Dream hoping for Rhyne Howard breakout in WNBA Finals Game 3 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Rhyne Howard had a historic Game 2 of the WNBA Finals -- and surprisingly, it had nothing to do with her offense.
Howard, the Atlanta Dream's All-Star guard, had an offensive rating of 74 in Saturday's Game 1 and 79 in Monday's Game 2. She has scored 17 points from 21 shot attempts through two games -- but Atlanta has evened up the Finals anyway.
That's in part due to Howard's Finals-record six steals in Monday's 79-65 win over the Golden State Valkyries, which sends the series south to Atlanta for the next two games in what has become a best-of-five series.
MORE: Rhyne Howard makes WNBA Finals history in game that barely shows up in scoring column
The Dream has flourished this postseason and enters Game 3 on Wednesday night with a 6-1 playoff record. Atlanta is two wins from a first-ever championship despite Howard's offensive struggles: the four-time All-Star is shooting only 30.6 percent from the floor in the playoffs, though her defense remains outstanding. She was a first-team All-Defense selection, after all.
Got to chop it up with Karl Smesko during shootaround this morning! On Rhyne’s early struggles, PnR volume vs off-ball usage, the risk/reward of rim attempts in this series and more. https://t.co/QgJrX5xUCH
— Nekias (Nuh-KAI-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) October 21, 2026
Still, Dream head coach Karl Smesko feels a breakout might be close if Atlanta continues to punish Golden State in transition, as was the case in Game 2.
"I think the more we get out in transition, I think it'll help Rhy get easier looks," Smesko said Wednesday from State Farm Arena. "(The Valkyries) are obviously pretty focused on not losing her and not letting her have any separation. ... We want Rhy to be a big part of what we do."
Howard will remain a fundamental part of the Dream's plan while Atlanta hopes her shot will come around. If it does, the Valkyries defense will have more than just Angel Reese to worry about.
More WNBA news:
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'She had a completely different mindset': How Dream knew Angel Reese would dominate Game 2
Dream's Angel Reese is on pace to set Finals mark not seen since Shaquille O'Neal
Gabby Williams' Valkyries doomed by 'uncharacteristic' mistakes in WNBA Finals Game 2