The argument against the Atlanta Dream says their transition-heavy style might be incompatible with playoff basketball. But in the three playoff games they’ve played so far, the latest a 92-82 home win over New York to open the second round, Karl Smesko's team has totally set the terms. As they see it, this is playoff basketball: fast, tireless, always connected.
Even when the Dream bump into issues running their halfcourt offense, they make the math work for them in other ways. The best offensive rebounder in league history wins them extra possessions, and a team defense that’s forced more turnovers than any other WNBA team this year sets up easy scoring opportunities against defenses on their heels. That made them a nightmare first-round matchup for the Washington Mystics, who turned the ball over more than any other WNBA team this year. Washington’s season indeed ended thanks to a 42-15 turnover differential across two games.
Lest that stat be blamed on the young Mystics’ nerves, consider the 32 points Atlanta scored off 21 turnovers from veteran-stocked New York in Sunday's game. The fix for Game 2 on Wednesday sounds easy: Don’t turn the ball over. But the Atlanta Dream are a team designed to make it difficult. The Liberty’s problems weren’t all self-inflicted.
In the same way New York’s size worked to magnify the flaws of Minnesota’s roster in the first round, the Dream have a way of drawing out the Liberty roster's deficit of athleticism. The two games these teams played in the final days of the regular season a couple weeks ago foreshadowed some issues for the Liberty in this series, and in Game 1, they all came to pass. One is that the Dream are making it hard for the Liberty to do what they do well. The rim-protection advantage that New York used to dictate the shape of the Lynx series matters much less when an opponent can do so much of its scoring in transition. The Liberty, for their part, scored no fast break points in Game 1, so that Atlanta’s advantage there was 18-0.
For most of the Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones era, the Liberty have run strong assist-to-turnover ratios. All the injuries to New York's guard rotation showed up in the rather middling numbers this year, but the sheer variety and visual drama of the turnovers New York committed Sunday was still kind of incredible to behold. A few were Angel Reese specials: The newly named Defensive Player of the Year has a knack for timing up an opponent's dribble after she switches onto them and setting off a fast break sequence with a poke. Point guard Jordin Canada, one of the quickest players in the league, leapt into passing lanes the way a defensive back might. She finished the game with five steals. But the most dispiriting turnover was midway through an already dispiriting third quarter for the Liberty, who were outscored 32-15 in that frame: After receiving an inbounds pass from Sabrina Ionescu, Leonie Fiebich picked up her dribble just as Reese put two hands on the ball and just snatched it away.
Though the game felt almost comically out of New York’s grasp in that disastrous third quarter, the Liberty still had a chance to come out from the rubble, even chipping Atlanta's 16-point fourth-quarter lead down to five. Liberty fans can take comfort in any flavor of cope: 39-year-old DeWanna Bonner continues to play extremely well in Atlanta, and her 10-of-18 shooting is not a thing I’d expect in future playoff games. Canada paired her stellar defensive game with an unlikely offensive explosion; she scored 20 of her 25 points in the second half. And hey, after giving up 32 points off turnovers, a 10-point loss isn't so bad! But the Dream can play the hypothetical game, too. Allisha Gray left Game 1 with an injury to her shooting hand and didn’t play at all in the second half. Smesko didn’t have any immediate update, but the Dream go as their guards do, and a serious injury could swing the series.
More likely, though, is that the Dream focus on playing the actual game. Reese, their big offseason addition, is the sort of player who wins at basketball's margins, and margins are what matter in the playoffs. “Last year, we would get lots of leads and we would lose them,” Canada said postgame, maybe alluding to the late-game collapse that knocked the Dream out of the postseason last year against Indiana. “We’re keeping our composure this year. Even if they do go on a run, we’re able to come right back out and execute something on the offensive end, or getting stops on the defensive end.” Maybe everything can't keep going Atlanta's way, but the Dream are equipped to take on the challenge.
