ATLANTA (AP) — After poor performances in each of the last two games and with the season on the line, Angel Reese found her form again.
The Atlanta Dream forward scored 15 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and had six assists in an 80-69 victory over Golden State on Thursday to help force the first Game 7 in WNBA history. The rebounding total vaulted her to 78 for the series, a record for the most by an individual player in a WNBA Finals.
She did it in
spite of a game where she struggled with efficiency, shooting 5 of 18 from the floor.
“It was just a mental mindset of me just being able to go out there and just try to lead the team as best I can,” Reese said. “No matter how ugly it can be, as long as we came out with the win, I just wanted to do whatever it took.”
Reese's performances have been a bellwether for the Dream's overall success. She has averaged 22 points, 14 rebounds and four assists in Atlanta's three wins, while plummeting to 9.7 points, 12 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game in the losses. The two previous games were by far her worst of the postseason, shooting 4 of 20 in the two losses.
Despite struggling from 3-point range, she did knock down 2 of 8 attempts, improving the Dream to 16-0 this year when she makes at least one from beyond the arc.
"It's always frustrating especially for 3s," Reese said. “They keep telling me to shoot and I don't like when I'm not making the shots. But my teammates still trust and pass it to me, so I am also really, really grateful for always putting confidence into me.”
Reese spent more time playing away from the basket, a change that opened her up as a facilitator and created a quicker offensive flow.
“We played with a different spacing and pace,” Atlanta coach Karl Smesko said. “In truth, it's how we are supposed to play. It's just getting back to our fundamentals of how we like to play offense.”
Reese bookended the afternoon with key assists. Atlanta's first two baskets of the game — 3-pointers by Allisha Gray and Naz Hillmon — were both via assists from Reese, and she made the pass for Gray's dagger 3-pointer after Golden State trimmed the lead to eight with under a minute remaining.
“We know how they've been trying to play Angel, really crowd her,” Hillmon said. “But she's got so many skillsets, and being a playmaker is one of them. She makes those reads every single night, and she found the open people today.”
Atlanta is aiming to secure its first championship in franchise history, and Reese is trying to claim another big title after winning the 2023 NCAA Championship with LSU.
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