Angel Reese has been a driving force behind the Atlanta Dream’s postseason success and their magical run to the WNBA Finals. Her work on the boards and presence in the paint have been central to Atlanta’s push for its first championship in franchise history. She entered Game 4 averaging 21.7 points and 13.3 rebounds across the first three games of the Finals, including a 30-point, 16-rebound performance in Game 2 and 21 points and 12 rebounds in Game 3. However, with the Dream just two wins away from their first championship in franchise history, the Golden State Valkyries found a way to slow her down, leaving Reese to come to terms with a statistical low she had never experienced in her professional career.
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“I think I rushed a lot of my shots and I didn’t take my time and finish around the basket like I’ve been doing in the last 3 games,” Reese said in the postgame conference following a 67-62 Game 4 loss.
“It happens, and I’m just looking forward to the next game and I’ll just be better… We have to stand together. If we stand together and get back to our identity, we’ll be fine”
This came as Reese recorded one of the worst statistical nights of her professional career. She finished the game with eight points on a horrid 2-for-12 shooting while turning the ball over six times, the most of any player. She also added nine rebounds and three assists, setting an unfortunate milestone in her young career.
According to ESPNW, Reese recorded the first game of her professional career in which she failed to reach double digits in both points and rebounds despite playing more than 30 minutes.
Rhyne Howard led the Dream in scoring, adding 19 points and going 6-for-14 from the field. Atlanta saw two other double-digit scorers, Jordin Canada and Isobel Borlase, each adding 10 points.
Meanwhile, the Valkyries seemingly rediscovered the defensive identity that they had been missing over the previous two games.
“Sometimes shots don’t fall,” Valkyries star Gabby Williams said after her team’s Game 3 loss.
“We don’t like to make it about offense. They scored 97. We have no chance. We have to go back to our defense and that will get our offense going.”
A team that gave up a combined 176 points over their last two games allowed just 62, returning to their Game 1 form, their last win in the series. During that contest, Reese was held to 14 points, but her performance against New York was noted as the lowest-scoring in a playoff career.
The Dream seemed to know how important winning the game was, with the fire of a loss, a fire they had to reignite after lighting it up just a week earlier, and were not afraid to call themselves out for poor play.
“Lack of focus on our parts,” Howard said.
“We kept talking about it, but we didn’t show anything to be about it.”
The major factor for the Valkyries was the presence of interior defender Kiah Stokes, who took a much more aggressive approach to guarding Reese. Stokes held Reese to 2-for-12 shooting as the primary defender while grabbing 16 rebounds and blocking three total shots.
She also took an active role in the team huddle, calling out the team’s game plan throughout the game.
“The one thing I told the team after the last game was the goal when we play on the road is to steal one on the road,” Stokes said. “Our goal could still be accomplished today if we won. Now it’s a best-of-three series.”
Now, Reese and Co. will look to bounce back from the tough loss in San Francisco, in front of the raucous Chase Center home crowd. Ballhalla is known as one of the toughest venues to play in the league, and the Dream and its stars have a tough job ahead of them if they want to end the team’s championship drought.