The Atlanta Dream led Game 1 of the WNBA Finals by three points with 3:12 left on Saturday. They didn’t score again, and the Golden State Valkyries closed on a 7-0 run to win 68-64 at Chase Center.

On X, fans singled out Rhyne Howard. She finished with 12 points on 3-of-14 shooting, including 2 of 9 from 3-point range. The criticism covered her shot selection, her playoff reputation and how long she stayed on the floor.

Atlanta Dream Lose Game 1 As Rhyne Howard Has a Game to Forget

Howard’s two free throws with 3:12 remaining put Atlanta ahead 64-61. They were the Dream’s final points.

Gabby Williams made two free throws with 2:15 left and two more at 1:18 to put Golden State ahead for good. Howard missed a 3-pointer with 1:09 to go, Naz Hillmon missed from deep, and Allisha Gray missed a 3 with 9 seconds left.

Howard then fouled Williams, who made both free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining and finished with a game-high 26 points.

Atlanta scored 8 points in the fourth quarter and shot 4 of 25 from 3-point range for the game. Howard also had seven rebounds, four assists, two blocks and three turnovers.

The criticism started early. In the first quarter, one fan posted, “Rhyne Howard we don’t need this today.”

It picked up around halftime. One fan posted, “I got no words for Rhyne.” Another fan called Howard “a consistent playoff dropper.”

Howard averaged 19.2 points in Atlanta’s first five playoff games, two wins over the Washington Mystics and three over the New York Liberty. She shot 28 of 87 from the field in those games, including 17 of 61 in the three semifinal games against New York.

Another fan urged Howard to draw fouls and asked why she had turned the ball over. The post said her 17 minutes to that point had been “basically all cardio,” then turned to Dream coach Karl Smesko’s rotation: “Please get me another secondary wing/sniper that Karl trusts enough to sit her.”

Howard finished with 38 minutes, tied with Jordin Canada for the team high. DeWanna Bonner played 13 minutes off the bench, and Isobel Borlase played 12. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough did not play.

Her shot selection drew its own complaint in the third quarter. One account counted 10 shot attempts from Howard, seven of them 3s, and called it “10 shot attempts from Rhyne Howard. Truly ridiculous.”

By the final buzzer, she had taken 14 shots, nine of them 3s.

At the final buzzer, another fan pointed to her 3-of-14 shooting and wrote, “She’s so inconsistent and that final possession was terrible.” The post also said Atlanta had done well just to make it a game, and that Howard has to be better if the Dream want any chance of winning.

Golden State leads the best-of-seven series 1-0, and Game 2 is Monday night at Chase Center. Atlanta goes in with two questions: whether Howard finds her shot, and whether Smesko keeps her on the floor for 38 minutes if she doesn’t.