The Atlanta Dream WNBA Finals run has become something bigger than a feel-good story. The No. Four seed reached the Finals unbeaten in the postseason and on a ten-game winning streak. Golden State is a slight favorite at home, but the Dream are the more dangerous team.
Angel Reese, the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, leads a group that has posted the best defensive rating of the postseason. Golden State swept the regular-season series and owned the league’s best defense for the full season, so the argument is not an easy one. Even so, Atlanta’s turnover-fueled offense, versatility, and poise make it the team nobody wants to face.
Atlanta swept Washington in the first round and New York in the semifinals, going 5-0 to reach its first Finals since 2013. The Dream closed the Liberty series with an 85-83 win in Game 3 after taking Game One, 92-82. Along the way, the Dream averaged 92.6 points, forced 10.4 steals, and committed only 8.4 turnovers per game.
A ten-game winning streak does not guarantee anything, but it proves the Dream have found a rhythm. Atlanta has beaten opponents with pressure defense, transition scoring, and timely shooting. That variety is what makes the Dream hard to game-plan against. Winning in several ways is the mark of a dangerous team.
Reese joined Atlanta in an April trade from Chicago and delivered a record-setting September that led to Defensive Player of the Year honors. The forward averaged 12.1 rebounds in the regular season, among the best in the league. In the clincher against New York, she scored 22 points with nine rebounds.
A year ago, Reese tweeted “manifesting the finals” while watching from home, and 364 days later she is playing in them. That hunger shows in her play. A defender and rebounder of her caliber forces Golden State to rethink how it attacks the paint. Finals are won by players who want the moment, and Reese clearly does.
Golden State led the regular season with a 99.1 defensive rating, but Atlanta took the top postseason mark at 102.0, with the Valkyries second at 104.1. The Dream lead the league in steals, forcing 10.4 per game in the playoffs. Jordin Canada and Rhyne Howard each averaged 2.2 steals.
Steals become points for Atlanta. The Dream averaged 24.4 points off turnovers in the first two rounds, up from a league-best 18.1 in the regular season. That pressure is the clearest path to beating a Golden State offense that took more threes than any team in the regular season. Turnovers can cancel a hot shooting night.
Allisha Gray, the Dream’s leading scorer at 19.0 points per game, hurt her left hand in Game One of the semifinals and missed the final two games. She underwent a minor procedure and was listed as day-to-day heading into the Finals. Atlanta still swept New York, and coach Karl Smesko said the team has game plans with and without Gray.
DeWanna Bonner slid into the starting lineup and reached double figures in four of five playoff games, including 23 points in Game One of the semifinals. Canada added 19 points and 11 assists in the clincher, while Howard scored 21. The Dream do not need one star to carry them, which is the most dangerous trait in a series.
Golden State swept the three regular-season meetings, 77-66, 78-75 and 88-83, holding Atlanta to 74.7 points per game. The Valkyries also gave up the fewest threes in the league at eight per game and took the most of their own. Their bench averaged 35.9 points in the regular season, first in the league, compared with Atlanta’s 17.9.
The sweep came during a five-game skid for Atlanta, and the teams have not met since July fourth. Since then, the Dream added Bonner, won nine of their final ten regular-season games, and swept both playoff rounds. Valkyries standouts Gabby Williams and Veronica Burton will face a team that has answered every challenge so far. A regular-season sweep is a warning, not a verdict.
The Dream nearly lost their big-arena crowd, since scheduling conflicts threatened to send Games Three and Four to the 3,500-seat Gateway Center Arena. The league announced Oct. 13 that both games will be played at 17,004-seat State Farm Arena, with Game Three moving to Wednesday, Oct. 21. A potential Game Six remains unsettled.
Crowd energy matters because the Dream averaged 9,745 fans at State Farm Arena in the playoffs and sold out five of six regular-season games there. Big crowds and real stakes are why high-stakes matchups are good for the WNBA, the theme behind the Fever-Aces decider. If Atlanta protects its floor in Games Three and Four, Golden State’s regular-season edge will matter little.
The case for Atlanta is simple: the Dream are the more dangerous team. Atlanta’s postseason defense ranked first through two rounds, its turnover pressure produced 24.4 points per game, and Defensive Player of the Year Reese anchors it all. Golden State has the better head-to-head record and the home court, but Atlanta has momentum and answers.
Seven-game series are unpredictable, and Gray’s health remains the key variable. Even so, Atlanta has shown it can win without its leading scorer, and that resilience is hard to scout. If Golden State holds serve, the Valkyries will have earned it. If not, the Dream’s momentum may carry them to a first championship.
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