With less than a minute to play on Saturday night, Angel Reese stepped to the line and knocked down a pair of free throws to seal the Atlanta Dream’s 99-89 win over the Phoenix Mercury. The free throws gave Reese a new career-high of 31 points and the first 30-point game of her career, and the win, the Dream’s third in a row, officially clinched their spot in the playoffs.
After making headlines for missing a potential game-winner against the Indiana Fever last Sunday, Reese responded with one of the best weeks of her career.
In the first three games of the Dream’s West Coast road trip, Reese is averaging 24 points, 11.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 3.7 steals on 67.4% shooting. The Dream are 3-0 in those games, including a huge win over the Aces, and have moved back into fourth place ahead of the Indiana Fever.
One game before her career-high night in Phoenix, Reese put up 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists on a perfect 9 of 9 from the field to join Nneka Ogwumike and Tamika Williams-Jeter as the only players in WNBA history to shoot 100% from the field in a 20-point, 10-rebound outing.
Reese has continued to face criticism this season for her poor efficiency around the basket, and rightfully so. (She’s shooting 52.5% in the restricted area on a league-high 337 attempts. Among the 15 players with at least 150 attempts, no one else is shooting below 60%.) But she is the best rebounder in the world and has made such significant strides as a defender that when she is making her shots, as she did this week, she’s a top-10 player in the league.
The Dream are 9-2 when Reese shoots 50% or better this season and 15-11 when she’s below that mark. Ahead of her first postseason, the big question for Reese and the Dream is whether she can maintain this recent efficiency. If she can, no one will want to play Atlanta come playoff time.
4
Dream
3
Fever
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Rk
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Teams
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Chg
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Rcrd
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1 |
Lynx | The Lynx closed out their four-game road trip with impressive victories on both coasts over the Valkyries and Mystics. They’ve now won six in a row and 16 out of 17 to build a five-game lead in the race for the No. 1 seed. Olivia Miles, who has had at least 20 points and seven assists in five of their six wins during this streak, continues to make a push to become the first player since Candace Parker to win MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season. | — | 31-7 |
2 |
Valkyries | The Valkyries’ six-game winning streak and their hopes of catching the Lynx for the No. 1 seed came to an abrupt end this week with defeats to the Lynx and Sky. They didn’t score above 70 points in either game, and shot a combined 50 of 147 (34%). For the season, they’re now seventh in offensive rating (108.8), 12th in true shooting (54%) and eighth in halfcourt efficiency (0.925 points per possessions). | — | 25-11 |
3 |
Dream | The Dream are making easy work of their West Coast road trip thanks to Angel Reese, who has bounced back from a brutal shooting stretch with some of the best performances of her career. She scored a career-high 31 points in their win over the Mercury, and is averaging 24 points, 11.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 3.7 steals on 67.4% shooting on this road trip, which included a huge win over the Aces. Thanks to this hot streak, the Dream have jumped back into fourth place. | 4 | 24-13 |
4 |
Aces | The Aces’ up-and-down play post-All-Star continued this week. Becky Hammon was ejected from their loss to the Dream, but they responded to beat the Sun and Tempo and still have a real chance to catch the slumping Valkyries for the No. 2 seed. However, they may have to do so without NaLyssa Smith, who went down with a non-contact knee injury on Sunday. Smith is averaging 11.7 points and 6.4 rebounds on 63.8% shooting in a career season, and would be a huge loss for the Aces if her injury is serious. | — | 26-13 |
5 |
Liberty | Leonie Fiebich made her return from a foot injury that had kept her sidelined since July 3 in style by putting up 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in the Liberty’s crucial win over the Fever. She also made a key defensive stop on Caitlin Clark late in that contest, showing that her value is about far more than shooting. The Liberty, who still have a chance to earn a top-four seed, are now 11-4 with Fiebich in the lineup this season. | 1 | 23-15 |
6 |
