Overtime in Atlanta: Dream Outlast Liberty 101-98, One Win From First Finals Since 2013

The Atlanta Dream are one win away from the WNBA Finals. It took everything they had — forty-five minutes, an overtime period, and surviving the best Breanna Stewart has to offer — but the Dream outlasted the New York Liberty 101-98 in an overtime classic Wednesday night at State Farm Arena to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five semifinal series.

With 4:41 left in regulation, Atlanta clung to a 79-78 lead, and the closing minutes played out as a one-possession grind — every trip down the floor carrying the weight of the series. Neither side could land the knockout blow in regulation. The fourth quarter went 13-14, the game spilled into overtime, and there the Dream did just enough, taking the extra period 13-10 to close out a win that sent the State Farm Arena crowd into delirium and pushed the eighth-seeded Liberty to the brink of elimination.

Stewart’s masterpiece, wasted

If Friday in Brooklyn turns out to be the end of New York’s season, it won’t be for lack of trying from Stewart. She was otherworldly in the first half: 25 points on 78 percent shooting, single-handedly accounting for 46 percent of the Liberty’s points. The problem was everything around her. Jonquel Jones was the only other Liberty player in double figures at the break. New York shot a blistering 67 percent from the field in the first half and still trailed 56-54 — because the Dream forced nine turnovers and made the Liberty pay for every single one. And Stewart picked up her third foul before halftime, the kind of whistle trouble that quietly shapes a playoff game long before the final minutes.

For Atlanta, Jordin Canada kept the offense humming with 14 points and five assists in the first half, and Naz Hillmon opened the second-half scoring with a triple to keep the pressure on. But the story of the night, underneath the final score, was the whistle.

The whistle fest

Thirty combined fouls. The WNBA single-game record is 57, and for long stretches Wednesday night it felt reachable. Rhyne Howard picked up her fourth foul just before halftime. Angel Reese — honored this week as the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year — had three. Canada spent the night navigating the same minefield. Both coaches had to manage rotations like a chess match, and the stop-start rhythm turned the second half into a war of attrition. As Canada put it at the half, the Dream just had to adjust, stay aggressive, stay physical, and trust it would fall their way.

Playoff basketball is supposed to be physical. This was physical with paperwork — and it made every made basket feel earned twice.

Winning without Gray

Here’s the part that should scare the rest of the league: Atlanta did this without Allisha Gray. The Dream’s star guard was ruled out for Game 2 with a left hand injury — listed day-to-day, with coach Karl Smesko offering no update — and missed her first game of the season on the biggest night of the year. Our WNBA daily roundup had the full injury picture: Gray out, Brionna Jones out for the season with a leg injury, and on the other side, the Liberty still missing Satou Sabally (concussion, out for the season since June).

Championship teams win the games their stars miss. The Dream just did exactly that, against a Liberty team that swept the 1-seed Minnesota Lynx in the first round and came to Atlanta with nothing to lose.

One win from history

Context matters. The Dream are the 4 seed. They swept the Washington Mystics in round one. They hadn’t reached the semifinals since 2018, and they haven’t played in the WNBA Finals since 2013. They have never won a championship. Now they’re one win away — and they’d get there by finishing off the team that just swept the top seed in the league.

The Liberty, meanwhile, face the math. Down 2-0 in a best-of-five, they need three straight wins starting Friday at Barclays Center. They’ve been the underdog story of these playoffs — the 8 seed that stunned Minnesota — but underdog magic has an expiration date, and it’s stamped Friday night.

Friday in Brooklyn

Game 3 is Friday, October 9, 7:30 PM ET at Barclays Center (ESPN2). The adjustments write themselves. New York needs someone — anyone — to take the scoring burden off Stewart, and it has to protect the ball; nine first-half turnovers against a team that converts them is a death sentence. Atlanta needs to keep Howard and Reese on the floor, because the Dream are a different team when their stars aren’t watching from the bench in foul trouble — and they need an answer on Gray’s left hand.

Atlanta closed as a 2.5-point favorite with a 170.5 total. The 199 combined points laughed at the under. If necessary, Game 4 is Sunday in New York (ABC) and a winner-take-all Game 5 would be back in Atlanta next Wednesday (ESPN). But the Dream didn’t come this far to play a Game 5.

The other semifinal

While Atlanta celebrated, the other semifinal was tipping off: the Golden State Valkyries hosting the Las Vegas Aces in Game 2 at Chase Center, with Golden State leading 1-0 after a 71-60 Game 1 win. Our look at the Aces’ injury crisis has the full picture there. If both favorites hold, the Finals would be a Dream-Valkyries affair — and the two-time champion Aces would be watching from home. First, though, Atlanta has business to finish in Brooklyn.