Dream sweep Liberty on Angel Reese's 22 points, head to first WNBA Finals since 2013

The Atlanta Dream are in the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2013 with an 85-83 win over the New York Liberty in Game 3 of their playoff semifinals series.Angel Reese scored 22 points — 18 in the first half — with 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in a tough battle with New York's Jonquel Jones to lead the Dream. Rhyne Howard followed with 21 points, and Jordin Canada was the second-half catalyst for Atlanta, finishing with 19 points and 11 assists.Atlanta finished the first quarter with a 25-18 lead, but the Liberty fought back fiercely, playing like a team whose season was at stake. Jones, battling near the basket with Reese, along with Sabrina Ionescu getting fired up by a non-call on a push-off by Isobel Borlase, ignited the Barclays Center crowd. The Liberty rode that surge to rally from a 12-point deficit in the third quarter to eventually take the lead after a 17-4 run. Jones scored 26 points for the Liberty on 11-for-17 shooting from the floor to go with 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. Breanna Stewart also finished with 26 points after only tallying 8 points in the first half. Sabrina Ionescu added 12 points, shooting 4-for-11 on 3-pointers. Stewart hit all 13 of her free throws, while grabbing 4 rebounds, dishing out 6 assists and blocking 2 shots. But she missed a baseline jumper that could have tied the score with 9.9 seconds remaining. This is the first time Stewart has been on a team that was swept out of the WNBA playoffs. The Dream played without Allisha Gray, who sat out with a left hand injury for the second consecutive game. Gray went through pregame warmups, but determined she could not go. Smesko said the team was being cautious, looking ahead to the remainder of the playoffs.Dream ascending, Liberty descendingAtlanta advancing to the Finals continues an impressive two-year turnaround under head coach Karl Smesko. The Dream finished with 30-14 records in each of the past two seasons, but took that next step with the blockbuster trade for Reese before the season."The job is not done," Reese said in a postgame press conference. "We're definitely happy about where we are right now, but we're not satisfied."Angel Reese:"The job is not done...we're not satisfied" pic.twitter.com/Zok2D3IjaE— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) October 10, 2026 Meanwhile, the Liberty finished as the No. 8 seed in the WNBA playoffs with a 26-18 record. They upset the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx in the first round, but getting swept out of the postseason is a bad look for a team with stars like Stewart, Jones and Ionescu on its roster. The exit is even more notable when Sandy Brondello was fired as head coach after last season's first-round exit — one year after winning the WNBA championship — and Chris DeMarco was hired to presumably get better results. "I don't think we were consistent," Stewart said after the game. "This is not cramming for a test. You gotta be ready to go and ready to go from the jump." The Dream will face the Golden State Valkyries in the WNBA Finals after they knocked off the Las Vegas Aces in a Game 3 sweep of their own. Game 1 is Saturday, Oct. 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET. Follow along with live updates, highlights and news from the Dream's Game 3 win over the Liberty to close out their WNBA semifinals series: