ATLANTA – Two days ago, the Atlanta Dream were up 17 points in the second half against the New York Liberty, but fell flat in the fourth quarter and ended up losing the game. In their 92-91 win against the Washington Mystics, they were in the same situation, but this time around, they held a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter, but it slowly started to fade away.

The Mystics went on a 10-0 run late in the fourth to cut their deficit down to just three points, and it got to a single point minutes later. That's when Allisha Gray and Jordin Canada made plays on both sides of the ball to give the Dream a little cushion with seconds left in the game. Brionna Jones only had one word to describe the Dream being able to walk away with the win.

“I would say resilient,” Jones said after the game. “They made their run at the end, but we were able to come back and combat their run and finish out the game with the win.

With 0.1 seconds left, the Dream were up three points, and Brittney Sykes was on the 3-point line. She was already 8-for-8 at the free-throw line prior. All the Dream needed her to do was miss one, and all Jones and head coach Karl Smesko were thinking was one thing.

“I hope she misses,” Jones said. “We know she’s a great free-throw shooter, and we have to be better not to put her in that situation and put ourselves in that situation.”

“We got to hope a really good player misses at least one, and fortunately, we did, Smesko said.

Sykes made the first one, missed the second, and made the third one. From there, all the Dream had to do was inbound the ball, and the game was won.

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Dream win close game against the Mystics

The Dream have played two games in a row where they've had a sizeable lead in the second half, but the team ends up coming back late. Against the Liberty, they lost, but they were able to hold on against the Mystics.

“With the game in New York, we just have to make sure we’re consistent and do what we have to do to keep that lead,” Nia Coffey said. “Even the same thing here, we have to make sure we’re finishing the game strong, so I think we can learn from both games and move forward.”

The Dream had just seen the Mystics five days ago, and they beat them on the road by 33 points. This was a completely different outcome, and the Dream knew that it would be.

“I was expecting a really close game,” Smesko said. “This is one of those human nature things where they’re professionals and really good, and we got the best of them last time. They’re going to come out motivated, and they were ready from the jump ball.”

As the Dream continue to go through the season, they will be in more situations like their past two games. The only thing they can hope for is that they come out with a victory every time.