Fever | The Fever’s five-game winning streak came to an end with back-to-back losses to the Wings and Liberty that could loom large come the end of the season and dropped them to fifth place. They did end their grueling five-game road trip with a big win over the Sky, however, as Caitlin Clark hit a career-high eight 3s and recorded her fifth career 30-point, 10-assist game, which is more than every other player in WNBA history combined. Kelsey Mitchell also extended her 20-point scoring streak to 23 games, which is an all-time record. | 3 | 25-14 |
7 |
Mystics | The Mystics clinched their first playoff appearance since 2023 in thrilling fashion with a 40-point fourth quarter to complete a 14-point comeback win over the Fire. Even better, the Sky were officially eliminated from playoff contention the same day, securing a lottery pick for the Mystics, who have swap rights for the Sky’s 2027 first. Shakira Austin, who had 31 points and 10 rebounds against Portland, continues to make an All-WNBA push. She’s averaging 21.5 points and 9.6 rebounds on 52.4% shooting since the All-Star break. | 2 | 22-15 |
8 |
Wings | The Wings revealed that No. 1 overall pick Azzi Fudd will undergo knee surgery and miss the remainder of the season. This is the fourth surgery Fudd will require on her right knee since 2019, and her absence will be a major loss for the Wings’ offense come playoff time. However, they are 2-0 since she went down, including a big win over the Fever, in part because her injury forced them to go big and give opponents a different look. Awak Kuier, who had a franchise-record seven blocks against Indiana, has been particularly impressive defensively. | — | 22-16 |
9 |
Fire | The Fire, who suffered two narrow defeats this week to the Tempo and Mystics, are the only team outside of the top-eight that is still technically alive in the playoff race. However, they would need to win out and would need the Wings to lose out. That’s not happening. Carla Leite put up 27 points and 11 assists in their loss to the Mystics for her fourth 20-point, 10-assist game of the season. That is tied for the third-most in a single season behind only Caitlin Clark. | — | 15-22 |
10 |
Sky | The Sky were officially eliminated from playoff contention for the third season in a row with their loss to the Fever on Sunday, which means they will give the Mystics a lottery pick to complete the 2025 Ariel Atkins trade that also sent two-time All-Star Sonia Citron to D.C. To make matters worse, former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom was ejected from Sunday’s game after getting into a verbal altercation with Natasha Cloud. | — | 15-23 |
11 |
Mercury | The Mercury were officially eliminated from playoff contention with their loss to the Dream on Saturday. They are the first team to miss the playoffs in the season immediately following a Finals appearance since themselves in 2008. And, because they traded their 2027 first-round pick in the Kelsey Plum trade, the rest of their games are meaningless. On Monday, the Mercury agreed to a buyout with franchise legend DeWanna Bonner so she can chase a ring. Alyssa Thomas is chasing a second consecutive assist title, however. She is in a dead heat with Caitlin Clark at 290 total assists and 8.3 per game. | — | 13-24 |
12 |
Sparks | In a stunning admission, Sparks coach Lynne Roberts reported prior to her team’s 36-point loss to the Dream that ownership asked her to give bench players more minutes down the stretch. She attempted to clarify her statements during her pre-game press conference that night, and the Sparks did beat the Sun a few days later to snap a six-game losing streak, but it’s clear what’s going on in L.A. Their remaining games are only notable because of Nneka Ogwumike’s impending retirement. | — | 13-24 |
13 |
Sun | The Sun revealed Sunday that Leila Lacan will leave the team a week early to join France for their World Cup preparations. She’ll miss their final four games before the break, which will be a boost for their tanking efforts. The Sun are on pace to have the best odds for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 WNBA Draft, but have the expansion Tempo right on their heels. | — | 9-27 |
14 |
Tempo | The Tempo snapped their 12-game losing streak with a win over the Fire, but promptly lost again to the Aces and ruled Brittney Sykes (foot) and Aneesah Morrow (knee) out for the season. Chelsea Leite stated that the Tempo and Fire will use single-season records to determine their lottery odds, which is great news for the Tempo, as they now have a real chance to catch the Sun for the best odds. | 1 | 11-26 |
15 |
Storm | Sonia Raman started all three of Dominique Malonga, Awa Fam and Ezi Magbegor for the first time this season in the Storm’s lone game this week – a blowout loss to the Wings. Examining different lineup combinations like that is really all that’s left on the table for the Storm as they close in on a last-place finish that, due to the two-year aggregate lottery rules for non-expansion teams, won’t be enough to get them the best lottery odds. | 1 | 7-31 |
