Two Sweeps, One Night: Dream and Valkyries Storm Into the 2026 WNBA Finals

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2026

One night, two buildings, two brooms. The Atlanta Dream are going to the WNBA Finals for the first time in 13 years, and the Golden State Valkyries are going for the first time ever. The Dream closed out the New York Liberty 85-83 at Barclays Center on Friday night; about three hours later, the Valkyries needed overtime to finish off the defending-champion Las Vegas Aces 87-77 at Michelob Ultra Arena. Two 3-0 sweeps. A Finals matchup nobody saw coming.

Brooklyn: Reese and the Dream finish the job

Atlanta did it the hard way — by doing it twice. Two nights after surviving a 101-98 overtime thriller in Game 2, the Dream walked into Brooklyn and walked out with an 85-83 win that was somehow even tenser. New York led 68-66 going into the fourth quarter. Atlanta outscored the Liberty 19-15 the rest of the way, and the reason it’s going to the Finals is the oldest reason in basketball: it made its free throws. The Dream went 22-of-24 from the line, including their final 20 in a row, and DeWanna Bonner’s two with 6.2 seconds left pushed the lead to four and ended it.

Angel Reese was the best player on the floor: 22 points, nine rebounds, two blocks. This is the player Atlanta bet on when it acquired her from the Chicago Sky in the offseason, and the bet keeps paying off — Reese also won Defensive Player of the Year this season, and her offensive leap has turned her from a specialist into a genuine two-way star. “This is my moment. I’m supposed to be here, and I’m just so grateful,” she said afterward.

She had help everywhere. Rhyne Howard added 21 points. Jordin Canada ran the show with 19 points and a game-high 11 assists. Bonner finished with 13 points and a team-high 13 rebounds — and she did all of it with Atlanta’s leading scorer in street clothes. Allisha Gray missed Games 2 and 3 with a hand injury, and the Dream swept anyway. That tells you how deep this team is, and how good the defense is. “Our defense never fails us,” Howard said, and the series backed her up.

For New York, the what-ifs will linger. Jonquel Jones was enormous — 26 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks — and Breanna Stewart matched her with 26. But Sabrina Ionescu shot 4-for-12 for 12 points, and she was the only other Liberty player in double figures. The No. 8 seed that stunned the No. 1 Lynx in round one ran out of magic one round later: New York lost Game 2 by three in overtime and Game 3 by two. Five points across two elimination games. Close games still count as losses.

Las Vegas: the Valkyries needed overtime — and took it

If the Dream’s sweep was a slow squeeze, the Valkyries’ was a roller coaster. Las Vegas led 45-36 at halftime — Chelsea Gray buried a 27-footer at the buzzer — and the Aces looked like a team that had figured something out. Then the third quarter happened: a 17-0 Golden State run, seven total points for the Aces in the period, and a 53-47 Valkyries lead. Vegas clawed back, led by six late, and had the building shaking. Then Gabby Williams stole the ball from A’ja Wilson, Kayla Thornton finished the transition layup to tie it at 69-69 with 1:50 left, Veronica Burton hit a nine-foot floater with 1:12 to go, and after Gray’s inbound pass found Jackie Young to force overtime, the Valkyries owned the extra period 16-6. Final: 87-77. Sweep complete. Dynasty, paused.

The box score is a team photo. Thornton led Golden State with 18 points and nine rebounds. Williams added 16 — including eight in overtime. And the two former Aces did the quiet damage: Kiah Stokes had 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Tiffany Hayes had 11 points. Las Vegas traded both of them away, and both of them just helped end the Aces’ season. That has to sting.

Wilson — presented with her fifth MVP trophy this week, an unprecedented fifth, and honored before tip — finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, but on 6-for-19 shooting. She joined DeWanna Bonner as the only players in WNBA history with 1,300 postseason points and 600 rebounds, which is the kind of milestone that usually comes with a win. Young added 18, Gray 17, and the Aces shot 38 percent from the field. The Big Three combined for 56 points and it still wasn’t close in the end, because Golden State had what Las Vegas didn’t: bodies. The Aces played this series without Jewell Loyd (leg), Janiah Barker and NaLyssa Smith (both out for the season), and you can’t win a playoff series on fumes.

“We’re a team that just believes in one another,” All-Star Veronica Burton said. Believe it. The Valkyries went 32-12 this season, had the best home record in the league, and just became the quickest expansion team ever to reach the WNBA Finals — in their second season of existence. The cute-expansion-story phase is over. This is a complete team.

The Finals are set: Dream vs. Valkyries

So here it is: No. 2 Golden State vs. No. 4 Atlanta, best-of-seven, starting Saturday, Oct. 17 at Chase Center in San Francisco. The Valkyries have home-court advantage. The full slate: Game 1 Oct. 17 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC), Game 2 Oct. 19 (8 p.m. ET, USA), Game 3 Oct. 22 (8 p.m. ET, USA) in Atlanta, Game 4 Oct. 24 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC) in Atlanta, then Games 5, 6 and 7 if necessary on Oct. 26, 29 and 31.

The stakes are almost absurd for a league that spent five years as the Wilson-Stewart show. Neither franchise has ever won a championship. The Dream are making their fourth Finals appearance and their first since 2013 — they lost all three of the previous ones. The Valkyries didn’t exist two years ago. For the first time in five years, neither Wilson nor Stewart will play in the Finals. Somebody’s getting a first ring.

Golden State swept the regular-season series 3-0, for whatever that’s worth in October — the Valkyries will remind you that the Aces swept them in the regular season before they returned the favor when it mattered. And a note for the history books: teams are now 22-0 in WNBA playoff history when leading a series 2-0. Both of these teams were 2-0. Both finished the job. See you in San Francisco.

Full semifinal coverage: the Game 3 preview that started it all, Valkyries survive Game 2, Dream outlast Liberty in OT, the Aces’ injury crisis, and Dream-Liberty Game 3 preview.