The line outside of State Farm Arena snaked down Centennial Olympic Park Drive all the way to the corner closest to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Though there were far more people wearing Caitlin Clark jerseys and T-shirts in line than there were people wearing Dream jerseys and T-shirts, the message was clear: The WNBA can pack an arena in Atlanta.
Moments before the game began, it was announced as a sellout.
The Atlanta Dream held its home opener on the Atlanta Hawks’ home court on Thursday night. Only the team’s third game of the season, this could be the largest crowd to see the Dream this season, with Indiana Fever All-Star guard and State Farm insurance pitch-woman Clark and her teammates in town.
With an opportunity to tie the game with two free throws, Atlanta Dream leading scorer Rhyne Howard made one. Indiana would win the game 81-76 after making several free throws late in the game.
The first 10 minutes of the game opened with the Dream jumping out to a 10-4 lead after frontcourt stars Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones took advantage of the Fever’s smaller lineup. The Fever would pull closer midway through the period before Atlanta ended the first quarter with an 18-13 lead.
Indiana guard Kelsey Mitchell put the Fever ahead for the first time at 20-18 on a long three-pointer early in the second quarter. The Fever were without offensive help from Clark, who came into the game averaging a team-high 23.5 points per game. Clark had as many personal fouls (2) as points early in the second quarter. She wouldn’t score her fourth point of the game until the four-minute mark of the second quarter.
On the other hand, Howard had seven points despite playing with a bulky brace on her right knee. One of her first 12 points came on a fall-away jumper as the shot clock buzzer went off.
The two teams played one another two nights earlier in Indiana, and the chippiness from that 91-90 Dream victory carried over to this game in Atlanta. Howard and Clark exchanged angry glances after Howard was called for a foul near half court.
The first half ended with both teams exchanging baskets late. Howard, with an Indiana defender all over her, made a three-pointer with just a few seconds remaining in the half. Before that shot, the Fever scored four unanswered points from Mitchell and guard Sophie Cunningham.
Clark picked up her fourth foul of the game early in the third quarter, but teammate Natasha Howard picked up the slack by scoring seven of her team’s first nine points of the quarter. Consecutive three-pointers from Dream rookie point guard Te-Hina Paopoa brought the crowd to their feet with consecutive three-pointers. The latter tied the game at 46 with 5:31 remaining in the third quarter. Only three games into her professional career, Paopao has a big following thanks to her successful collegiate career with the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. A starter, when Paopao was announced, she received the loudest applause with the exception of Clark.
Howard, Natasha, not Rhyne, remained hard to guard and finished the third quarter with a game-high 21 points. Her teammates continued to find her under the baskets while Clark and Fever forward Aliyah Boston were ice cold from the field through three quarters. Boston scored her first points of the game with less than 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter. She came into the game averaging 21 points through Indiana’s first two games.
With the score 63-62 in favor of Indiana early in the fourth quarter, Griner could be seen on the Dream bench talking to teammates. At that point in the game, she had only scored five points and grabbed six rebounds. Dream head coach Karl Smesko decided to put Griner back in the game with 5:32 remaining in the game and Atlanta ahead 64-63. She would foul out of the game minutes later.
Clark tied the game at 71 with a pair of free throws, and Dream guard Allisha Gray put Atlanta back in front with a pair of free throws of her own. Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell put Indiana back in front with a three-pointer with just over a minute to play in the game.