The Atlanta Dream took a 2-1 lead in the 2026 WNBA Finals with a dominant 97-71 win over the Golden State Valkyries in Game 3 on Wednesday, and are now two wins away from the first title in franchise history. Both teams will enjoy two days off before the series resumes with Game 4 on Saturday, which will essentially be a must-win for the Valkyries.
The Dream held the Valkyries scoreless for the first five minutes of Game 3 and jumped out to an early 9-1 lead. They pulled ahead by as many as 12 in the first half, and briefly threatened to pull away, but the Valkyries regrouped and cut the deficit to six at the break. The Valkyries then used an early third-quarter run to tie things up, but blew several chances to take the lead, which they would regret almost immediately. The Dream dominated the final few minutes of the third to take a 14-point lead into the fourth, and the final frame was largely garbage time.
Angel Reese finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the way for the Dream, who had an extremely balanced attack. All seven players who played meaningful minutes scored at least seven points, and five were in double figures, including Rhyne Howard (16), Naz Hillmon (15) and Isobel Borlase (12), who all had their highest-scoring games of the series.
Tiffany Hayes (14 points) and Janelle Salaün (13 points) came off the bench to keep the Valkyries in the game until the end of the third, but it was another rough offensive night overall for Golden State, which shot 24 of 69 from the field (35%) and turned the ball over 15 times, leading to 22 Dream points.
Here are some winners and losers from Game 3:
Winner: Angel Reese
Reese wasn't as dominant as she was in Game 3, when she put the Dream on her back to even the series, but she had another stellar outing to guide her team to a 2-1 lead. She finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the team in both categories. She also added three assists and steals while shooting 7 of 12 from the field and making both of her shots from 3-point range.
Remarkably, the Dream are now 15-0 when Reese hits a 3: 9-0 in the regular season and 6-0 in the playoffs.
This was Reese's third double-double in three games this series, and her fourth of the playoffs. She joined A'ja Wilson as the only players in WNBA history to have back-to-back 20-point, 10-rebound games in the Finals, and is already tied for fifth-most such games in Finals history.
There's still a long way to go, but Reese is the clear leader for Finals MVP if the Dream can finish the job.
Loser: Gabby Williams
With just over two minutes to play in Game 1, Jordin Canada crashed into Gabby Williams' knee on a free-throw box-out, which left the Valkyries star limping. While Williams remained in the game and later hit the go-ahead free throws, she has not looked like her usual self since that moment on either end of the floor.
Williams scored 14 points on 3 of 15 shooting in Game 2 and followed that up with 15 points on 5 of 18 in Game 3. The last two games are her two lowest-scoring games and least-efficient games of this postseason.
Williams maintains that she's fine physically, which is what you'd expect her to say, but it's hard to believe her. Her shooting has always been streaky, and the Dream are an elite defense, but this is not the same player we've seen throughout the Valkyries' run to the Finals.
If Williams continues to play like this, the Valkyries have no chance of getting back in the series.
Winner: Dream's balanced attack
The Dream's offense was a disaster in Game 1, and not much better in Game 2. If it hadn't been for a historic performance from Reese and 35 free throw attempts, they would have entered Game 3 down 2-0 in the series. But Reese carried them in Game 2, and finally got some help back at home in Game 3.
In addition to Reese, Rhyne Howard (16 points), Naz Hillmon (15), Isobel Borlase (12) and Jordin Canada (10) all scored in double figures, and all seven Dream players who saw meaningful minutes had at least seven points. As a team, they shot 49.3% from the field, including 9 of 22 (40.9%) from 3-point range; they didn't crack 34% shooting in either game in San Francisco.
It was particularly encouraging to see Howard get back on track after a brutal five-game shooting slump. From Game 1 of the semifinals through Game 2 of the Finals, Howard averaged 14.4 points on 26.8/26.3/85.7 shooting splits. Yes, she had played excellent defense throughout that stretch, but the Dream need her scoring.
Howard was one of three players, along with Hillmon and Borlase, who had their highest-scoring game of the series on Wednesday. What's more, Hillmon and Borlase both scored more than they had in Games 1 and 2 combined. Hillmon had seven total points in the first two games, while Borlase had six.
Loser: Golden State's offense
Offense has been an issue all season long for the Valkyries, but the Finals have been particularly ugly. Their 71 points in Game 3 were actually a series-high, which tells you all you need to know.
They missed their first eight shots on Wednesday and didn't score in the first five minutes. And aside from a brief stretch late in the second quarter and early in the third when they got some 3-pointers to go down, they were unable to generate consistent good looks.
For the series, they still haven't shot above 35% in a game, and have just 70 made field goals to 46 turnovers. Here's a look at the game-by-game numbers:
|
1 | 68 | 32.1% | 10 |
2 | 65 | 34.4% | 19 |
3 | 71 | 34.8% | 17 |
No matter how great your defense is, it's impossible to win consistently with this little offensive production. Gabby Williams' 26-point effort in Game 1 (on 22 shots) is the only instance of a player scoring more than 15 points for Golden State in this series. The Dream had three players with 15-plus points in Game 3 alone.
