NEW YORK — The Atlanta Dream are heading to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2013 after completing a three-game sweep of the New York Liberty with an 85-83 victory on Friday night at Barclays Center.
Fans that we interviewed after the game say they are looking forward to supporting the Dream. “I’m so excited Ai don’t know what to tell you,” Jennifer Combs, an Atlanta native, said.
”I’m buying the jersey, the finals tickets, the whole nine,” she said. “I’m happy for the city.”
Angel Reese scored 22 points, Rhyne Howard added 21, and the fourth-seeded Dream remained undefeated in the postseason. Jordin Canada contributed 19 points and a game-high 11 assists, while DeWanna Bonner finished with 13 points and a team-high 13 rebounds. Bonner sealed the win with two free throws with 6.2 seconds remaining after the Dream had turned the ball over and Breanna Stewart missed a contested layup.
Atlanta led 83-81 with 17.7 seconds left before Stewart’s miss. The Dream shot 22-of-24 from the free-throw line, including their final 20 attempts.
Series and Path to the Finals
The Dream controlled the best-of-five semifinal series from the start. They won Game 1 at home 92-82 on October 4, then survived a 101-98 overtime thriller in Game 2 on October 7, also in Atlanta, before closing it out on the road.
“This is huge for the city, huge for Angel Reese and the whole WNBA,” John Porter, a season ticket holder, told us. “Angel came here in Year One, she’s got us in the finals. You can’t write a better TV script.”
In the first round, Atlanta swept the Washington Mystics 2-0 (92-77 and 93-75) to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2018. The Dream finished the regular season 30-14 as the No. 4 seed and Eastern Conference leaders.
They enter the Finals on a 10-game winning streak spanning the end of the regular season and playoffs, and they will face the winner of the Las Vegas Aces–Golden State Valkyries series. The Finals begin October 17.
Key Performances and Challenges
Reese, acquired in an April trade from the Chicago Sky in exchange for first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, has been transformative.
The league’s Defensive Player of the Year stepped up offensively throughout the playoffs, especially with leading scorer Allisha Gray sidelined by a finger injury suffered in Game 1. Gray missed Games 2 and 3 (she warmed up before Game 3 but was ruled out about an hour before tip-off) and was limited to just 11 minutes total in the series.
Howard got Atlanta going early with 11 points in the first quarter, while Reese added 10, including two threes. The game had physical moments, including technical fouls on Reese and Jonquel Jones after a chest bump. New York mounted a third-quarter surge to take a 68-66 lead after three quarters, but Atlanta responded in the fourth.
For the Liberty, Stewart and Jones each scored 26 points. Jones added 14 rebounds and three blocks. Sabrina Ionescu finished with 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting. The 2024 champions, who had upset the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx in the first round, struggled for consistency all season and finished as the No. 8 seed. This marked their first playoff sweep since 2012.3
Looking Ahead
The Dream have never won a WNBA title and are now four victories away from their first championship. Coach Karl Smesko’s group has shown resilience without Gray and strong contributions from veterans like Bonner and Canada alongside rising stars Reese and Howard.0
With the other semifinal series still ongoing (Golden State led Las Vegas 2-0 entering Game 3), Atlanta awaits its Finals opponent while carrying momentum into the championship round.
