The Atlanta Dream took a tough 81-75 loss to the Las Vegas Aces in their last game, and it was the second half that changed everything. After a back-and-forth first half, the Aces only allowed six points from the Dream in the third quarter, and A'ja Wilson was her dominant self throughout the game.

Late in the fourth quarter, Wilson went to the free-throw line, and the Dream arena loudly began chanting MVP at the Aces star. After the game, Rhyne Howard was asked about the third-quarter run the Aces went on, and she had a message that was aimed at the fans.

“This is a challenge. We rely on our fans, and when they pick and choose who they want to cheer for and come in and make it feel like an away game for us and a home game for the other team, it's easy to go on a run like that,” Howard said. “Especially with the playoffs coming up. You want to see Gamecocks, we have Gamecocks on our roster. The last game, we had MVP chants for one of our players. Don't get here and switch up because of one player.

“Yes, we do make mistakes. But it's easy to lose momentum when you have other people cheering against you.”

Wilson played college at South Carolina, which is a few hours away from Atlanta, and it's the closest place where those fans would be able to see her play. At the same time, Te-Hina Paopao and Allisha Gray, who has also been in MVP conversations, have received huge ovations throughout the season as well since they both played at South Carolina.

It's not that big of a surprise that Wilson received that big of an ovation, especially since she's arguably the best player in the WNBA today.

Atlanta sports in general has typically been a place where fans from other teams come out and show heavy support. In those situations, the best thing to do is win, so the opposing team's fans don't have anything to cheer for. In this case, the Dream didn't win, and with the way that Wilson has been playing for the past month, she was undoubtedly going to get loud cheers, and it's probably like that when she goes to other arenas.