Brittney Griner Has Strong Words After Atlanta Dream's Costly Loss

Brittney Griner has emerged as a star for the Atlanta Dream in her first season with the team, playing under head coach Karl Smesko.

Atlanta has played their way into the WNBA title conversation, joining several other top teams in the league, such as the Minnesota Lynx and the New York Liberty.

The Dream have consistently been one of the best teams in the league, led by Griner, Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard. Despite injuries, most notably to Griner and Howard during the season, Smesko has worked to keep Atlanta in line.

Griner recently returned from a neck injury after missing several games for the Dream. As she was starting to ramp up her minutes, Griner was struck with yet another blow.

In the team's most recent matchup against the Las Vegas Aces, which resulted in a 74-72 loss, Griner was forced back to the locker room during the game due to a head injury.

She wound up returning to the game, but it wasn't enough to lead the Dream to victory.

After the matchup, Griner spoke on the loss for Atlanta.

"Every possession matters," Griner said. "Being locked in. Teams are going to go on a run. We just have to be able to make sure they’re not that detrimental to us and just going on our runs afterwards. But, we’ll take a lot from this game. We fought hard. You’re going to have to dig deep on the road and when we play in the playoffs and everything. Can take some good, but definitely some learning points from this game tonight."