Atlanta Dream Sweep to First WNBA Finals Since 2013

After 13 years of waiting, the Atlanta Dream are championship-bound again.

Angel Reese scored 22 points and Rhyne Howard added 21 as the Dream beat the New York Liberty 85-83 on Friday night, completing a three-game sweep to reach the WNBA Finals. The fourth-seeded Dream haven't lost a single game this postseason, defying expectations at every turn.

The victory marks Atlanta's first Finals appearance since 2013. Now they're just four wins away from the franchise's first championship in team history.

Reese, this season's Defensive Player of the Year, came to Atlanta in an offseason trade and immediately made her mark. She scored 10 points in the opening quarter alone, hitting two 3-pointers to help set the tone early.

The Dream showed incredible resilience throughout the series, playing without leading scorer Allisha Gray due to a finger injury. Gray cheered from the bench in a Howard jersey as her teammates delivered the performance of their lives.

The game came down to the final seconds with Atlanta clinging to an 83-81 lead. New York's Breanna Stewart missed a contested layup with nine seconds left, and DeWanna Bonner sealed the win with two clutch free throws.

The atmosphere turned intense in the second quarter when emotions ran high. Sabrina Ionescu and Reese exchanged words after a hard screen, later separated by officials. The competitive fire only added to the drama of an already electric night.

Why This Inspires

This Dream team embodies everything sports fans love about playoff basketball. They entered as underdogs, lost their top scorer to injury, and still found a way to dominate every single playoff game.

Howard and Reese stepped up when it mattered most, proving that new additions can transform a franchise's fortune overnight. The last time Atlanta reached the semifinals was 2018, making this run even more special for longtime fans who never stopped believing.

The Dream will face either Las Vegas or Golden State when the Finals begin October 17. For a team that hasn't tasted championship glory, the moment feels both surreal and well-deserved.

Atlanta's perfect playoff run shows that sometimes the best stories come from teams nobody expected to go this far.