Dream Sweep Mystics, Reach First Semifinal Since 2018 — But Canada's Fourth Quarter Has Rivals Talking

The Atlanta Dream are not just moving on. They are leaving a warning stamped on the hardwood of CareFirst Arena.

Wednesday night's 93-75 Game 2 demolition of the Washington Mystics sealed a first-round sweep and punched Atlanta's ticket to the WNBA semifinals for the first time since 2018. But the scoreboard only tells half the story. The other half is Jordin Canada's fourth quarter — a 13-point eruption that had the Mystics' bench staring at the clock like it was broken.

"Game over," one Washington assistant muttered to a colleague with 2:58 left, as Canada buried her second straight 3-pointer from the right elbow. The lead was 89-70. The Mystics never got within 13 again. The look on their faces said what the box score couldn't: this series was over long before the buzzer.

Canada finished with 19 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds, and three steals, going 4-of-8 from deep. But her fourth-quarter takeover was the kind of performance that doesn't just win a game — it changes how the rest of the league prepares for you.

"She's really, really our engine, so we go as she goes," Allisha Gray said, and Gray would know — she dropped 22 points for the second straight game. But even Gray's scoring felt like a supporting act to Canada's late-game command.

Here's what the tape shows, and what the rivals are whispering about: Washington had cut Atlanta's lead to 65-62 with a 14-2 run that started in the third quarter. The Dream looked shaky. The Mystics smelled blood.

Then Canada took over. A full-court pass to Angel Reese for a layup. A 13-0 run that included two baskets from Naz Hillmon and a long 2-pointer from Rhyne Howard. And then the dagger — a 3-pointer from the right elbow that made it 78-62 and sent the Washington bench into a collective slump.