The Atlanta Dream led Game 1 of the WNBA Finals with 3:12 left and never scored again. The Golden State Valkyries closed on a 7-0 run for a 68-64 win Saturday at Chase Center.

Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray combined to shoot 8-for-33 (24.2%), but fans were divided over who deserved the blame.

WNBA Fans Rip Rhyne Howard, Defend Allisha Gray After Dream’s Game 1 Collapse

Atlanta led 56-51 entering the fourth quarter and went up seven on Howard’s free throws with 9:07 left. She later gave the Dream a 64-61 lead, but those were their final points of the game.

Atlanta missed several opportunities to regain the lead, including late three-point attempts by Howard, Naz Hillmon, and Gray. Williams then converted two free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining, and Gray missed a final three-point attempt as Golden State held on.

Gray scored a team-high 19 points on 5-for-19 shooting and went 8-for-8 at the line. She was returning after missing the final two semifinal games with an injured left ring finger on her shooting hand.

Howard finished with 12 points on 3-for-14 shooting, including 2-for-9 from deep.

Howard drew much of the criticism.

“Genuinely, what is Rhyne Howard’s excuse for being as inconsistent as she is?” one fan posted.

Another pointed to Gray’s issue: “One of them had a hand injury and played better than the other… only one gets an excuse.”

One reaction urged critics to “spare Gray the heat” because she was returning from injury, directing the criticism toward Howard instead.

“Lish got 8 fingers right now. Leave her out of this … This [expletive] is on Rhyne and Karl ALONE,” a fan wrote, also blaming Dream coach Karl Smesko.

A Valkyries fan account took a different angle, writing, “I told those Dream fans in the spaces the other day,” before arguing that Atlanta’s usual approach wouldn’t work against Golden State.

Both teams struggled offensively in a matchup featuring six players named to the WNBA’s two 2026 All-Defensive teams. Atlanta shot 21-for-64 overall and 4-for-25 from behind the arc. Golden State went 25-for-78, with Williams scoring 26 points as its only player in double figures.

Howard acknowledged how much Golden State disrupted Atlanta’s offense. “They forced us into a version of a game of basketball that we don’t play,” she said afterward, according to Roundtable Sports. She also defended Gray’s performance despite the injury: “She came out looking like nothing even happened. And we just have to be better.”

The Dream will try to even the series in Monday’s Game 2 in San Francisco before it shifts to State Farm Arena for Games 3 and 4. Neither franchise has won a WNBA title.