{"id":868567,"date":"2026-10-02T19:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T19:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/868567\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T19:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T19:06:17","slug":"liberty-must-slow-down-dream-trio-of-jordin-canada-rhyne-howard-allisha-gray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/868567\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty must slow down Dream trio of Jordin Canada, Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Liberty\u2019s historic first-round upset<\/a> became possible after effectively stopping Minnesota\u2019s head of the snake: Olivia Miles.<\/p>\n

Beginning in Sunday\u2019s Game 1 of the second-round series against the Dream in Atlanta, the challenge shifts to a trio of backcourt players capable of wrecking a game: Jordin Canada, Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard.<\/p>\n

All three Dream players possess skill sets to form a \u201creally good combination,\u201d said Liberty wing Leonie Fiebich, who surely will be tasked with slowing down the trio throughout the upcoming five-game series.<\/p>\n

Not to mention, the Dream can rebound with the best of them with Angel Reese crashing the glass at historic rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then you have rebounding from the bigs. I think it\u2019s the overall combination. As a shooter right, you get a second chance if your big looks for you after an [offensive rebound],\u201d said Fiebich.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the easiest shot you can get.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RhyneRhyne Howar of the Atlanta Dream shoots a free throw against the Las Vegas Aces in the fourth quarter of their game at Michelob ULTRA Arena on Aug. 18, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The best Liberty defense for the Dream\u2019s playmakers could be their offense.<\/p>\n

The Dream easily swept the Washington Mystics, turning defense into offense and running in transition \u2014 principles shown throughout the season for Karl Smesko\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

Atlanta scored 27 points off turnovers in their Game 1 win, then logged 23 more in the clinching victory.<\/p>\n

Canada, Gray and Howard are often sparking live-ball turnovers with their willingness to stay in passing lanes and pressure the ball up top.<\/p>\n

Then, the points can come in numerous way: Canada pushes the pace to put defenses on their heels and in a blender; Gray makes her money by going downhill while able to knock down an outside shot (4-of-10 on three-pointers in the first-round); and Howard, who averaged 20.5 points on 42.3% in Round 1, seizes any opportunity as a three-level scorer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s on Chris DeMarco and his staff to draw up a successful gameplan \u2014 like they did against Minnesota<\/a> \u2014 to slow down the Dream trio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s more about what our defensive principles are and what we want to do on a nightly basis versus who we\u2019re playing against,\u201d Jonquel Jones said when asked if a similar scheme used against the Lynx\u2019s offense can carry over to Round 2. \u201cBut we do understand that their guard play is what really drives them, and very similar to Minnesota.. \u2026 We understand that our defensive principles, our foundation, is going to be the thing that sets us aside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the pace that [Atlanta] were playing with [in the first round] was really good. I think [DeWanna Bonner] brought a lot of veteran leadership to them, a lot of timely scoring to really settle them into games. I think Howard and Gray are just two really good \u2014 or great guards that we have to slow down. When the game gets tough, they kind of put their heads down and kind of take over that scoring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AllishaAllisha Gray of the Atlanta Dream drives to the basket against Flau’jae Johnson of the Seattle Storm during the third quarter at Gateway Center Arena on July 9, 2026 in College Park, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Canada, who averaged 14.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 10.5 assists and 2.5 steals in the opening round, sets the tone for Atlanta\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n

She did the same during the Dream\u2019s final two regular-season wins over Liberty last month.<\/p>\n

And even with the Liberty riding the success of shutting down an opponent\u2019s backcourt in the opening round, they know a different test awaits.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada is a little bit faster than Miles, so we might not be able to pick her up full court as much as we did with Miles. It\u2019s gonna be a challenge,\u201d said Fiebich, who added Canada gets down the court \u201cin like two seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re used to it. I think it\u2019s good that we played them like just recently just to remember that and just got to contain her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JordinJordin Canada of the Atlanta Dream drives to the basket during the third quarter against the Toronto Tempo at Gateway Center Arena on Aug. 10, 2026 in College Park, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Fiebich \u2014 along with Pauline Astier and Rebekah Gardner \u2014 stayed connected with the Rookie of the Year before crossing halfcourt. It hindered her ability to accelerate pace and find open teammates on looks.<\/p>\n

The same kind of roadblock would affect Canada\u2019s chances of making sure she can have big games along with Howard and Gray being successful too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that Jordan\u2019s playing really well. Trying to not let her kind of see the floor the way that she does. Not [letting] her be able to make the reads, but forcing her to have one choice and one decision\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAtlanta will be a tough one for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Liberty\u2019s historic first-round upset became possible after effectively stopping Minnesota\u2019s head of the snake: Olivia Miles. Beginning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4130,7074,4807,13970,15114,18118,99,434],"class_list":["post-868567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-allisha-gray","tag-dream","tag-jordin-canada","tag-liberty","tag-olivia-miles","tag-rhyne-howard","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}