Atlanta beat Minnesota 89-81 at Gateway Center Arena on Sunday afternoon, and the Lynx go into an 18-day break still three results from the No. 1 overall seed with one fewer game to get them.
Sunday’s preview said Lynx by six. It was Dream by eight, and the six stopped being plausible early. Atlanta led by five after one quarter, by 11 at the half, and by as many as 20 in the third.
Minnesota won the part of the game it usually loses on the road. The Lynx gave the ball away 11 times to Atlanta’s 18 and turned that into 23 points off turnovers against the Dream’s 13.
Then Atlanta made 13 threes on 36 attempts and Minnesota made six on 19. That is a 21-point gap in a game decided by eight, and no amount of clean ball-handling covers it.
Allisha Gray had 23 points and 11 rebounds with six of those 3s. Rhyne Howard scored 16, 12 of them in the fourth quarter, and Jordin Canada added 16 points and 10 assists.
Angel Reese finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds in 33 minutes, her 29th double-double of 2026. That breaks Alyssa Thomas’ record of 28, set in 2023. Atlanta out-rebounded Minnesota 37-32 and took eight offensive boards.
https://x.com/alexaphilippou/status/2094168763683774850
I learned to box out on a Duluth driveway against brothers who treated every rebound like a puck battle. Eight second chances is a lot of losing that argument.
Courtney Williams played. She came back from the right foot injury that cost her one game and scored 11 points in 21 minutes, which is a closer’s usage in a game that never needed closing.
Olivia Miles led Minnesota with 21 points and passed Seimone Augustus for second in WNBA rookie-season scoring. She was also held without an assist for the second time all season. Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride each scored 17. The loss ended an eight-game road winning streak.
Minnesota is 31-9 with four games left in the 44-game season. Golden State beat Portland 86-69 on Sunday night to reach 29-11, also with four left, which keeps the Valkyries’ ceiling at 33 wins and the Lynx magic number at three. Minnesota spent a chance and bought nothing.
Six days ago the Lynx needed three results and had five swings at it.
Now they have four. That used to be a cushion.
