Allisha Gray scored 24 points, Naz Hillmon added 16 and the Atlanta Dream clinched home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs by beating the host New York Liberty 83-65 on Wednesday.
The postseason, which begins on Sunday, also will feature the Liberty as the No. 8 seed. New York will open against the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx (32-11), the team the Liberty defeated in the 2024 WNBA Finals.
Atlanta (30-14) has won five consecutive games, including two straight this week in New York, to wrap up the No. 4 seed. The Dream’s first-round playoff opponent will be the Indiana Fever (28-15) or the Washington Mystics (27-16).
Dream star Angel Reese, who leads the WNBA with a record 32 double-doubles this season, was held to six points and six rebounds in 17 minutes on Wednesday. She did not play in the second half after being elbowed in the face by New York’s Sabrina Ionescu with six seconds left in the second quarter.
The Liberty (26-18) were held to seven points in the second period. That was the lowest-scoring quarter all season for New York, which was without eight-time All-Star Breanna Stewart (left knee soreness) in the game.
New York was led by center Jonquel Jones, who had 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. However, she was removed from the game in the third quarter after spraining her left ankle.
The Liberty got a boost off the bench from Marine Fauthoux (career-high 14 points) and Han Xu (11 points).
New York led 19-18 after a first quarter during which Reese was held to two points on 1-for-5 shooting.
However, Atlanta dominated the second quarter as the Dream went into halftime with a 41-26 lead.
For the first half, the Dream scooped up 10 steals — more than their average of nine for an entire game — and they forced 15 turnovers while holding New York to 32.0% shooting. Atlanta also had a 13-0 edge in points off turnovers.
Gray led all first-half scorers with 10 points.
The teams played to just about a standoff in the third quarter as Atlanta led 58-44 entering the final frame.
In the fourth quarter, New York cut its deficit to 63-56 with 4:49 left on two free throws from Fauthoux, but the Liberty got no closer.
Prior to the game, New York honored forward Rebecca Allen, who is retiring after this season. She has played 11 years in the league, including eight with the Liberty. Allen, 33, recorded six points and five rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench on Wednesday.
–Field Level Media
