ATLANTA DREAM REACH WNBA FINALS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2013

The Atlanta Dream beat the New York Liberty 85-83 in Game 3 of their WNBA semi-final series, reaching the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2013, according to reports. Angel Reese scored 22 points in the win. Reese, named the league's Defensive Player of the Year, said earlier in the season that she wondered how far the team's chemistry would take them as the year progressed. The win ended a thirteen-year wait for Atlanta's return to the Finals.

Earlier in the series, the Dream won a separate game 101-98 in overtime, a contest in which a timeout called by the Liberty in the closing seconds became a point of dispute. A WNBA reporter, Stephanie Ready, said the Dream's success has rested on team chemistry, calling it "lightning in a bottle" that does not show up in a box score. She said players who truly fight for team-mates, rather than following a "company line", can push a team to a higher level in the play-offs. Reese has built a frontcourt partnership with team-mate Naz Hillmon since joining the Dream this year.

Head coach Karl Smesko was appointed in November 2024 ahead of the 2025 season. He led the Dream to a franchise-record 30 regular-season wins that year, but the team lost in the first round of the 2025 play-offs to the Indiana Fever. Smesko said in April that Reese would "fit in great" with the roster. Atlanta reached the Finals by winning the semi-final series against the Liberty, with details of its Finals opponent not yet confirmed.