Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Rhyne Howard drains nine threes, tying the single-game record again, leading the Dream over the Sparks

The Dream, minus All-Star Allisha Gray (knee), completed their miniseries at home (2-0) against the desperate Sparks, overwhelming them by going to the body and with a surplus of threes. Rhyne Howard and Maya Caldwell made up for most of the latter, shooting them up worse than Scarface at his last stand. The win also gave the hosts home-court advantage through the first round of the playoffs.

In combat sports, these types of matchups are called tune-ups because eventually one side will take off like a jet next to a dust cropper. In this case, the Dream pulled away in the second half as if they were in another time zone.

Nobody needed to wait long for the fireworks. Howard swished five triples on and off the dribble, plus nailed two freebies in the first quarter. Yet the Sparks were still within striking distance because of Dearica Hamby’s paint pressure, and outside shooting from Rickea Jackson and Kelsey Plum.

The visitors hung around, but Howard added another pair of 3-pointers and dribbled into the lane for two close-range baskets, lifting her output to a career-high of 29 first-half digits.

The Dream led 56-52 at halftime. Despite little separation on the scoreboard, one of the differences was Brittney Griner, standing at 6-foot-9, was a mismatch in the lane, too.

Then the game plan shifted as Brionna Jones punctured the heart of the defense four times. The problems were that her teammates went cold, and Atlanta’s defense had lost its teeth going back to the first frame.

It took Howard almost seven minutes to drain her first second-half triple as she curled around a dribble handoff at the top of the key, extending the lead to 11. That was also Atlanta’s 11th straight point coming out of a timeout halfway into the third. She buried another pull-up trey as 28 seconds were left in the third quarter.

The hosts were never in danger of losing their lead in the fourth, and they held LA to 25% shooting. Howard stayed through most of garbage time, too, looking for the 3-point record (10) but finished after 37 minutes.

The Dream won 104-85. They also outscored the Sparks by 26 off the bench. It was Howard’s second time logging nine 3-pointers this season, the current record for most made in a game, and her first was on June 13. The other players to share this record are Kelsey Mitchell (Sept. 9, 2019, Jewell Loyd (July 11, 2023) and Arike Ogunbowale (Sept. 1, 2024).