'We feed off her': Dream's Reese already taking starring role in playoff debut

ATLANTA -- Angel Reese was playing in just her fourth WNBA playoff game. But with 6.1 seconds left in overtime, her Atlanta Dream squad clinging to a one-point lead and the New York Liberty looking to foul, she knew exactly what to do. Reese raced to the sideline and whispered in teammate DeWanna Bonner's ear to inbound the ball in the backcourt -- which is only allowed in the final two minutes -- so Reese could kill some clock. The end of Wednesday's Game 2 semifinal was marred by controversy over why New York didn't call its final reset timeout, but it overshadowed Reese's sneaky and savvy move that preceded the ordeal: She ran 1.8 seconds off the clock and drew the sixth and final foul on hot-shooting Liberty rookie Marine Fauthoux. Reese converted both free throws, Breanna Stewart missed a last-ditch heave, the buzzer sounded and Reese and Bonner shared a long embrace on the court. With the win, the Dream secured a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-five series. The play might not even make Reese's highlight reel from the night as Atlanta won its ninth consecutive game. She scored a playoff career-high 23 points, had a team-best six of them in overtime and added seven rebounds and two blocks, including an emphatic volleyball-esque rejection on Sabrina Ionescu in the fourth quarter. In one memorable sequence in the second period, Reese made a 3-pointer before stealing the ball seconds later, driving back down the floor and converting an and-1 sequence that gave the Dream the lead. With contributions obvious and subtle, Reese has helped transform the No. 4-seeded Dream into arguably the best team remaining in the WNBA playoffs -- at the very least the only one yet to lose in the 2026 postseason -- and one win away from returning to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2013. "She's the motor," said Bonner, a 39-year-old vet in her 17th WNBA season. "Her defensive presence is unmatched. ... She brings the toughness. She brings the umph. As long as she's out there, we see her go hard, it's like, 'Man, I want to dive on the floor for a ball.' "That's rare. That's kind of hard to find ... we feed off her, and she gets us going every single game." The No. 7 pick by the Chicago Sky in the 2024 WNBA draft, Reese has had a remarkable start to her pro career, earning All-Star honors in each of her first three seasons and establishing herself to potentially be the best rebounder in WNBA history. The Sky made a stunning move in April when they traded Reese to the Dream following some friction between her and the team, including when Reese told a local outlet during the 2025 season that Chicago needed to get great players in the offseason or she might consider moving on. The Sky would embark on a roster revamp, but in Atlanta, Reese was immediately surrounded by more talent than ever before. The fit on and off the court proved seamless. Reese has been featured alongside fellow young stars Rhyne Howard (a former No. 1 pick and a four-time All-Star) and Naz Hillmon, both of whom Atlanta drafted in 2022. Thirty-one-year-olds Allisha Gray, also a four-time All-Star, and Jordin Canada, a two-time WNBA champion, arrived in 2023 and 2024, respectively, via trade. "When you play with great players, they push you every single day to your potential, maybe even more," Reese said. "And I'm just so grateful for my teammates. I'm grateful for my coaches every single day. We have fun, we have hard conversations. They love on me, and they're just there for me all the time. "I'm just really thankful for it because you don't really get the opportunity [always]. I haven't had that in a while, and being able to be here in Atlanta, I'm just really grateful to have sisters in the locker room that really, really genuinely care and love me." Gray, Howard and Reese were the Dream's big three in the regular season, each averaging at least 15 points. Reese led the league in rebounding for the third year in a row (12.1 per game), won her first Defensive Player of the Year award and helped Atlanta achieve the third-best defensive rating -- all while bringing intangibles to her new team. "Angel is definitely a huge part of what we do, and her energy is contagious," Atlanta coach Karl Smesko said. "She's definitely an emotional leader for us." When the playoffs opened in late September, nerves weren't entirely avoidable for Reese in the first round. "That 1-1-1 [format] is scary, I'm not gonna lie," Reese said Sunday. But she tried to remind herself she has been in plenty of high-stakes situations, such as winning a national championship her junior season at LSU. "I have been in experiences where it's win or go home, and that's kind of how I'm treating every game [in the playoffs]," Reese said. "I don't want to rely on five games. I want to be able to win, win, win, win and then move on to the next round." Reese added to her trophy case last month at the FIBA World Cup, where she won a gold medal with USA Basketball and boasted the fifth-best efficiency on a team stacked with All-WNBA talent. "This may be her first playoffs, but I told her she's a championship player," said Howard, who was also on Team USA. "On all of her other levels, she's done this, and she has that experience that some of us don't have, and so we're also leaning on her. She's been that dog for us all season." Even in an unfamiliar setting when the lights are brightest, Reese knew she could lean on the qualities that have always separated her from her peers. "I always talk about you can't be scared when it comes to this," Reese said. "When I played against the Mystics [in the first round], I knew I was just going to be fearless. Go out there and play fearless. Play relentless. Play with just so much poise and just have fun and do everything I can do. And that's always how I've been in my career." In the playoffs, Reese is averaging 17.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.8 steals, but her impact is felt well beyond the box score. The Dream's plus-21.6 net efficiency with Reese on the floor is the best of any player this postseason (minimum 10 minutes). "She's locked in, like locked in," Hillmon said, adding that it's a reflection of how Reese competes on a daily basis. "I think that's just the way that Angel plays all the time. She doesn't have to get up for moments because she's already up." Reese's defensive impact is even more staggering: Opponents are shooting 37% (11 of 30) this postseason with Reese as the defender; that percentage is even lower in the semifinals, where she's holding the Liberty to 5-of-16 shooting (31.2%) through two games, including 2-for-6 from Stewart. Atlanta has a defensive efficiency of 91.9 in the postseason with her on the court, the best of any player with at least 35 minutes. "When she's at her best she can be incredibly disruptive, maybe the most disruptive player defensively in the league," Smesko said. "And that's probably why she won Defensive Player of the Year." Reese likes to write down her objectives heading into a season, starting with team goals before heading into individual ones. This year with the Dream, making the playoffs was practically a given. Earning her first gold medal in Berlin with the senior national team was a big ambition to check off. Defensive Player of the Year was also there. If she has her way, that won't be the last goal she'll have manifested this season. "A championship would mean everything to me," Reese said Sunday, "and we're not done yet." ESPN Research contributed to this report.