Two days after taking the blame for Atlanta’s Game 1 loss, Angel Reese had 30 points and 16 rebounds Monday night in the Atlanta Dream’s 79-65 win over the Golden State Valkyries, which tied the WNBA Finals at a game apiece.
Reese made 10 of her 16 shots, went 9-of-11 at the line, and hit her only 3-point try. She also had 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal in 33:48. She was called for 5 fouls.
On Saturday, Golden State won 68-64. Reese finished Game 1 with 14 points and 12 rebounds on 5-of-11 shooting, and 11 of those points came in the first quarter. The Valkyries explained after that game how they slowed her down.
Reese walked off the floor Saturday not feeling like herself.
“For me, I think I let my team down last game, not really contributing as much as I could in the second half,” Reese said. “Not even just about scoring. My screen quality, me hustling and wanting to get rebounds and just doing the things that they know me to do. So I just wanted to make sure I came out tonight and left my mark and did whatever I could to get the win, and I think I did that tonight.”
Reese Set the Tone Immediately
Her first basket came 47 seconds in, a driving layup off a Rhyne Howard pass.
By the end of the first quarter, Reese had 8 points and 5 rebounds on 3-of-4 shooting, including a putback after she grabbed Howard’s missed layup in transition.
According to league game notes, Reese is the youngest player with a 30-point, 15-rebound game in the playoffs. The others to do it in the postseason are A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie, and Jonquel Jones.
In the Finals, only Jones in 2019 and Stewart in 2020 had done it before Monday, according to The Associated Press.
Jordin Canada said the Dream went away from Reese for a couple of possessions before a timeout put the ball back in her hands.
“Angel is such a generational talent,” Canada said. “Just to see her thrive in the Finals has been really special to watch and you can just see that she wants it really bad. She’s such a competitor and we feed off of her energy.”
“I think tonight she set the tone for sure and it just trickled down to the whole team,” Canada continued. “She was talking to us throughout the whole game and keeping us confident. There was one point, she’s like, I need the ball, I need the ball, and we gave her the ball and she went to work and that’s why she ended up with a 30-piece. Just to see her end up in this moment on such a high stage and executing and doing what she needs to do for our team is just really special to watch.”
Canada assisted on 4 of Reese’s 10 field goals. The last two came in the fourth quarter, a 25-foot 3-pointer with 4:15 left that made it 74-55 and a driving layup with 1:41 to go.
Smesko Saw a Different Look From Reese
In the third quarter, Reese scored 9 points and went 5-of-5 at the line. She finished a transition layup through contact with 4:49 left for a three-point play, then scored off a Howard feed with 46 seconds remaining.
Dream coach Karl Smesko said Atlanta’s pace was better in Game 2, even on another rough shooting night.
“Even from going in the locker room, first person I made eye contact with was Angel and I’m like, oh, I like this look,” Smesko said. “I like this look.”
“She started off aggressive,” Smesko added. “One thing we try to do is just give her a couple more breaks during the game, so that she can just keep that intensity going throughout the entire game, and she was just fantastic. Just on both ends of the floor, just a superior performance.”
Reese’s third foul came with 4:57 left in the first half, and Naz Hillmon took her spot for 43 seconds. She picked up her fourth and fifth fouls on back-to-back whistles with 5:21 left in the fourth quarter and stayed on the floor.
Kiah Stokes blocked Reese twice, once in the first quarter and once in the third. Three of Stokes’ 4 fouls came against Reese, who made 4 of 5 free throws on those trips.
Reese Says Dream Played Angry
Whatever Reese told the Dream to get the ball back, she wasn’t repeating it afterward.
“I was hungry,” Reese explained. “I wanted one and we let one slip away and you can’t do that, especially on the road. This is a good environment and a good team. We all came together and we were pissed. We felt disappointed. We felt embarrassed, and we didn’t like the outcome of that last game and we didn’t want another one to let slip in.”
“Like JC said, I bring a lot of energy in the locker room, if it’s just a joke, if it’s just talking sh— it’s just my energy,” Reese noted. “I wanted to make sure I was ready and on my toes, and whatever the team needed tonight, I was willing to do, and that’s just what the outcome was.”
Reese was named the 2026 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year earlier this month. She had 4 offensive rebounds Monday, and Atlanta finished with a 17-7 edge on second-chance points.
This is the first postseason of Reese’s career. Through seven playoff games, she has 14 blocks, which ranks in the top five in Dream postseason history. Her 27 offensive rebounds are also in the franchise’s postseason top five.
Game 3 is Wednesday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.