Dream, Angel Reese sweep Liberty: How Atlanta reached first WNBA Finals since 2013

The Atlanta Dream advanced to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2013 in thrilling fashion with an 85-83 victory over the New York Liberty in Game 3 of their semifinal series. After a three-game sweep of the Liberty, the Dream will face the Golden State Valkyries in the Finals, which will begin on Oct. 17. 

The Dream jumped in front early in an extremely physical contest that nearly got out of hand on multiple occasions as the officials let just about everything go. Notably, Angel Reese got in Sabrina Ionescu’s face after the Liberty guard delivered a hard foul to Isobel Borlase as payback for what she thought should have been a foul on Borlase. And later, both Reese and Jonquel Jones were hit with technicals after a dust-up under the basket. 

Early in the second half, the Dream pushed their lead up to 12, but the Liberty immediately responded and took a lead of their own into the fourth. When Ionescu hit a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the final frame to push the Liberty’s lead to five, it seemed they might pull away. Instead, it became a back-and-forth affair down the stretch. 

After Jordin Canada hit a circus shot to give the Dream a four-point advantage with just over a minute to play, Jones responded to cut the deficit to two. The Liberty then got a few stops and had multiple chances to tie the game. One ended with a Ionescu turnover — she had a crucial turnover at the end of Game 2 as well — and the other ended with a miss by Breanna Stewart. 

DeWanna Bonner, who stepped up yet again in this postseason with 13 points and 13 rebounds, then iced the game at the free throw line. Canada, who was tremendous all series, finished with 19 points, 11 assists and no turnovers, while Reese had 22 points and nine rebounds. 

Jones was excellent for the Liberty in defeat with 26 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks, while Stewart, who was swept for the first time in her illustrious career, added 26 points of her own. 

The Dream have been to the Finals three times, but have been swept on every occasion. They’ll look to change that trend this time, and potentially win the first title in franchise history. As the Dream await the 2026 Finals, here’s a look at how they swept the Liberty. 

Dominating on the margins

Allisha Gray played 11 minutes in this series due to a hand injury, Rhyne Howard shot 19 of 61 (31.1%) from the field. the Liberty won or tied 8/13 periods (including the overtime) and shot 47.1% compared to the Dream’s 41.9%. And yet, the Dream pulled off a sweep. 

How? In large part by dominating on the margins. Just look at the difference in some of these key categories:

The Dream forced 19 more turnovers, scored a staggering 41 more points off turnovers, grabbed nine more offensive rebounds and scored 26 more fastbreak points. The Liberty’s only victory in the margins was a narrow one in second-chance points. 

Thanks to their ability to force turnovers and control the offensive glass, the Dream took 33 more field goal attempts and 11 more free throw attempts, which made up for the fact that they were far less efficient from the floor. 

Reese delivers

As well as Angel Reese played down the stretch this season, there were still some questions about how she would fare in her first postseason. And they didn’t go away when she went 4 of 15 from the field in Game 1 of the Dream’s first-round series with the Mystics. 

But since then, she’s been awesome on both ends of the floor. In three games against the Liberty, she averaged 20.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, two steals and 2.3 blocks on 47.7% shooting. For the series, she was second on the team in scoring, second in rebounding, first in steals and first in blocks. The Dream were also plus-21 in Reese’s 110 minutes, the second-best plus-minus on the team. 

Reese’s work on the offensive glass — she grabbed 14 of the team’s 29 offensive rebounds in the series — was crucial to their ability to dominate on the margins, and she was completely disruptive on the defensive end, both on and off the ball. In addition, she brought an edge that the Liberty too often failed to match. 

Canada leads role player renaissance

Again, Gray, who led the team in scoring in the regular season at 19 points per game, played 11 minutes and Howard scored 55 points on 61 shots. If you knew that going into the series, you would have assumed the Liberty swept the Dream, not the other way around. 

In addition to dominating on the margins, the Dream got huge performances from a number of role players throughout the series. No one was more impressive than Jordin Canada, who played the best basketball of her career at the perfect time. 

Canada, who won titles with the Seattle Storm as the back-up to Sue Bird in 2018 and 2020, had played 22 playoff games in her first eight seasons. She had scored 19 or more points just once, back in 2019; she did so in all three games against the Liberty, while also playing stellar defense and taking nearly perfect care of the ball. 

For the series, Canada averaged 22.3 points on 62.2/61.5/100 shooting splits, along with 7.7 assists and two steals. She led the team in scoring, assists, steals and field goal percentage, and had just six total turnovers in 110 minutes. Just look at the difference between her numbers in the regular season and this series. 

Canada’s finishing at the rim stood out as almost unbelievable, especially against the Liberty’s size, which MVP runner-up Olivia Miles look completely out of depth. Canada was 13 of 17 (76.5%) at the rim in the series, and for the entire playoffs is now 16 of 24 (66.7%). Among the 11 playes with at least 20 rim attempts in the postseason, the only ones who have been more efficient than Canada are all elite bigs. 

In addition to Canada, the Dream got 15.3 points and a team-leading 8.3 rebounds from DeWanna Bonner, who didn’t join the team until late August after she was waived by the Phoenix Mercury. Rookie guard Isobel Borlase, who barely played in Game 1, took on a bigger role in Gray’s absence and chipped in 21 points on 9 of 15 in Games 2 and 3. 

As a group, Canada, Bonner and Borlase shot 15 of 31 (48.4%) from 3-point range. During the regular season, Canada shot 29.2%, Bonner shot 27.9% and Borlase shot 32.4% from behind the arc.