Dream Liberty Basketball
New York Liberty center Jonquel ‘JJ’ Jones, right, keeps the ball away from Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese, left, during the second half of game three of their WNBA semifinal series at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday. The Dream won the game, 85-83, to sweep the best of five series three games to none. AP
Jonquel ‘JJ’ Jones and the New York Liberty had a respectable run through the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) playoffs, but it ended on Friday with a loss to the Atlanta Dream.
The Dream swept their best of five semifinal series, winning a close game three, 85-83, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday, and now advances to the WNBA Finals for the first time in 13 years.
Jones had a fantastic game in the final game of the series, but it wasn’t enough, as the Dream completed the three-game sweep with an all-around balanced effort on both sides of the ball.
Jones erupted for 26 points and 14 rebounds — both game highs — and added three assists and three blocked shots.
The Bahamian professional women’s basketball player shot 11-for-17 from the field, 2-for-5 from three-point range, turning in an efficient night in trying to help the Liberty extend the series. However, it wasn’t to be as the Dream had other plans. They placed five players in double figures to sneak past the Liberty in New York.
The intense battle featured five ties and seven lead changes.
The Dream got out to a strong start, leading by as much as eight points in the early going and taking a 25-18 advantage into the second quarter. They went up by nine early in the second quarter, but the Liberty battled back, pulling to within two, 31-29, on two free shots from Jones, with 3:36 remaining in the second quarter. The game remained close with the Dream taking a 44-39 lead into the half.
The Dream opened the third quarter on a 7-0 scoring run, taking their first double-digit lead of the game. Again, the Liberty battled back, taking their first lead since the opening minutes of the game on a pull-up jump shot from Breanna Stewart with 4:24 remaining in the third quarter. The Liberty led 58-57 at that point. The game went back and forth for the remainder of the quarter, with the Liberty taking a 68-66 lead into the final 10 minutes.
Sabrina Ionescu nailed a three-point shot to open the scoring in the fourth quarter, giving the Liberty a 71-66 lead. However, that was short-lived. The Dream reeled off nine points in a row to take a 75-71 lead. The Liberty remained close but couldn’t get that elusive game-tying or go-ahead shot the rest of the way.
The Dream got a driving bank shot from Jordin Canada to take an 83-79 lead with just 1:15 remaining on the clock. Jones got a layup with 59 seconds remaining, but after a couple of missed shots and turnovers by each team, DeWanna Bonner hit two free throws for the Dream to seal the win with just 6.2 seconds left.
Stewart hit a putback layup at the buzzer, but it was too little too late for them.
Stewart matched game-high honors, scoring 26 points and adding six assists and four rebounds for the Liberty. Ionescu was their only other player in double figures with 12. Jones, who had 26, averaged 14.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game during the regular season.
As mentioned, five players scored in double figures for the Dream on Friday. Angel Reese led the way with 22 points on 7-for-18 shooting from the floor. Rhyne Howard added 21 points, Canada dropped in 19, Bonner scored 13, and Isobel Borlase contributed 10 points off the bench.
The Dream won game one of the series, 92-82, and then snuck past the Liberty, 101-98, in overtime, last Wednesday. The series then shifted from Atlanta to New York, and the Dream finished off the Liberty with a close win in game three on Friday.
The Dream will now go on to play the Golden State Valkyries in the WNBA Finals, which start Saturday on the Valkyries’ home court inside Chase Center in San Francisco, California. The Valkyries swept the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in the other semifinal series.
As for the Liberty, they now have to go through a long offseason and then regroup for 2027. They won the WNBA title in 2024, but was knocked out in the first round of the WNBA playoffs in 2025, and now in the semifinals in 2026.
The Liberty made history as the first eighth seed to beat a top seed in the history of the WNBA playoffs when they took out the pennant-winning Minnesota Lynx in a two-game sweep this year, but they couldn’t get past the fourth-seeded Dream.