The New York Liberty had a chance to capture the season series against the Atlanta Dream and move closer to home-court advantage on Monday night. However, they did neither and the Dream pulled away with a major 95-84 win.
New York’s playoff seeding remains up in the air as we enter the final game of the regular season.
Game Info & Broadcast Details
- Matchup: Atlanta Dream (28-14) at New York Liberty (26-16)
- Date: Monday, September 21, 2026
- Tip-off time: 8 PM EST (7 PM CST)
- Venue: Barclays Center (Brooklyn, NY)
- TV: My9; Peacock
Liberty vs. Dream Injury Report: Who’s Out?
Liberty injury status:
- Satou Sabally (head) – Not with team
- Elizabeth Balougan – Not with team
Dream injury status
- Brionna Jones (left leg) – Out
Liberty vs. Dream: History and Notes
New York won the first meeting 104-90on June 11 and Atlanta won the second matchup 95-84 on Monday. This will be the last game of the regular
season for both teams.
By Thursday night, the Liberty will know their first-round playoff opponent. They’ve made things much harder on themselves and now they’ll have to take the hard route to the WNBA Finals.
Three-point shooting will tell the tale of this one. Atlanta is fifth in the W in three-pointers attempted, but 11th in percentage. Comparatively, New York is third in attempts and fourth in percentage. Neither team could make anything from deep on Monday night, so we’ll see how the rosters look to generate quality looks from deep.
For NY, we’ll see if Pauline Astier can continue to get downhill. Astier was able to find her way to the rim early and made the Dream pay for lackadaisical interior defense. Atlanta adjusted after halftime, but Astier was still able to find some success. It’s been a solid rookie year for the French guard and a strong finale could lead to more minutes in the playoffs.
If New York wants to slow Atlanta down, they’ll have to force Rhyne Howard into tough jumpers. Howard recently surpassed Sabrina Ionescu’s record for most three-pointers in a season and is shooting a career best 36.3 percent from three-point range. She’s never been able to find success against New York as she’s shot 40 percent and better against them only three times in 17 career games.
The combination of Leonie Fiebich, Rebekah Gardner, Rebecca Allen, and Breanna Stewart will take their turns on Howard and see if they can bait her into contested midrange jumpers and limit her attempts from deep or at the rim. Howard was able to find the rhythm in the third quarter on Monday night, and we’ll see what the team has in store to challenge her tonight.
But ultimately, the Liberty go as Breanna Stewart goes. Stewart picked up her first technical foul in nine years on Monday, but it didn’t take away from another stellar outing from the Liberty superstar. With Stewart rounding into peak form at the right time, it lifts the ceiling of the group immensely. Stewart does everything at an amazing level and the playoff combination of rotations being shorter and commercial breaks being longer will keep her on the court for as long as necessary.
Player to watch: Angel Reese
It’s all coming together for the young star. Reese is finally on a good team, so she’ll be in the WNBA playoffs for the first time this weekend. It’s been a wonderful year in Atlanta for her and she’s gaining momentum in the Defensive Player of the Year race. Over at Breakaway, Noa Dalzell explained why Angel’s got her vote:
On top of so many advanced defensive analytics favoring Reese, her DPOY case is further solidified by the fact that she is currently the best rebounder in the WNBA; ultimately, a defensive possession ends when a defensive rebound is secured. Reese has averaged 12.4 rebounds per game this season, which is 1.3 boards more per game than the second-leading rebounder in the league, Dallas Wings forward Jessica Shepard, who averages 11.1 rebounds per game.
In addition, don’t be surprised if she makes her way on to the All-WNBA first team.
Angel’s motor is relentless, and after facing a Liberty team on the second leg of a back-to-back, she was able to take full advantage. Reese didn’t mince words after Monday’s win. She believed the Liberty’s back-to-back showed.
“Coming off a back-to-back for them, I thought they were tired. Those are the little things that I look at. I can tell by body language. I can tell by shot selection about how a team is tired and how players are tired. And I kept telling the team, ‘They’re tired as sh-t. They’re tired as sh-t.’ Excuse my language. But you have to take those things into consideration, especially when you’re going against an opponent that is so good on their home court. We knew that it was going to be a playoff environment and that it was going to be a back and forth game. We wanted to wear them down as much as we could, and I think we did a great job of that.”
The Liberty took notice and we’ll see how they respond.
Reese has done everything you can ask of a franchise star. She represents the team incredibly well. She doesn’t take games off and gives them a grit that was previously missing. And she’s someone that doesn’t back down from a challenge. As the Dream continue in this new era, they’ve got a franchise star in Angel and have an incredibly bright future.
How can the Liberty slow down Angel Reese?
The Liberty have fixed their rebounding woes from last year. After falling to tenth in rebounding rate in 2025, they’ve rebounded (heh) to third in 2026. The team directly above them? The Atlanta Dream! If the Liberty want to win this mini-series, they’ll have to do everything they can to keep Reese off the glass.
That starts with Jonquel Jones. When JJ is dialed in, she’s a force on the glass and makes life hell for teams on the inside. The Liberty kept the Dream to just four offensive rebounds on Monday night, and that work on the glass will be a must have again tonight. It’s fun competition between the two All Stars and it’ll be a battle on the inside
Two star centers going at each other on every possession? That’s the basketball we like!
From the Vault
On this day 25 years ago, baseball helped bring a little bit of joy back into our lives. Watch Mike Piazza’s famous home run:
Salute to Nneka Ogwumike on an incredible Hall-of-Fame career
More reading: Peachtree Hoops.
