The New York Liberty and Atlanta Dream both have serious ambitions this season, and earning a win in Tuesday's showdown should bring them a little closer to fulfilling them. On this night, the defending champions reigned supreme, pulling out an 86-81 home victory.

But before charging into battle in the Barclays Center, two ex-teammates gleefully reconnected on the court. Liberty guard Natasha Cloud leaped up to hug Dream center Brittney Griner, via Atlanta's official X account. Although the two former champions played only one season together on the Phoenix Mercury, they clearly formed a special bond.

Griner and Cloud are each hoping for a better conclusion to the WNBA campaign, following a first-round playoffs exit at the hands of the Minnesota Lynx last year. The former is a Mercury legend who helped the franchise win a championship in 2014, but she felt it was time to move on after a decade-plus in The Desert. Cloud is also enjoying her new environment, serving a key role on a Liberty squad that currently owns the second-best record in the league.

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Coincidentally, both talents recently achieved huge milestones. Griner passed WNBA trailblazer Lisa Leslie for the second-most blocks ever, and Cloud jumped into ninth on the all-time assists list. They are putting those exquisite individual skills to good use on their new squads. Griner is averaging 1.4 rejections with the Dream, while Cloud posts 6.1 assists per contest.

Neither player is producing a ton of offense at this point of their respective careers, which was also the case in this latest matchup, but they can bring invaluable defensive intensity. Based on where New York (10-1) and Atlanta (8-4) currently sit in the WNBA hierarchy, these additions are already paying dividends. Though, Phoenix is doing just fine in its own right.

The revamped Mercury are 8-4, now tied with the Dream for fourth place. Despite weathering significant offseason departures, the squad is in prime playoff position. It will be interesting to see where these three franchises wind up when it is all said and done.