Give the Dream Liberty, they gave them back-to-back deaths.
Completing their last game of the regular season, the Atlanta Dream defeated the New York Liberty 83-65, extending their win streak to five games. The win also matched their regular season total from last year with 30 wins, locked in the no. 4 seed and secured home-court advantage heading into the playoffs.
Did you keep up with all of that?
The Dream entered Wednesday night’s matchup with momentum on their side after already coming off a dominant win against New York and ready to close out with another one.
It was a blow to New York when forward Breanna Stewart was ruled out, but even when the Liberty tried to step up with size and a few runs to stop the Dream in their tracks, Atlanta’s defense prevailed once again and kept the team in complete control.
“I think these last two games, really, this last stretch has really been about us and not necessarily our opponent,” Naz Hillmon explained. “We know that we’re looking forward to playoffs, and we want to be playing our best basketball. So whatever that was supposed to look like in these last couple of games, that was our focus. We wanted to come out with wins. We wanted to get better from game to game, and I think that we’ve done that.”
Hillmon’s presence on the floor was crucial throughout the night. Finishing the game with 16 points, four rebounds and two assists, she was forced to step up even more beside DeWanna Bonner with Angel Reese sidelined for the entire second half.
Reese was elbowed in the nose by Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu before the end of the second quarter, resulting in a flagrant 1 foul call.
Coach Smesko said later in the postgame press conference that Reese was cleared to play, but it was a coaching decision to let her sit out. Luckily, the rest of the team turned on the “next man up” mentality they’ve preached and all stepped up.
The Dream went from missing layups and being down by one in the first quarter to entering halftime with a 15-point lead at 41-26, holding New York to its lowest-scoring quarter of the season with only seven points in the second. The Dream also forced 15 turnovers and converted them into 13 points during that half.
Despite running into foul trouble and sitting Jordin Canada for the final few minutes of the game with six fouls, Atlanta pushed through a rough shooting performance in the second half with Bonner’s veteran leadership and clutch baskets from Allisha Gray in key moments.
Gray led all scorers with 24 points, four rebounds and five assists while shooting 4-for-7 from beyond the arc.
“I thought she (Gray) was the one who hit big baskets for us. Like, every time New York made a run and it made it a little bit uneasy, Lish made a big play for us,” Smesko said. “You know, Lish was an All-W player first team last year; she needs to be on All-W again. She’s been even better this year. She’s a better all-around player this season than the incredible season she had last year.”
Bonner’s voice has echoed throughout the locker room, and each of the girls, when asked, would tell you how prominent and essential her presence has been since her arrival.
She finished the night with nine points, eight rebounds and two assists while shooting 2-for-4 from the 3-point line. But what doesn’t show on the box score are the nuggets of wisdom and experience she’s given the team — pushing them to close out games late, celebrate the wins, prepare for the next opponent with a different mindset and understand what it takes to play at a championship-caliber level.
That has been a key difference in the team’s surge as of late.
“She (Bonner) had a couple big threes at the end there for us, but you know, overall, she just played really well for us,” Smesko said. “And she’s worked really hard to kind of catch up on all the terminology and learning all the plays and how we like to guard things. She’s come in with a very serious attitude about contributing to helping us win. And this is more than just somebody who’s providing leadership, which she’s doing a great job of that.
“She’s impacting winning on the floor, so she’s been tremendous so far. And we’re hoping that her playoff experience, she has a great playoffs and helps us advance and make a deep run or win the championship.”
Jordin Canada was the next scoring leader behind Gray and Hillmon, continuing her impactful playmaking on both ends of the floor with 12 points, two rebounds and five assists. Rhyne Howard totaled eight points, four rebounds and six assists. Reese put up six points, six rebounds and three assists in her first and only half of play.
On the Liberty side, Han Xu led New York with 11 points and two rebounds. Jonquel Jones followed with 10 points and 14 rebounds before exiting after the third quarter with an ankle injury. Raquel Carrera put up nine points and five rebounds, while Ionescu finished with seven points and four rebounds.
Now looking to find out their playoff opponent, Hillmon explained how the main difference between their entrance into the postseason this year and last year was their preparation and adjustments made earlier in the season. Whereas last year, she felt there were things they needed to fix, but it was too late in the season to fix them.
Along with this, the Dream’s ability to gel together and put their teammates in positions to win and step up has been a game-changer. Pair all of that with their forceful defense, the narrative is starting to shift from whether the Dream can make it past the first round to whether they can make a championship run.
For Gray, the main goal and mindset for the team during this run has always been that everyone stays on the same path.
“The goal is the championship at the end of the day,” Gray said. “And I feel as if we just continue being on that same path, executing the game plan and continuing our high-level play; that’s something that’s in the tunnel, seeing the light. So it’s up to us to just execute game plans.”