It is a fact of life that only one team can be crowned the champion of a league in professional sports. Thus, success isn't necessarily measured by whether or not a team wins a championship or not. But for the Atlanta Dream, they could not have thought of a more bitter end to their strong 2025 in which they won 30 games in the regular season.
The Dream are no longer in championship contention after bowing out of the postseason on Thursday after suffering an 87-85 defeat to the Indiana Fever in Game 3 of their first-round matchup in the 2025 WNBA playoffs. It looked like they were in control late in the fourth quarter after they took an 85-80 lead courtesy of a Rhyne Howard triple. But then they couldn't get the job done, with the Fever getting back into the game with papercuts punctuated by an Aliyah Boston layup that came as a result of poor defense from Atlanta.
Alas, playoff heartbreak is simply part of life for all but one team in North American professional sports. But the beauty of sports is that there is always a chance to gain redemption. And Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young implored the Dream to keep their heads up even though that loss to the Fever in Game 3 is going to haunt them for a long time.
“Ughhh😓 I know this was a tough way to lose but We gonna bounce back!! @AtlantaDream,” Young wrote on his official account on X.
Young has experienced playoff heartbreak in the past; the Hawks made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, only to run into the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks.
Nonetheless, it is a different matter entirely when a favored team is upset in the first round of the playoffs like the Dream were, but all they could do now is use this defeat as fuel to be better come next year.
Dream's dream season comes to a premature end
The Dream may have been a playoff team last year, but they went 15-25 and were simply there to be fodder for the first-seed and eventual champion New York Liberty. But in 2025, they improved by leaps and bounds and looked like a force to be reckoned with.
Howard and Allisha Gray continued to get better, while the addition of Brionna Jones from free agency worked wonders for the Dream. There is something brewing in Atlanta, although adding another piece might be necessary for them to become more than a playoff pretender.
