ATLANTA – There could be several arguments about the reason the Atlanta Dream signed DeWanna Bonner toward the end of the season, and they'd all be valid. It could've been because Brionna Jones went down with an injury, and they needed another frontcourt player. Maybe it was because they needed to add some depth to their young bench unit. Or maybe it was because there was a need for someone with championship experience on a young team that's looking to make a postseason run.
All of those reasons seem to be true, and she checked off all of those boxes in the Dream's 92-77 win against the Washington Mystics in Game 1.
It was a sluggish first half for the Dream. It felt like most of the shots they routinely make weren't going and on the other end, the Mystics were knocking down almost 3-pointer they took. There were a few plays that looked like fouls but weren't called. Even through all of that, the Dream trailed just 41-36 going into halftime.
“I think we were playing with a lot of nerves,” Bonner said after the game. “We were a little uptight, and one thing you can't do in the playoffs is be uptight. We definitely gotta play fun basketball. We still have to laugh and enjoy this moment because no matter what we have another game. I think the second half calmed us down. Rhyne and [Allisha] settled us down, and we had fun.”
The third quarter definitely looked fun for Bonner, and it may have been the reason they won. She came in off the bench and immediately took over. It started with a layup, and then she went to the free-throw line on the Dream's next possession. Less than a minute later, she knocked down a 3-pointer from far out to put the Dream up five points, and they never looked back.
DeWanna "Big Shot" Bonner 🗣️
DB gets the @AtlantaDream momentum UP with this three-pointer!
WAS-ATL | Prime Video | 2026 WNBA Playoffs presented by Google Pixel | @madebygoogle pic.twitter.com/Ii4tKmMzck
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 28, 2026
That's something the Dream, specifically Howard, had been waiting for from Bonner since she arrived in Atlanta.
“It was like, finally, because DB’s coming in here trying to be comfortable, trying to make sure everybody else is settled, but I’ve told her, ‘You need to shoot that ball. You need to go get a bucket.' So seeing her do it and be able to do it with ease- she's been doing it for years now,” Howard said after the game. “It was like, ‘Whew, finally.' She was showing up, and we're gonna go as she goes.”
Article Continues Below“I've been here before. I've been here a lot of befores,” Bonner said. “But just using my experience, my playoff experiences, is what they brought me here for, and I have to remind myself to take a deep breath too.
“I'm nervous before the game a little bit, but for me, once that ball goes up, once I kind of see one go through the basket, it's go time. Welcome to playoff moments.”
Howard started the game strong and put the finishing touches on it as well. She isn't new to the playoff moment, and they needed everything from her in this game to put them up in the series.
“I was just super proud of Rhyne,” Bonner said. “It's her time, and just to see her grow from the last playoffs to this playoff, it just says a lot about her and her growth. She's just getting started, so I'm excited to see her for the rest of the playoffs.”
The Dream know that the Mystics are going to come out desperate next game, but they believe if they match their intensity and play a full game, they can close things out on Wednesday.
“What we did in the first half, we can't have another half like that ever,” Howard said. “Next game, they're going to want to come out and capitalize on the mistakes that we did make. Making sure that we're playing our defense for the full 40 minutes is gonna be key because we want to take their confidence early. We wanna make sure that we put them away early. That's not a team that you can just play around with.”
“This is just round one. We feel good about how we set the tone for the first game, but there's a lot more work to be done, and I think everyone in our locker room is aware of that,” Karl Smesko said.