History shows that the Atlanta Dream can all but solidify a spot in the WNBA Finals with a victory over the visiting New York Liberty in Game 2 of the semifinal round on Wednesday.
No team in league history has rallied to win a series after falling behind 2-0, and just once (the 2018 Phoenix Mercury against the Seattle Storm) has a team forced a Game 5 after dropping the first two.
Atlanta head coach Karl Smesko won’t let that thought enter his mind.
“It’s just good to be up 1-0,” Smesko said. “It was a great way to start the series, but there’s still a lot of work to be done and we realize that.”
The fourth-seeded Dream earned a 92-82 victory over the eighth-seeded Liberty on Sunday in the first game of the best-of-five series.
Atlanta leading scorer and four-time All-Star Allisha Gray exited after just 11 minutes with a hand injury. She has been ruled out for Game 2, so the Dream will continue to rely on their depth.
Fellow guard Jordin Canada had 25 points on Sunday, two more than her regular-season high. Veteran midseason signing DeWanna Bonner went for 23 points and nine rebounds.
“You never want to see your teammate go down; we know Allisha is a big piece of our team. She brings a lot offensively and defensively,” Canada said. “But it’s the next-man-up mentality that we have. We told her that we had her back and whoever comes off the bench has to bring it for her.”
In three wins to begin the postseason, Atlanta is led by Rhyne Howard’s 19 points per game, followed by Canada’s 18.
Meanwhile, New York will need more from its supporting cast to avoid a devastating second loss. Liberty stars Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart combined for 46 points in Game 1, while the New York reserves mustered just six total points.
Stewart, a three-time league champion, isn’t pressing the panic button after one loss, but she knows a greater level of urgency will be needed on Wednesday.
“(The Dream) did what they were supposed to do. They protected their home court,” Stewart said. “Of course we would have loved to get (Game 1), but we know we come back here on Wednesday. Everybody always says the goal in the series is to steal one. So that’s what we’ll try to do.”
New York, which became the first No. 8 seed in league history to eliminate a No. 1 seed, is paced in the postseason by Stewart’s 24.7 ppg and Ionescu’s 19.3.
–Field Level Media
