Reese won't let Dream go quietly
Atlanta forward Angel Reese (centre) led the charge against the Golden State Valkyries Monday in San Francisco, helping the Dream return home for Game 3 with an even series. (Justine Willard / The Associated Press)
SAN FRANCISCO — Well before tipoff, Atlanta head coach Karl Smesko could see it in his superstar's face: a focus and determination fixed on a single purpose to take over in every aspect.
Angel Reese realized her team couldn't afford to fall behind by two games to the Golden State Valkyries in the best-of-seven WNBA Finals as the series shifts to Atlanta, so she led the charge on both ends for the Dream as they evened the series Monday night.
"Even from going in the locker room, first person I made eye contact with was Angel and I'm like, 'Oh, I like this look. I like this look,'" Smesko, Atlanta's second-year coach, said. "She started off aggressive. One thing we try to do is just give her a couple more breaks during the game, so that she can just keep that intensity going throughout the entire game, and she was just fantastic. Just on both ends of the floor, just a superior performance."
The Dream won 79-65 as Reese delivered 30 points and 16 rebounds and Rhyne Howard set a WNBA Finals single-game record with six steals. Smothering defence flustered the Valkyries into 19 turnovers that led to 24 points. Game 3 is tonight.
Now that her team has won its first Finals game after an 0-10 showing, Reese understands the defence and grit it will take to slow down Gabby Williams and a Golden State team that takes the same kind of pride in its top-notch defence — and did all season long to earn the league's No. 2 seed in the second year for the franchise.
Reese felt she had failed the Dream when the Valkyries buckled down on her leading to a scoreless second half in a 68-64 defeat Saturday.
"I was hungry. I wanted one and we let one slip away and you can't do that, especially on the road," Reese said. "This is a good environment and a good team. We all came together and we were pissed. We felt disappointed. We felt embarrassed, and we didn't like the outcome of that last game."
After Game 2, Golden State point guard Veronica Burton felt similar emotions given her team's season-high turnovers, noting: "It starts with me."
"It's controllable, it's definitely controllable," coach Natalie Nakase said. "Just credit to them their effort, their hustle, their fight. I thought they did an excellent job getting into those lanes and creating those turnovers."
The 24-year-old Reese became the youngest player to have a 30-point, 15-rebound performance in a playoff game and one of six players to accomplish the feat in the post-season — joining Jacquez Jones of Connecticut in 2019 and Breanna Stewart for Seattle in 2020 in doing so on the Finals stage.
"Just the energy that she brings for our team, we feed off of that," said guard Jordin Canada. "So when she's in that mode, we know we've got to give her the ball to some form of capacity, and try to give her as much space as she can to attack and do what she does best."
The Dream will now be counting on their home crowd after dealing with the noise from Golden State's loyal, supportive "Ballhalla" fans. Games 3 and 4 were moved to State Farm Arena to accommodate more people — the Hawks' arena can host some 17,000 — than Atlanta's regular 3,500-seat Gateway Center Arena.
One of these teams will capture its first title, and Reese wants to lead the Dream to the next big step.
"I think it's just the start," she said. "Throughout the entire year we just continued to stick together and know who we are and we have the city behind us, we have the team, we have the coaches and everybody fully 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 years."
— The Associated Press