Angel Reese and the Dream Swept the Liberty to Reach Their First WNBA Finals Since 2013
The Atlanta Dream beat the New York Liberty 85-83 at Barclays Center on Friday night to complete a three-game sweep of the WNBA semifinals. Atlanta is going to the Finals for the first time since 2013.
Angel Reese scored 22 points. Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart each had 26 for New York, and it was not enough.
How the Series Went
Game 1 on October 4 went 92-82 to Atlanta. Game 2 on October 7 went 101-98 in overtime. Game 3 was the 85-83 close-out. The Dream, the No. 4 seed, have not lost a playoff game this postseason, having also swept the No. 5 Mystics 92-77 and 93-75 in the first round.
New York entered as the No. 8 seed after upsetting top-seeded Minnesota 2-0 in the first round, 91-75 and 87-71. The Liberty had returned most of the core that won the franchise’s first championship two years ago. Their season is over.
The Final Minute
Atlanta led 83-81 with 17.7 seconds left after a turnover. Stewart missed a contested layup with nine seconds remaining. DeWanna Bonner hit two free throws with 6.2 seconds on the clock.
Rhyne Howard had set the tone much earlier, scoring 11 points in the first quarter alone on 4-of-6 shooting with three made threes. Atlanta led 44-39 at halftime, New York won the third quarter 29-22 to go up 68-66, and Atlanta won the fourth 17-13.
It Was Not Friendly
Reese and Sabrina Ionescu exchanged words after an offensive foul in the second quarter. Later, Jones and Reese bumped chests after a blocked shot and both were assessed technical fouls. A sweep does not usually come with this much friction, which says something about how close the games were.
What Both Players Said
Reese framed it against the last two Octobers. “Sat at home the last two years and watched it,” she said of the Finals, before adding the obvious: “The job isn’t done.”
Stewart took the ending personally. “I missed a bunny to tie the game which really stinks,” she said. “It’s really hard to get to the Finals and it’s really hard to win a WNBA championship.”
Dream coach Karl Smesko kept it simple: “Excited about it and proud of the way our players competed and pull together and held on to win.”
The Finals Will Produce a First-Time Champion
Atlanta faces the Golden State Valkyries starting Saturday, October 17. Golden State swept the defending-champion Aces in the other semifinal to reach its first Finals in only its second season of existence.
Atlanta has been to the Finals four times and never won. Golden State has never been. Whoever wins this one is lifting a trophy the franchise has never held, which has not been true of a WNBA Finals in a long time.
One note on the box score: the official recap lists the final as 85-83 and is internally consistent with the closing sequence, while one gametracker reconstruction reads 83-81. Full box scores beyond the four confirmed scoring lines were not available at the time of writing.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
