Reese Makes Finals History as Dream Take Series Lead

Reese Makes Finals History: that was the headline Atlanta came home dreaming of, and on Wednesday night Angel Reese made it real. The Atlanta Dream throttled the Golden State Valkyries ninety-seven to seventy-one in Game 3 of the 2026 WNBA Finals, seizing a two-games-to-one series lead in front of a sold-out crowd at State Farm Arena and moving within one win of the franchise's first championship. The win capped a historic night for the twenty-four-year-old star, who became the youngest player in Finals history to open a series with three straight double-doubles and joined A'ja Wilson as the only players ever to post twenty points and ten rebounds in consecutive Finals games. Atlanta, which had not reached the Finals since two thousand thirteen, can clinch at home on Saturday.

How Atlanta broke the game open after a quiet start

The first half looked like more of the same grind from the opening two games in San Francisco. Atlanta jumped ahead eight to one in the opening minutes, but the visitors answered and trailed by just six at the break after a stronger second quarter. According to TSN, the crowd of seventeen thousand ninety-nine began to sense the shift early in the third, and then the Dream simply buried the Valkyries. Atlanta outscored Golden State fifty-one to thirty-one after halftime, holding the visitors to seventeen points in the third quarter and fourteen in the fourth.

The shooting told the story. The Dream connected on a series-best forty-nine point three percent of their field goals and buried nine three-pointers, their most of the Finals, while the Valkyries shot just thirty-five percent from the floor and committed seventeen turnovers that Atlanta converted into twenty-two points. The home side attacked relentlessly, getting to the free-throw line twenty-nine times and converting for twenty points at the stripe, while Golden State's starters outside of its top two scorers combined for just five points. It was the kind of two-way dominance that had been missing from a series defined, until Wednesday, by low scores and half-court wrestling. For a refresher on how this matchup was set up, see our preview of the WNBA Finals Game 1 between these same two teams.

A record night built on relentless energy

The box score only hints at how Reese bent the game. She finished with twenty-one points on seven-of-twelve shooting, including both of her three-point attempts, plus twelve rebounds, three assists and three steals in thirty-four minutes. But her night was really about everything in between the numbers: barking at opponents, teammates and officials alike, forcing jump balls, diving into passing lanes and, at one point, celebrating courtside with six-time All-Star Alyssa Thomas. "Y'all not taking this from us, and that's in my heart," she told reporters after the game. "Like, I'm not letting you take this from us. I think that confidence becomes contagious within the team. They feel that confidence too." She said the team feeds off the home rims she shoots on every day, and that the offensive explosion felt overdue: "I knew it was coming, especially back home."

She was hardly alone in making history. Backcourt star Rhyne Howard poured in sixteen points with four assists, and in the process became the first player in WNBA history to post a five-steal game in consecutive Finals outings. Frontcourt mate Naz Hillmon added fifteen points, including back-to-back threes that broke the game open early in the third quarter, while Jordin Canada ran the offense with ten points, eight assists and six rebounds. Veteran DeWanna Bonner gave Atlanta a spark off the bench. Rookie Isobel Borlase gave Atlanta crucial minutes, shooting five-of-ten and finishing with a game-best plus-twenty-one rating. Half a dozen Dream players reached double figures, and the team's twenty-six assists reflected a ball-movement clinic. The contrast with the Valkyries was stark: Gabby Williams needed eighteen shots to reach her total, ClutchPoints reported, and the depth that carried Golden State past the defending champions in the semifinals vanished. The league's record-shattering season has been building toward exactly this kind of showcase; our look at the WNBA's biggest season ever explains how the Finals got here.

What Game 4 decides on Saturday

Game 4 tips Saturday at one in the afternoon Eastern on NBC, back at the same building, and the stakes are simple. A Dream win makes it three-one and sends Atlanta back to the Bay one victory from the first title in franchise history. A Valkyries response ties the series and restores home-court advantage to the second-year expansion team for Games 5 and 7, with the deafening Chase Center crowd, nicknamed Ballhalla, waiting. Golden State has already shown it can bounce back in this building's hostile cousin: the Valkyries swept the defending champion Aces in the semifinals and have thrived as underdogs all postseason.

For Atlanta, the formula is now obvious: keep Reese rolling downhill, keep the ball moving and keep turning defense into offense. For Golden State, the fix starts with shot selection and ball security, because no team wins a Finals game shooting in the mid-thirties while coughing the ball up that often. Either way, the series has its signature performance. Reese Makes Finals History was a promise on the marquee Wednesday morning, and by the final buzzer it was a fact in the record book. Women's basketball keeps raising its ceiling, from sold-out arenas to brand partnerships like the Valvoline and Rose Lavelle World Cup deal that signal where the money is moving next. Saturday decides whether Atlanta's coronation starts at home or waits for the Bay.