mitchell said. "And so we have to do the same thing [on Tuesday], vice versa, in order to get our momentum and get that rhythm running fast and off the ground early."