Rhyne Howard begins first WNBA Playoffs run this week

Only two years into her WNBA career, Rhyne Howard is about to embark on her first postseason journey. The Atlanta Dream has qualified as one of eight teams to make the league’s 2023 playoffs, which begins on Wednesday. Howard and the Dream won’t begin their run until Friday though. Fifth-seeded Atlanta (19-21) will take on the fourth-seeded Dallas Wings (22-18) in a best-of-three-game series. Game 1 is set for 9:30 p.m. EST in Dallas on ESPN2.

This will be the Dream’s first playoff appearance since 2018. Dallas is 2-0 against Atlanta so far this season, including a 94-77 win in the season-finale on Sunday.

Howard, who was named an All-Star for the second straight season, has been the Dream’s best player this season at just 23 years old. Across 39 regular season games, the former Kentucky Wildcat averaged a team-high 17.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.3 steals in 32.9 minutes per game. She finished with shooting splits of 38.5/35.2/78.8 and made plenty of history along the way. But now, she’ll have to perform in the postseason when it matters most.

That shouldn’t be much of a problem for the Tennessee native though. Those who remember her during her playing days in Lexington know just how likely Howard is to show up when the lights are the brightest. Across 14 SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament games during her four college seasons, she averaged nearly 23 points per outing, including eight games of at least 24 points. She poured in 32 points when Kentucky upset LSU during the team’s famous SEC Tournament-winning run in 2022.

The WNBA Playoffs will be a different beast though. The Dallas Wings boast three highly talented players. Arike Ogunbowale (21.1 PPG), Satou Sabally (18.6 PPG), and Natasha Howard (16.5 PPG) present a tough challenge. Ogunbowale and Sabally were both All-Stars this season. Howard will need plenty of help to pull off the upset. Veterans Allisha Gray (17.1 PPG) and Cheyenne Parker (15.0 PPG), both All-Stars alongside Howard this season, will fill those sidekick roles.

Luckily for Dream fans, Howard has been playing the best basketball of her life this season. She’s hit double-digit scoring numbers in 13 consecutive contests going into the postseason. There was a nine-game stretch during the middle of the season that saw her average 22.3 points per outing with the Dream going 7-2. Unfortunately, Atlanta went into a losing spell down the stretch of the regular season, losing nine of 12 games at one point and even dropping six in a row. But the team recovered in the final two weeks of the schedule, finishing 3-2 and doing enough to win the standings tiebreakers over the Minnesota Lynx and Washington Mystics, which both finished with the same 19-21 record.

Howard’s star in the WNBA continues to grow. She’s established a reputation as a scoring killer and versatile playmaker. But the postseason is where legends are made. Howard is already a legend in Kentucky. Can she earn the same title in Atlanta?

Dream-Wings series schedule

Game 1 (Fri. Sept. 15) 9:30 p.m. EST | Dream @ Wings [ESPN2]
Game 2 (Tues. Sept. 19) 9:00 p.m. EST | Dream @ Wings [ESPN]
Game 3* (Fri. Sept. 22) TBD | Wings @ Dream [ESPN2]

*If necessary