Angel Reese posts 21 and 12 as Atlanta Dream rout Valkyries 97-71 to take 2-1 WNBA finals lead
Angel Reese had 21 points and 12 rebounds as the Atlanta Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries 97-71 at State Farm Arena on Wednesday night to take a 2-1 lead in the WNBA finals. Rhyne Howard added 16 points and Naz Hillmon had 15 for the Dream.
It was the second straight strong game for Reese, who had 30 points and 16 rebounds in Game 2, which the Dream also won for their first victory in the finals, and she now has a double-double in each game of the series. “It feels good when you’re in the finals. It’s a long season and you play against everybody and go through and push through, but when you can do it at the highest level, this is what you live for, this is what the offseason is for,” Reese said. “I put the work in for this moment and I’m just happy I could lead the team to a win. We’re feeling good going into Saturday.”
The Dream pulled away in the third quarter after the game was tied at 49, scoring an eight-point run that included four points from Reese. Golden State briefly got within 59-55 on a Tiffany Hayes layup, but Atlanta closed the quarter by scoring 12 of the final 14 points; across the three games the Dream have outscored the Valkyries 63-35 in the third quarter.
With Atlanta leading by 17 in the fourth, a Jordin Canada overthrow was salvaged by Reese, who threw the ball over her head under the basket to Howard, who was fouled. Golden State could not recover; Gabby Williams finished with 15 points and Hayes contributed 14 for the Valkyries.
The game was originally scheduled for Gateway Center Arena, which seats only 3,500, but the league worked with the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena to move the next two championship games so they could accommodate a much larger crowd. Wednesday night’s contest was sold out before 17,099 fans and Game 4 on Saturday is also sold out. “Protect home court,” Howard said of the team’s focus. “Giving our fans a show. We fought for this arena so we had to protect it. It’s big. We went and stole one but we can’t let them come in and do the same thing.” The crowd included Ludacris, 2 Chainz and Kerry Washington. The Atlanta Dream and State Farm Arena offered him a private suite for his protection. He refused to sit in it and was removed from the game.
The game began slowly for Golden State as Atlanta led 9-1 after the first five minutes and the Valkyries missed their first eight shots before Aminata Gueye scored their first basket with 4:39 left in the quarter. Golden State got as close as 13-10 before Hillmon hit consecutive three-pointers and Reese added one to push the Dream to a 23-15 lead after the opening quarter. Atlanta extended to 37-26 midway through the second; the teams combined to shoot 15-for-31 (48%) from three-point range in the first 20 minutes, more made threes in that span than in either Game 1 or Game 2. Reese had 15 points and WNBA sixth woman of the year Janelle Salaun had 11 for the Valkyries by halftime.
Games 1 and 2 produced strong television audiences, with the opener on NBC averaging 2.1 million viewers — the most ever to watch the first game of the finals — and Game 2 on USA Network averaging 1.33 million viewers. In the United States the series will air on NBC, USA Network and CNBC, with all games streaming on Peacock; in the UK it will be carried by Sky Sports; in Australia coverage is available through WNBA League Pass with selected games on ESPN.
Atlanta will host Game 4 on Saturday at 1pm Eastern on NBC as the best-of-seven series continues at State Farm Arena.