SAN FRANCISCO — Ninety minutes before tipoff on Monday, Angel Reese finished his pregame warmups and walked straight to the dozens of media members waiting in the tunnel.
The youngest member of the Atlanta Dream’s starting five made no excuses for how Game 1 ended. He only promised that Game 2 would be better.
“I can’t let my team down,” Reese said.
In front of another hostile Ballhalla crowd that screamed her introduction louder than any other Atlanta player and erupted every time she was called for a foul, Reese led the Dream to a 79-65 victory over the Golden State Valkyries in Game 2 of the 2026 WNBA Finals. He finished with a playoff career-high 30 points, 10 points on 16 rebounds, 16 rebounds, three assists, one steal and two blocks in 34 minutes. Young’s career-best performance not only tied the Finals at 1-1, but also gave the Dream their first Finals victory in franchise history.
After Reese became the third player in WNBA history with 30 points and 15 rebounds in a Finals game, DeWanna Bonner told CBS Sports: “That’s what we expect from her night in, night out. She’s young and she hasn’t been here before, but that’s no excuse.” “We’re going to get on his back, we’re going to get on his coattails, we’re going to get on his energy. That’s what we expect from him every game.”
Dream coach Carl Smesko had a feeling Game 2 would go his team’s way when he walked into the locker room and made eye contact with Reese before tipoff. “Oh, I like that look,” Smesko said. Reese’s teammates saw it too. “You can tell he wants it so bad. He’s such a competitor and we feed off his energy,” Jordin Canada said. “He set the tone for sure and it trickled down to the whole team.”
Reese, who went scoreless in the second half of Game 1 and had just three shots in the final 26 minutes, vowed to be more “aggressive” on Monday. He immediately followed. Forty seconds later, he had to reach back and grab it with one hand because he was trying to drive before he even had the ball. After she got the ball, she passed Cecilia Zandalasi for a layup.
Reese ran down the aisle. He rolled and drove to the basket, Valkyries going around or through the defender he threw his way. By halftime, he was up 15 points and the Dream had a two-point lead.
But early in Game 3, it looked like Reese and the Dream were in for a Game 1 repeat. Kiah Stokes knocked over Reese’s first shot of the second half and nearly four minutes went by without another look. In the middle of the frame, Reese got so upset that he threw his arms up in fear in the middle of the ball and screamed on the bench. At one point, he said, “I need the ball, I need the ball.” “We gave him the ball and he went to work.”
On the next down, Reese received a pass ahead of Allisha Gray, stepped up to the lane several times and let out a roar as she celebrated with her teammates. A three-point play broke the tie and was the start of an 18-4 run to close the third that put the Dream up 14 and put the game out of reach. Reese had 9 of 18 points.
“I wanted to make sure I came out tonight and made my mark and I did everything I could to get the win and I think I did,” Reese said.
What Smesko called a “super performance” from Reese was the latest in an incredible first playoff run for the third-year forward. The Dream acquired Reese in the offseason from the Chicago Sky because they thought his “drive to win” in addition to his talent could lift them over the top after three straight first-round exits.
Whatever happens in the rest of this series, Dan Padover and Co. have already been proven right. Allisha Gray missed all but 11 minutes of the semifinals with a hand injury and Rhyne Howard is shooting 22 of 82 (26.8%) over his last five games, but Reese has been loose. He’s in double figures in all seven playoff games and is the team’s emotional leader, averaging 19.1 points, 10 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.6 steals and two blocks on 46.8% shooting.
And Reese did it despite facing what Bonner called “a different kind of pressure.”
“The women’s game has changed and she’s part of the reason why. People expect a lot from Angel,” Bonner said. “He focuses on what Angel can handle and what Angel can do. He takes the challenges he gets from his coaches and his teammates and he just performs.”
Far from letting his team down, Reese’s recent performance has the Dream three wins away from its first title in franchise history.