Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream punched their ticket to the WNBA semifinals, sweeping the Washington Mystics on Wednesday night.
Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray carried the Dream to a 92-77 win in Game 1, combining for 48 points. The starting five had a much more balanced performance in Game 2, as every starter scored at least 10 points on the road.
Jordin Canada put the finishing touches on Game 2, dropping 13 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter. Her performance secured a 93-75 win for Atlanta.
“We definitely see the maturity in our team. I think last year, we would get big leads and then we would lose them, and then, we would lose the game,” Canada said postgame, via USA Today. “And I think this season, we really put an emphasis on making sure we’re doing the things that we need to do to close out games.”
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images.
After the final whistle was blown on Wednesday night, Reese and Gray were caught waving to the crowd at CareFirst Arena.
Veteran forward DeWanna Bonner noticed that her teammates were taunting the fans and quickly put their hands down. It was a classy move from the two-time champion and six-time All-Star.
What’s next for the Dream?
Next up for the Dream is a semifinal showdown with the New York Liberty.
Even though New York is the No. 8 seed in the playoffs, no one views that squad as true underdogs. Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu swept the No. 1 seed Minnesota Lynx in the opening round of the playoffs.
“It feels good, we understand who we are as a team,” Jones said. “We’re not listening to outside noise, we understand that we can do a lot of great things. We feel like we can play with anybody and beat anybody. That’s the mindset we have moving forward. It feels good to make history. It had to be done for us to advance. It’s nice to say it’s been accomplished, but we have a lot of work to do.”
Game 1 between the Dream and Liberty is set for this Sunday.
