Reese Answers Game 1 With 30 and 16 as the Dream Tie the WNBA Finals

Game 1 of these Finals ended with a stat line that followed Angel Reese for two days: 14 points in the first half, none in the second, two shots taken after half-time, and a 68-64 Golden State win in a game Atlanta had led by five going into the fourth quarter. Her coach owned part of it, admitting Atlanta had not got her the ball enough. Reese owned the rest. Game 2, in the same building on Monday night, was her reply: 30 points and 16 rebounds in a 79-65 Atlanta win that ties the series and gives the Dream the first Finals victory in franchise history.

What did Reese do differently in Game 2?

She got the ball, and she asked for it loudly enough to be heard over the Chase Center crowd. The Associated Press account describes Reese raising her voice to her teammates: “I need the ball.” She had 15 points and 7 rebounds by half-time and told the on-court interviewer she had left a lot of points on the board in Game 1. By the end she had 30 points and 16 rebounds on 10-of-16 shooting, a playoff career high, with 15 of the points coming in the second half that had shut her out two nights earlier. Afterwards she gave the short version to reporters, via Bleacher Report: “I was hungry. I wanted one. I think we let one slip away.” The longer version is in the numbers. This site’s explainer on double-doubles and triple-doubles uses the double-double as its teaching example; this one decided a Finals game and entered the record book while doing it.

How rare is a 30-point, 15-rebound Finals game?

Rare enough that the list now has three names. Reese joined Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones as the only players to record at least 30 points and 15 rebounds in a WNBA Finals game, per USA TODAY, and she is the youngest of the three. Stewart and Jones both sent her encouragement before the game, a detail Reese volunteered afterwards: they told her to go and get it. The franchise context sits underneath the personal one. Atlanta had been to three previous Finals and lost every game, 0-10 in all, so Monday’s win is the first Finals victory the Dream have ever recorded. Reese’s line is the performance that finally moved that number.

When did the game actually turn?

In the third quarter, and it is worth being precise about how. Golden State led 21-18 after the first. Atlanta edged the second 21-16, and the half ended on a small moment that read bigger in the building: DeWanna Bonner’s 18-foot pull-up with four seconds left put Atlanta up 39-37, and she shushed the Chase Center crowd on the way back down the floor. Then the third quarter ran away from the home team. Atlanta won it 21-9, shot 12 free throws in the period, and closed it on a 15-2 run to lead 60-46, the last word belonging to Jordin Canada, who banked in a three from 32 feet at the buzzer. Golden State scored nine points in twelve minutes. Reese had 24 points and 11 rebounds by the end of the third. The fourth quarter was level, 19-19, which is what a fourth quarter looks like when the game has already been decided in the one before it. Canada finished with 13 points and 10 assists, Allisha Gray with 18 points, and Rhyne Howard’s six steals set a WNBA Finals record on a night Atlanta recorded 14 steals and forced 18 turnovers. The lead reached 21 before it settled at 14.

What happened to the Game 1 collision players?

All three played, and their lines are the follow-up in full. This site’s Game 1 article left the series with open questions after the collision between Gabby Williams and Canada. Game 2 answered them. Williams, who scored 26 points in Game 1, was held to 14 on 3-of-15 shooting. Canada was not suspended and ran Atlanta’s offence for 35 minutes, finishing with the buzzer three and a double-double of her own. Tiffany Hayes, who left Game 1 after a faceplant, was confirmed good to go before tip and scored 14, level with Williams as Golden State’s joint top scorer, with Veronica Burton adding 11. One more line belongs in the record: Kiah Stokes blocked four shots for the second straight Finals game, joining Brittney Griner as the only players to do that in consecutive Finals games, per USA TODAY. Golden State’s defence has a foundation to build on in Atlanta. Its offence, held to 65 points and 34 percent shooting, is the problem making the trip.

What does Golden State have to change in Atlanta?

The adjustment ledger has flipped. Golden State’s Game 1 win was built on a defensive scheme that took Reese out of the second half; Atlanta’s answer was not a new scheme, it was Reese deciding the matchup herself and her guards, Canada above all, keeping the pressure on for four quarters. Finals series turn on adjustments, and the next one belongs to Golden State coach Natalie Nakase, whose team has to find Reese a problem again in a louder building. Games 3 and 4 are at State Farm Arena, moved from the Dream’s regular 3,500-seat home so more than 17,000 can get in. For readers following the series mechanics, this site’s pages on how long WNBA games run and the reset timeout dispute from an earlier Finals cover the format questions travelling with this series. Game 3 is on Wednesday in Atlanta. The series has its storyline now, and it is the one Game 1 wrote and Game 2 answered.