The Atlanta Dream's new franchise cornerstones reversed their matching red-leather interior Corvettes into parallel parking spots, popped the rooftops back on, then stepped out in their game-day fits -- Allisha Gray in a green crewneck, Rhyne Howard in a baby blue shirt and Naz Hillmon in a bright pink pantsuit.
"It gives Powerpuff Girls," Hillmon told ESPN ahead of their regular-season finale.
It's not just the colors they sported that were reminiscent of the early-2000s cartoon. Just as that superhero trio would save their city, Atlanta's version of the big three has helped restore this team after six straight losing seasons, doubling its win total from a year ago with a franchise-record 30 victories and earning the No. 3 seed in the WNBA playoffs.
Their friendships have really shaped the team's culture off and on the floor.
"We are never not having a great time, and the chemistry has always been there. I literally want to repost every tweet, every post that I see about them because they deserve it all," Hillmon said. "Our core, we have our values, and we knew what we wanted to accomplish, and that starts off the court."
This core group has been crucial to building the foundation Larry Gottesdiener wanted to establish when he bought the team in 2021. The first brick he laid was hiring general manager Dan Padover, who made several trades in the 2022 draft to acquire the No. 1 and 15 picks and select Howard and Hillmon, respectively. The next was acquiring Gray in 2023. And the latest was the hiring of Karl Smesko, who was unproven in the WNBA, but has unlocked the Dream's full potential with his distinct offensive style.
Before the rebuild began, Atlanta was not a desirable destination. Now, only four years later, the reimagined Dream are only one win away from the semifinals -- hoping to leave a disappointing Game 2 loss in the rearview as they host the Indiana Fever for the series-deciding Game 3 (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN).
"Everything we did was very methodical," Padover told ESPN. "It's a collection of hundreds of decisions that gets you to where you want to go ... We haven't done anything yet, but we are at a point where it finally starts to feel like the change we wanted to see happen is coming to fruition."
Smesko stood at the front of the Dream's film room with players scattered in chairs around him. The way he spoke, the way he broke down the tape felt like he was giving a lecture to his team.
Gray jotted down notes in her notebook, clinging to every word her coach said.
"Once the film is over, he's like, 'OK, what did we learn?'" Gray told ESPN. "It's like a college class or a pop quiz, and you have to do well."
Smesko's system -- of teaching and style of play -- is new to the Dream. When he was hired ahead of this season, he told his players that things would change around the organization. It quickly became clear that he "beats to his own drum," Brittney Griner said.
How his offensive system would ultimately work with their roster raised some eyebrows, though. His emphasis on 3-point shooting didn't obviously align with the strengths of newly-acquired post players like Griner and Brionna Jones. But the résumé he built in his 22 years at Florida Gulf Coast -- where his Eagles finished in the top four of 3-point attempts in Division 1 every season between 2010 and 2024 -- earned him immediate respect with the team. Jones has more than tripled her career-high in 3-point attempts (46), and the mix of shots has made Atlanta's offense harder to predict -- and harder to defend.
"It felt like he was really obsessed with basketball, playing the right way and winning," Padover said. "And in professional basketball, you need people who are great at their craft. He's just that: great."
While Smesko believed his team would end up with one of the league's better offenses, he also knew a new system would take some players out of their comfort zone, and so he spent time watching their film from the past few seasons for an idea of how each likes to play. His goal on offense is always to achieve efficiency.
"How could players be utilized in a way where we could be more competitive?" he said. Smesko doesn't want his players chucking up ill-advised shots, but if they find themselves open, they always have the green light to shoot it.
"He's a coach who tells you to shoot," Gray added. "It's nice for me to have a coach [who tells me] to shoot more than not shoot."
The Dream have improved in nearly every statistical category from a year ago. They went from third to first in rebounding (36.6 per game), 12th to third in assists (21.4 per game) and 10th to third in 3-pointers made (421). They are also second in offensive -- they finished in last place a season ago -- and defensive rating.
Their 30 wins are also a single-season league record for a first-year WNBA coach.
"There are some days we come in after we had a good win, but it feels like we didn't because of the way he is critiquing us," Hillmon said. "In his mind he is always thinking, 'We have to get better, we have to get better.' We don't ever want to leave anything on the table. ... I appreciate that from him."
