Angel Reese practically predicted this moment.
The star forward tweeted "Manifesting the finals" weeks after her 2025 season with the Chicago Sky wrapped up. Exactly 364 days later, as a member of the Atlanta Dream, Reese's manifestation became reality.
Acquired in a trade, Reese quickly transformed into the catalyst who on Friday helped them clinch their first WNBA Finals berth since 2013. They'll play the Golden State Valkyries in a seven-game series starting Saturday afternoon at Chase Center.
The matchup pits Reese, the Defensive Player of the Year, against the league's top defense, one that's only looked more connected and formidable during the postseason.
"She's an incredible player," Valkyries guard Veronica Burton said of Reese. "Their whole team, really - you have to focus on every single one. Obviously she's relentless on the boards, she's relentless on both sides of the basketball. She's an energy player as well. We'll watch the film, go into our personnel and go from there."
Reese tilts the rebounding game to Atlanta's advantage. The Dream's 35.6 rebounds per game were second most in the league behind Washington in the regular season and that's in large credit to Reese. The 24-year-old led the league with 12.1 rebounds per game, breaking down to 7.3 defensive rebounds per game (fourth in league) and 4.8 offensive boards per game (first).
Her dominance on the offensive glass translated to a league-high 4.2 second-chance points per game, according to Hoopsjunkie statistics. Does Reese's presence under the basket change what the Valkyries do defensively?
"It doesn't change nothing that we do," said forward Kayla Thornton, whose 5.7 rebounds per game in the playoffs rank second on the team. "She's good at what she does, we just have to make sure we execute what we need to and box her out."
Tiffany Hayes, who established herself in the league with the Dream, also emphasized the fundamentals and acknowledged it will likely take a group effort.
"With our great rebounders there's only one thing you can do, it's try to box out," Hayes said. "It's as simple as that. She's definitely going to be harder to box out, we may need a few people to do that, but at the end of the day it really is as simple as boxing out. We have to make sure we're on point with timing and doing it every single time."
The Valkyries are poised to challenge Reese in the paint. Center Kiah Stokes has been perhaps the most dominant player on the boards of anyone in the postseason. She leads all players with 57 total rebounds; Reese has 42 in one fewer game played.
Stokes' physicality stood out as she consistently boxed out A'ja Wilson and the Ace's bigs. Las Vegas used multiple bigs in Game 2 to draw fouls on her and backup center Aminata Gueye. But the Valkyries prevailed.
To counter the Reese advantage, head coach Natalie Nakase might be tempted to play Laeticia Amihere after she did not appear in a semifinals game.
Amihere leads the league with a 20% putback frequency, according to hoopsjunkie. That means she's the most efficient scorer in her putback opportunities (any scoring opportunity within three seconds of an offensive rebound). Reese is second with a 17.7% frequency.
If the regular season is any indication, the Valkyries don't have a huge rebounding disadvantage. The Valkyries swept the season series 3-0 while getting outrebounded 98-94 over the three games. They also didn't have to contend with 6-4 DeWanna Bonner, who joined the Dream late in the season and is their No. 2 rebounder in the playoffs.
Reese averaged 12.3 rebounds per game and 5.7 offensive boards per game in the head-to-head, but she and the Dream fell victim to an inefficient offense.
"Every matchup is different. They're a very defensive oriented team as well. They take a lot of pride on that end and we see that. They're playing really well, they're playing great basketball," Burton said. "Every game right now feels like a grind it out type of game. That's the playoffs. So it all feels like that, but for sure, you know they aren't going to roll over and same with us. Both teams know that."
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There’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Can Valkyries solve Dream's Angel Reese? WNBA Finals matchup could hinge on it.