“We just got back to our identity about who we are, and kept our foot on the pedal, and we didn’t let up, and everybody was just on the same page. We had each other’s back, and that’s just Atlanta basketball.”
Angel Reese gave that statement to the media after leading the Atlanta Dream to its first WNBA Finals victory in franchise history, a 79-65 win over the Golden State Valkyries.
It started as the dogfight you’d expect from two high-intensity defensive teams, with both teams trading blows down
the stretch.
In the first half, the Dream struggled early, running into foul trouble and turning the ball over at key moments, which kept their shooting at 36.8% and electrified the Ballhalla crowd. In the second quarter, however, they gave a glimpse of what they had in store for the Valkyries later.
Atlanta’s momentum shifted in that quarter with tighter defense and a 7-3 run that silenced the sea of purple for a time, uncharacteristic for the atmosphere. They held Golden State to 23% in field goal percentage and ended the quarter with a two-point lead after DeWanna’a Bonner’s first made basket off a mid-range jump shot.
Reese also scored 15 of her 30 points in that half alone. Unfortunately for the Valkyries, she and the Dream were just getting started.
“Yeah, I was hungry. I wanted one. I think we let one [game] slip away, and you can’t do that, especially on the road where this is a good environment and a good team, and we all came together and were pissed. We felt disappointed, we felt embarrassed, and we didn’t like the outcome of that last game, and we didn’t want another one to slip,” Reese said. “…I wanted to make sure I was ready, and on my toes, and whatever the team needed tonight, I was willing to do, and that’s just what the outcome was.”
The second half is where the Atlanta Dream’s Identity showed up. Whatever Golden State offered, the Dream kept answering back. They ended the quarter up 11 after Jordin Canada hit a 32-foot shot from the logo at the buzzer. That was when the spark ignited.
Atlanta extended their lead to 21 points in the last quarter and never looked back. They were having their way, and the Valkyries struggled to get their shots to land. The Dream’s defense and pace were the brand of play they couldn’t achieve in Game 1, but they made up for it with a dominant Game 2.
Reese told a reporter coming out of the half that the team wanted to get back to playing under their identity. After the game, she told the media that she walked off the court in Game 1 feeling unlike herself. So she made it her mission to get back to what she knew and make sure her team was on the same page.
“Angel is such a generational talent. Just to see her thrive in the finals has been really special to watch, and you can just see that she wants it really bad,” Canada said. “She’s such a competitor, and we feed off of her energy. And so I think tonight she set the tone for sure, and it just trickled down through the whole team.
“She was talking to us throughout the whole game, keeping us confident. And there was one point, she was like, ‘I need the ball. I need the ball,’ and we gave her the ball, and she went to work. And that’s why she ended up with a 30-piece. So just to see her in this moment, on such a high stage, and just, you know, executing and doing what she needs to do for our team is just really special to watch.”
With Reese’s 30 points and 16 rebounds to end her night (also adding three assists, two blocks and a 3-pointer), she became the youngest player in WNBA history to put up those numbers in Finals history, and only the third player to accomplish this feat following New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones.
When asked about her achievement, Reese gave a shout-out to the two and said it was funny because they told her to keep pushing through after losing to the Dream in their final game in New York.
This accomplishment also made Reese the first player in franchise history to record over 25 points and more than 10 rebounds in a single WNBA Finals game.
Alisha Gray didn’t miss a beat since her return, trailing behind Reese’s lead with 18 points and five rebounds.
Canada showed vocal leadership during certain stretches of the first half. Though she felt her performance wasn’t her best, she made big plays on both ends of the floor. She added 13 points, seven rebounds, and 10 assists, just three rebounds shy of a triple-double, and shot 2-of-6 from beyond the arc.
Rhyne Howard, though she only managed five points, two rebounds and two assists in her time on the floor (also attributed to early foul trouble), added six steals and broke the WNBA Finals record for most steals in a game.
Naz Hillmon also didn’t produce much on offense, with two points, but gave a solid defensive performance that helped the win.
Off the bench, Head coach Karl Smesko gave Madina Okot and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough a one-minute taste of the big stage. Isobel Borlase shot two free throws in 17 minutes but made her defensive presence known, while Bonner checked in with nine points, two rebounds and four steals.
On the Valkyries side, Gabby Williams and Tiffany Hayes tied with 14 points, while Veronica Burton managed 11.
Atlanta forced the Valkyries to their most turnovers of the season, 18 total, and the Dream converted them into 24 points. They grabbed 36 rebounds and 14 steals collectively.
Yet, the job still isn’t done.
Gray told a reporter after the game that the team still had a few things to clean up from the game and film to watch as they prepare for Game 3. She said the team was happy with the win, but they had more in the tank.
As for Reese, she believes what Atlanta is building is only the beginning.
“Throughout the entire year, we just continue to stick together and know who we are,” Reese said. “And we have the city behind us. We have the team. We have the coaches and everybody broadly behind us. So it feels really good. It’s just the next step of who Atlanta is and who Atlanta is going to continue to be for the next couple of years.
