Brittney Griner breaks the slump: How the Atlanta Dream star is finding her form again

On Sunday, the Dream (11-6) scored a season-high 62 points in the paint, overwhelming the Liberty only two days after posting 52 paint points in a 96-92 overtime loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Friday. In that two-game stretch, Griner and Jones combined for 48 of Atlanta’s 114 paint points, totaling to a little more than 42% of the Dream’s paint production according to Synergy Sports. However, before facing the Minnesota Lynx and Liberty, Atlanta had tied its lowest scoring output and hit a season-low in paint points against the Chicago Sky on June 22 and the Dallas Wings on June 24. 

A few seconds into the postgame news conference, a relaxed Griner called Jones “spectacular,” crediting her as a key part of the Dream’s early success. The three-time All-Star had just matched her season-high with 21 points while adding six rebounds and three assists. 

But Griner, too, had a reason to be happy. She finished with 14 points and four rebounds against the Liberty and 16 points and seven rebounds against the Lynx. Those outings came after the 10-time All-Star finished with three points on 1-of-4 shots from the floor against the Sky and tied her season-low of two points on 1-of-3 shots against the Wings. 

Following the loss to the Wings, Smesko didn’t shy away from the fact that he needed to make more of an effort to get the ball inside to his post players, especially considering the Dream had registered one of their worst shooting nights from three, finishing 7-of-34 beyond the arc.

“We got to find a way to get her [Griner] some more deep touches,” Smesko said after Atlanta’s 68-55 loss to Dallas. “…It’s kind of easy to forget about the post presence that we have between Bri [Jones] and BG [when we’ve been shooting the ball well and hitting threes]. But, when there’s some struggling, it would have been nice to get a couple easy baskets.”

Moments after praising Jones, Griner paused to acknowledge her own back-to-back double-figure games—her first since the team’s first two contests of the season against the Washington Mystics and the Indiana Fever. 

“I give a lot of credit to my teammates for believing in me, encouraging me, and telling me [to] shoot the ball,” Griner said after the Dream’s victory on Sunday. “… Without them, I probably would have been still stuck in that [scoring] slump.”

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Currently, Griner is posting career lows this season, averaging 10.1 points, 4.1 field goals, 50% shooting, 1.8 free throws and 5.6 rebounds per contest through 15 games. Griner missed two games — on May 25 against the Connecticut Sun and May 27 against the Los Angeles Sparks — this season due to injuries in her left and right knee. She’s hit double figures only seven times this season. 

Even more, since scoring 18 points in the Dream’s loss to the Sun on June 6, the 34-year-old has reached double digits only three times, two of those in Atlanta’s last two games. However, with Allisha Gray raising the bar in her production, Jones staying steady, Jordin Canada finding her rhythm post-injury, Rhyne Howard expanding her game and the bench contributing regularly, Griner hasn’t needed to carry the Dream like she did in her tenure with the Phoenix Mercury.

Still, when she takes the floor Thursday against the Seattle Storm (10-7) at Gateway Center Arena, she’ll look to keep building her impact.

“Basketball is crazy,” Griner said. “There’s ups and downs, there’s times where you’ll make every shot in practice, but then, you know, it’s not going in the game. … [It] feels good to see them [shots] going in, getting that rhythm, especially getting ready for the second half of the season.”

After opening July against the Storm, the Dream will face the WNBA’s expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries. Following an affair with Golden State comes a six-game, 16-day road trip that runs through WNBA All-Star weekend in Indianapolis and includes one of Atlanta’s two back-to-back series this month. 

The trip features games against the Fever (July 11), Liberty (July 13), Sky (July 16), Aces (July 22), Mercury (July 23), and Lynx (July 27), five matchups against teams currently in the league’s top eight. Atlanta ends the month with its second back-to-back series starting July 29 at home against the Valkyries and July 30 on the road against the Wings.

The Dream sit fourth in the WNBA standings behind the Liberty, Mercury and Lynx. For Atlanta to remain in that spot or continue to rise among the league’s best, Griner said that the Dream’s defense must be a key priority. After Sunday’s win, she told reporters that the team is performing well defensively but still has room to grow, echoing Smesko’s message.

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Heading into Thursday, Atlanta ranks third in opponent points allowed (78.3), fifth in defensive rating (99.5), second in defensive rebounds (27.8), third in blocks (4.5) but last in steals (6.2) per game.

“I feel like we’re doing a good job on knowing and learning people’s tendencies,” Griner said. “I know Bri [Jones] great hands. She’s out there, she’s going to get steals and deflections. …She knows I’m back there [in paint] in case her player slips down. I got you and I know she’s gonna go get mine [player]. 

“…Those little things matter because then it gives you more confidence to go for those steals and go for those big plays that turn into points and getting those leads. …I think we’re doing better [defensively], but I think we can do better.”

Griner also believes it will take a complete team effort to ensure that the Dream don’t relinquish leads but continue to grow and stay consistent for all four quarters of a game. In Atlanta’s recent victory against New York, the Dream led by as many as 20 before winning the contest by a margin of nine points.

“It’s easy to kind of go into that time management [of clock] when you get the lead,” Griner said. “But honestly, coaches [are] challenging us to keep going [and] don’t settle because that’s when teams start creeping back up. …That’s a challenge for us moving forward, going deeper into, season and then playoffs. When you get those leads, you can’t let in any team in this league. … On any given night, they [teams] can take it from you.”