Under Smesko's leadership, Hillmon has shaped up to be a front-runner for Sixth Player of the Year. She averaged a career-high 8.6 points per game off the bench in the regular season and consistently gave the Dream a spark on the court, as well as being their go-to vocal leader. Atlanta went 5-0 when Hillmon scored at least 15 points, and she led the team in net rating (+14.5).
Meanwhile, her Powerpuff Girls teammates also thrived in the new offensive system.
On June 13, Howard tied the WNBA's single-game record for most 3-pointers, knocking down nine against the Chicago Sky. She did it again on Sept. 6, becoming the first player in league history to hit the mark more than once.
Gray put together a season that landed her in the MVP conversation, averaging a career-high 18.4 points in the regular season with the fourth-best per-game average of 3-pointers made (2.3) in the league among players who attempted at least 100 3s.
"I play thinkless basketball," Gray said. "I'm just out there having fun and the way he has the system is playing with as little thinking as possible. I think that allows me to play at my best."
Smekso has been impressed with how receptive his group is to his changes and credits their preexisting relationships and friendships.
"You get a lot more done when the people you work with actually enjoy being around each other," Smesko said.
The culture this year's Dream have capitalized on is in stark contrast to the one Gottesdiener and Padover inherited in 2021. Instead of chemistry, there was tension -- players openly campaigned for Kelly Loeffler's opponent in a U.S. Senate race after the former co-owner openly objected to the league's promotion of the Black Lives Matter movement.
"The No. 1 goal is always to win. So, we had to build a competitive team, but we had to rebuild what the WNBA ecosystem thought of Atlanta," Padover said. "We wanted positive feelings around us."
This is the first locker room Gray said she has been a part of in which there is no drama. Music consistently blasts from the Dream's locker room. Dance parties take place on plane rides. Gray and Howard do taste tests on TikTok. And Smesko tries to keep up with what Te-Hina Paopao's lingo means, such as "lowkey" or "W's in the chat."
"There are a lot of things they say that I have no clue what they are saying," Smesko said. "[They ask] if I knew what it meant, and I say yes, but I'm sure I'm actually wrong."
"There is a learning curve," Hillmon said, laughing. "He has really tried to adapt and figure us out. We are such a slick group in general. You can't run away from it or shy away from it. ... He knows the importance of finding a way to bridge the gap between his personality and our personalities."
Hillmon and Howard have aspired to win a championship together since the day they met.
They started dreaming of gold medals in 2018, when they were introduced as members of a USA Basketball U18 team and roomed together thanks to the proximity of their last names on the roster.
When they were drafted to Atlanta four years later, they immediately began to plot how they would win a WNBA title there.
"At that point, we were very naive," Hillmon said. "Of course, we talked about championships at that point, but in reality, we were so far from it ... [But looking back], it speaks to having to come from something to reach a championship and be a contender."
When Gray arrived the next year, she was nervous about entering a new dynamic but saw the potential in what the team was building toward. She knew Hillmon from Athletes Unlimited -- an offseason league they both played for in 2023 -- who quickly welcomed Gray into the fold with herself and Howard, knowing that the three of them would be at the center of the Dream's future.
"They took me immediately and made their duo a trio," Gray said. "I was honored to be added to the tandem."
After failing to make the postseason in Hillmon and Howard's rookie season, the Dream made it as a fifth seed with a sub-.500 record in 2023 -- Gray's first with the team. In 2024, they were the eighth seed with a losing record. Atlanta was swept in both years in the first round.
"It was a new house when we came in, and we've done nothing but continue to build it up brick by brick," Howard said. "We continued to have as much faith in this organization as they've had in us."
The Dream were predicted to finish in the middle of the pack at the start of this season. But they have proven to be consistent, deep and, above all, a scary opponent. They entered the playoffs with the third-best chance (15.3%) to win the title, according to ESPN's BPI.
Gray thinks "it's crazy" their success hasn't been more recognized.
"I feel like we're still not being talked about enough, especially with the improvements that we made being a last-place [playoff] team to now being tied for second," Gray added. "I feel like people are still sleeping on us as a whole."
The Dream are confident in the building blocks they have put together over the past four months -- and past four years -- to get to this point. Now, they understand this is where all of that will be tested.
"We don't mind being the underdog," Hillmon said. "It's OK, because we knew what we were working toward. Obviously, you can bring in the talent, but you have to do something with it."