What's really behind the Atlanta Dream's three-game losing streak?

The Atlanta Dream have hit their first real rough patch of the season, losing three consecutive games on a tough Western Conference road trip. But if you ask head coach Karl Smesko, the sky isn't falling.

The Dream fell to the Seattle Storm 105-90 on Saturday after dropping back-to-back games to the Golden State Valkyries — 77-66 on June 24 and 78-75 on June 26. The three-game skid drops the Dream to 12-7, though they remain first in the Eastern Conference.

The losses have exposed a recurring problem: slow starts. Against Golden State in the first game of the trip, the Valkyries jumped out to a 22-18 first-quarter lead and never looked back. In the rematch, Atlanta led 35-32 at halftime before ultimately getting outscored in the fourth quarter. Against Seattle, the Storm bolted to a 21-13 lead after one quarter and held firm from there.

"I didn't like how today's game started," Smesko said after the Seattle loss. "I know we just played last night. I was hoping for us to come out with a stronger start today. We had a couple defensive breakdowns right from the beginning, a couple wasted possessions on offense, and suddenly you're starting the game in an 11, 12-0 hole and it seems like you're having to fight your way back almost the entire game."

The Dream's shooting has also been inconsistent. After entering the road trip as the league's top offense, Atlanta struggled to find its rhythm from the field across all three games, including a particularly difficult shooting night against Seattle.

"Going into this road trip we were the No. 1 offense in the league," Smesko said. "Today we didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but the shots we're getting are really, really good. I don't think there needs to be any drastic changes. Hopefully, we start shooting the ball better, hopefully a couple days of good rest and a couple days of practice and we'll get right back to playing offense how we were playing going into this trip."

There were individual bright spots throughout the losing streak. Rhyne Howard led all scorers with 27 points against Seattle, and Jordin Canada posted a season-high 23 points while shooting 3-for-3 from three and 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the June 26 loss to Golden State. Angel Reese recorded her 11th and 12th double-doubles of the season in the two Valkyries games and set a career high with six steals in the June 26 contest. Madina Okot also had consecutive double-digit scoring games, leading Atlanta with 16 points in the first Golden State matchup.

Against Seattle, the Dream made 23 of 26 free throws and forced seven steals, scoring 16 points off turnovers — both signs that the effort and execution haven't completely disappeared.

Still, the gap in third-quarter scoring has been damaging. Seattle outscored Atlanta 32-27 in the third quarter Saturday. In the first Golden State game, the Valkyries won the third quarter 19-13 before Atlanta mounted a fourth-quarter charge that came up short.

Smesko was measured in his assessment of what the losing streak actually means.

"I think the overreaction is we've lost three in a row on the road," he said. "There are a lot of things that need to change. I think we've played really good basketball this year. I think this was obviously a very tough road trip. I don't think there needs to be a ton of changes. There just needs to be ... I would say we need to get locked in on details."

He also acknowledged that some of the credit belongs to the opposition.

"We ran into a couple games where the other team has played exceptionally well and we just haven't been able to match that," Smesko said. "But I think our team knows that we're a really good team and that everybody in our locker room knows that we're going to be one of the best teams in the league. We just have to straighten a couple things out."

Allisha Gray, who averaged 12.3 points across the three-game skid, echoed that sentiment and pointed to film study and staying together as the path forward.

"Just getting back, looking at film, seeing what we can improve, just continuing to work to get better," Gray said. "It's still early in the season so these are the types of things you want to experience early so you can learn from it, so when it gets to playoff time it's not too late."

Gray also stressed the importance of keeping the locker room together despite the frustrating stretch.

"You're not going to win all the games," she said. "The biggest thing is us staying together. The morale in the locker room is high and great. We just need to bring it all together and put all the pieces together to win these types of games. It's basketball, it's just how you respond."

The Dream will look to avoid another loss Thursday when they play against the Washington Mystics in the final game of its road trip.