Lynx top Dream 76-64 after another second-half surge

The way the game played out, you might think it was another case of the Lynx waiting until the second half to take care of business.

The Lynx would disagree.

Minnesota finished a three-game road trip — three games in five days — with a 76-64 victory Tuesday night over an Atlanta Dream team desperately trying to get to the eighth and final WNBA playoff position. For Minnesota (27-9), it was a fourth straight win and the 11th in 12 games, keeping it in second place in the league standings.

And if it wasn’t until the third quarter that the Lynx pulled away, there was one thing Minnesota brought from the start: defense.

“It says a lot about our connection,” guard Kayla McBride said in a postgame Zoom call.

She scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half. McBride and Myisha Hines-Allen helped kick-start a 24-10 run from the third quarter into the fourth that turned a tie score into a 14-point lead on Bridget Carleton’s fourth three-pointer of the game with 3:49 left.

McBride also took on the job of defending Dream guard Rhyne Howard, who entered the game with three straight games of 30 or more points. On Tuesday, Howard had 14 points on 5-for-19 shooting.

“Three games, five days,” McBride said. “We’re relentless in our ability to stay together. Collectively, we had a toughness.”

And that toughness simply wore down the Dream (12-24). Atlanta shot 30% for the game, 22.9% in the second half, 2-for-14 in the fourth quarter.

BOXSCORE: Lynx 76, Atlanta 64

WNBA standings

It was a demonstration of defensive will that clearly had the Dream frustrated and that should serve the Lynx well in the playoffs.

“Your will has to be great,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “There are some really good offensive players [on the Dream]. It was a tall order, in their home, against a team trying to make the playoffs.”

Four of five starters scored in double figures for the Lynx, who shot an even 50%.

The starters were 26-for-47 from the field overall, 7-for-15 on three-pointers. Carleton and Napheesa Collier each scored 14 points. Collier also had eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Courtney Williams had 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Allisha Gray led the Dream with 17 points.

The Lynx made it hard on Atlanta all night, and it started paying dividends after Howard hit a three-pointer with four-plus minutes left in the third quarter to tie the score 50-50.

Hines-Allen had four points, two assists and a steal and McBride scored seven points in a 13-4 run to end the third quarter. Then Collier, fresh off being named Western Conference player of the month for August, scored four and both Carleton and Alanna Smith hit threes in an 11-6 start to the fourth that had the Lynx up 14 with less than four minutes remaining.

And the way the Lynx were playing defense, the game was all but over.

“We’ve been trying to get back to that,” Carleton said. “There have been moments [in recent games] where the defense hasn’t been good. But this was a 40-minute effort.’’

The Lynx are within a win of tying the franchise record for victories in a season — albeit with a longer schedule — and will look to do so Friday night at home against Chicago.

Then the Lynx have road games against New York and Connecticut before finishing at home against Los Angeles.