The journey continues. The New York Liberty took down the Minnesota Lynx at a raucous Barclays Center on Tuesday night, sweeping the No. 1 seed and advancing to the semifinals. It’s been a bumpy ride for New York in 2026, but they have a chance to rewrite their story in a major way.
The opponent tonight is having their best season in ages. The Atlanta Dream have had their shortcomings in the 2020s, but 2026 brought new energy, new excitement, and now new success. They won their first playoff series
in ages after completing a sweepof the Washington Mystics on Wednesday night. Atlanta has done a lot of things right in 2026, and if things go its way, the Dream will make their first WNBA Finals appearance since 2013.
Head-to-Head: Atlanta won the regular-season series 2-1
- June 11, 2026: New York 104, Atlanta 90
- September 21, 2026: Atlanta 95, New York 84
- September 23, 2026: Atlanta 83, New York 65
NetsDaily’s Lucas Kaplan joined an All-Star panel featuring Myles Ehrlich, Maddie Kenney, and Dexter Henry to break down the series.
Game Info and Broadcast Details
- Matchup: #8 New York Liberty at #4 Atlanta Dream
- Date: Sunday | October 4, 2026
- Time: 2:00 PM EST (1 PM CT)
- Venue: State Farm Arena (Atlanta, GA)
- TV/Streaming: ABC/Disney Plus
Series format: Best of 5 (Games 1 and 2 at Atlanta, Game 3 in New York, Game 4 if necessary at New York and Game 5 if necessary at Atlanta)
The stakes: Atlanta won the regular-season series 2-1, but New York enters the semifinals after sweeping Minnesota. The Liberty’s path to the Finals will likely come down to whether they can keep Reese off the offensive glass and Howard out of rhythm.
Liberty vs. Dream injury report: Who’s Out?
Liberty injury status
- Han Xu (illness) – Questionable
Dream injury status
- Brionna Jones (left knee) – Out
Matchup to Watch: Rhyne Howard vs. Leonie Fiebich
Howard had the best season of her career. She set the WNBA single season record for three pointers made and earned her fourth All-Star appearance. Howard set career highs in field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage and free-throw percentage. Digging deeper, perhaps most impressively, she shot a blistering 72.9% on shots inside of three feet. The knock on Howard throughout her career has been not taking enough shots at the rim, so we’ll see if some driving lanes open up for her in this matchup.
Howard has historically struggled against the Liberty, shooting 40% or better in just four of her 18 regular-season and postseason games against New York.
New York has made things difficult by throwing a litany of defenders at the All-Star. Leonie Fiebich will get a bulk of the assignment this way and look to make things challenging for her. For New York, keeping Howard in the midrange while chasing her off the 3-point line will be key to its defensive strategy.
Howard will have a tall task on the other side of the ball, which we’ll get to momentarily.
Player to Watch: Angel Reese
The best season of Reese’s young career now has some hardware to go with it.
Angel Reese was named Defensive Player of the Year on Thursday and has breathed new life into the Dream franchise. Reese has delivered on all of her promises and is one of the faces of the league going forward.
Reese was hampered by foul trouble in the series against the Mystics, but she was able to make a big impact in her minutes on the floor despite that. The knock on Reese throughout her WNBA career has been her touch at the rim, but she’s making big strides in that area. Reese is shooting a career best 57 percent on shots inside of three feet in 2026. We saw some of that improved touch in the September 21 matchup at the ‘Clays.
Reese will look to bounce back from a bruising first-round matchup against the Mystics and impose her will against a big Liberty frontcourt. Karl Smesko will count on Reese to disrupt the Liberty on defense, force them into live ball turnovers, and get the jam packed State Farm Arena on its feet early and often.
This is the stage Reese has been building toward all season.
Can Breanna Stewart maintain excellence?
Breanna Stewart has seen it all and done it all, and she’s peaking at the right time for the Liberty. It’s been a steady rise for the Liberty since the beginning of August, and the way they’re playing is sustainable for what they’re aiming to do.
“The approach that we’re having in these playoffs is pretty much where you want to be,” Stewartsaid. “We’re the ones that are staying poised, staying under control at all times. But we’re gonna be aggressive for the full 40 minutes, and if you want something, you’re gonna have to go through us to get it.”
For Stewart, Rhyne Howard figures to get the matchup against her. If Stewart can force her way to the rim, it’ll keep Howard out of passing lanes, make the Dream commit more defenders to Stewart, and get Atlanta into early foul trouble. The playoffs are all about shorter rotations, but the Dream didn’t use their bench much during the regular season anyway. An injury to a key player could therefore hurt Atlanta more than it would New York.
And when all else fails…
How can the Liberty battle Reese?
Geoff Magliochchetti of BallisLife shared a pretty interesting statistic about Atlanta’s rebounding woes.
Since August 1, the Dream have been the league’s third-best reboundingteam in the league. The team the Dream beat in the first round led the league while the team they face now was second. Although Atlanta swept Washington, they were outrebounded by 34 across the two games. Chances are they’ll run into trouble if that happens again in this matchup.
That starts with Jonquel Jones. JJ carried the Liberty to victory in game 2 against the Lynx as she was able to punish Minnesota on the glass throughout the night. Against Atlanta, Jones will be tasked with maintaining the spacing on offense, defending Jordin Canada when she drives to the rim, and battling Reese on the glass. Jones has to do everything she can to avoid getting into foul trouble as she is the best player on the team to contest Reese and keep her off the boards. With Han Xu under the weather, more will be expected of Jones in the middle.
Perhaps Raquel Carrera will be called on for some spot duty? We’ll see.
From the Vault
An eighth seeded New York team beginning the semifinals on the road against a fourth seeded Atlanta team? We’ve been here before.
More reading: Peachtree Hoops, Swish Appeal, Breakaway, SB Nation, Women’s Basketball Roundup, The Local W, New York Daily News, No Cap Space, New York Post, Newsday, The Athletic, NY Liberty Fan TV, Fansided, Just Women’s Sports, Winsidr, The Stomp, The Post Presence, Her Hoop Stats, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, The Short Corner, and The IX Basketball.
