Dream’s Game 4 loss leaves the Finals even—and the offense with work to do

By Rodney Holloway

Recap & analysis · Dream · October 26, 2026

The Dream made the finish close. They had already made the game too difficult. Golden State won Finals Game 4, 67–62, on October 24 at State Farm Arena, evening the best-of-seven series at 2–2.

Atlanta’s official recap identifies the trouble: 17 turnovers and a 33.3 percent shooting night. The deficit reached 42–26 at halftime. Recovering from that start required the Dream to spend the second half closing a gap rather than building a lead.

Rhyne Howard scored 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Angel Reese finished with eight points and nine rebounds, making two of 12 shots. Izzy Borlase added 10 points off the bench. Those results left Atlanta looking for more reliable offense around Howard.

Turnovers deserve their own place in the review. A missed shot can still yield an offensive rebound. A lost possession often removes that possibility altogether. Against a defense already making scoring difficult, the Dream cannot afford to keep surrendering chances to attempt a shot.

The solution is not simply to shoot sooner. Getting into an action early only helps if the ball then reaches a useful spot and the next player has an option. Ball security, spacing and the decision after the first pass belong in the same conversation.

A better percentage from Reese would help. Treating her shooting line as the entire explanation would miss the wider task: giving Atlanta several workable ways to finish possessions, so a difficult night for one player does not narrow the whole offense.

The team’s recap lists Game 5 in San Francisco on October 26. That result is not included in this research cutoff. Atlanta’s immediate assignment is to take the fight from the second half of Game 4 and pair it with a cleaner start.

By the numbers

Angel Reese in her Atlanta Dream uniform at Target Center on May 9, 2026. Regular-season image; not the 2026 Finals. Photo: John McClellan (John Mac); source crop by Sportzeditz. Image source. CC BY-SA 4.0; resized derivative retains the same license; source crop retained where applicable