SAN FRANCISCO — The Atlanta Dream had a seven-point lead with 8:49 to play in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. They proceeded to score 6 points the remainder of the way, falling behind 1-0 in the best-of-seven series that resumes Monday night at Golden State.
The Dream boast three all-defense selections, headlined by Angel Reese, this season’s Defensive Player of the Year. Despite coach Karl Smesko’s postgame lamentations about their defensive breakdowns during the second quarter when the Valkyries scored 28 points, Atlanta was more than good enough defensively to steal homecourt in the finals. In order to head back home tied in the series, the Dream have to score the ball better. That starts with Reese.
Atlanta built an 8-point lead in the first quarter with Reese scoring 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. She ended the game with 14 points and didn’t make another field goal, attempting only two shots in the second half.
“In the second half, in particular, we didn’t move the ball well enough,” Smesko said. “We did a little bit too much one-on-one instead of getting into actions. Angel had a great first half. We didn’t get her the ball enough.”
Movement and pace are key to unlocking Reese’s offensive gifts, and the Dream were too slow and stagnant in Game 1 to take advantage of those skills.
The Dream turn defense into offense better than any team in the WNBA, averaging 18.1 points off turnovers during the regular season. But they don’t just push the pace off of giveaways; Atlanta runs off of makes and misses, and Reese is a prime beneficiary of those leak-outs.
Since the Dream often switch one to five, Reese can end up out on the perimeter. That allows her to beat the defense down the floor after a field-goal attempt, as she did on her first make of the game. Reese contested Gabby Williams’ 3-pointer at the top of the key and was off to the races, ready to receive the outlet pass from Jordin Canada.
Atlanta’s defense forced only eight turnovers in Game 1, half of their season average of 16. The Dream need to be more disruptive defensively to get Reese more opportunities in transition. The presumptive All-WNBA selection also has to run the floor harder. Too many times late in the game, Reese was the last one up the court on offensive possessions, sometimes out of the play until half the shot clock had elapsed. It’s fine to trail the play as a shooting threat, but that’s not what Reese is. She has to get into the paint early, allowing her to either catch passes over the top or suck the defense in to create better jump-shooting opportunities for her teammates. Golden State brings extra pressure on the ball, so Atlanta’s guards should be able to time lobs to Reese, and her hands are always up.
Reese’s guards also have to look for her. Canada had an opportunity to hit Reese on this semi-transition play but instead committed a turnover. That was compounded by Canada overthrowing Reese on the next possession, and the Valkyries scored 5 points off those miscues.
Atlanta’s stagnation in the half-court didn’t do Reese any favors, either. She isn’t a particularly efficient post-up player (at least not against centers), scoring .870 points per possession on post-ups during the regular season. That placed her in the 26th percentile of bigs, per Synergy, and now she’s going up against Golden State and its WNBA-best paint defense. Reese needs to be on the move, scoring off of cuts or rolls. When she tried to isolate on Kiah Stokes, she was blocked twice. When Stokes was in the lane, Reese ended up drawing an and-one after cuting from the baseline.
“I don’t think the (defense) really did anything,” Reese said after the Dream’s 68-64 loss on Saturday night. “Maybe that was just on me, I wasn’t aggressive enough with the ball and trying to get to the ball and get to my spots. Definitely going to do a better job of that next game.”
Movement in the halfcourt also gets defenses into rotation, which better positions Reese for offensive rebounds. Put-backs accounted for 4.2 of Reese’s points per game during the regular season; Atlanta had four second-chance points as a team Saturday.
The Dream can also manage their rotation a little differently to optimize Reese. When she got off to a hot start, the Valkyries adjusted. Reese was dominating her matchup against Kayla Thornton, with Atlanta spacing the floor around Reese and feeding her in single coverage in the post. Reese also drove at Janelle Salaün in isolation. Golden State adjusted by not playing Thornton and Salaün in the second half (after the first 66 seconds) and kept either Stokes or Laeticia Amihere on the court at all times. The physicality and length of that duo limited Reese.
The Dream could have given Madina Okot some minutes to spell Reese and potentially play Amihere off the ball. Okot was incredibly effective in this matchup during the regular season, averaging 11.3 points on 78 percent shooting. Amihere might not be able to handle Okot’s strength in the post, and that would force Golden State to find another solution. Instead, the Valkyries forced an increasingly worn out Reese to contend with the bouncy Amihere and Stokes.
Even when she wasn’t involved as a scorer, Reese was helpful as a screener throughout the game. Atlanta is getting good looks from the corner off of Reese’s flare screens, and her shooters should reward her with better percentages than in Game 1.
Reese has to be quicker to move the ball when the defense crowds her in the paint, whether that’s on rolls or offensive rebounds. Her instinct is to bring the ball down, but the Valkyries are too quick to congest, and she won’t have time to reset. The tape likely will show ways for Reese to improve defensively as well. She gave up a little too much space to Williams going under on screens and needs to do better to close those gaps. In a game that the Dream lost by four points, every detail matters.
But the most pressing issues for Atlanta are on offense. Smesko promised better shooting games as the series progresses, but jumpers aren’t always controllable. Getting the ball to Reese in spots where she can go to work is.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Atlanta Dream, WNBA, WNBA Finals, WNBA Highlights
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