A packed State Farm Arena awaits as the Dream host their first WNBA Finals game in 13 years

ATLANTA (AP) — Angel Reese is excited to see Atlanta show up for the Dream’s first home WNBA Finals game in 13 years.

Game 3 Wednesday night is sold out, as is Game 4 on Saturday. Both games are being played at State Farm Arena, which seats over 17,000 fans.

“It’s really good to be back home in front of our fans and to get 17,000 people here tonight,” said Reese, who was instrumental in tying up the best-of-7 series at 1-1 with her 30-point, 16-rebound effort in Game 2.

The game was originally scheduled to be played on Thursday at the Gateway Center Arena, where the Dream play most of their home games. The league was able to work with the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena to play the next two games of the championship series there.

“It means a lot. I really enjoy Gateway, it’s very intimate,” Reese said. “A lot of people were able to just to feel each other. So I definitely will miss it. But it is good to see the game growing and continue to be supported here in Atlanta.

People are paying attention to this series. Both games in Golden State were sold out and the ratings for Game 1 were the highest ever for an opening WNBA Finals game in league history, with an average of 2.1 million people tuning in.

“I just love that when people watch, they get to to witness so many different things and being able to support so many different stories,” Reese said.

Atlanta made the right adjustments in Game 2, with Reese being a big reason why they were able to even the series.

The Dream won Game 2 79-65 using a smothering defense that flustered the Valkyries into committing 19 turnovers that led to 24 points for Atlanta.

Both teams flew across the country from California on Tuesday.

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