Angel Reese Credits Karl Smesko for Pushing Her 3-Point Development

Angel Reese went 2-of-4 from 3-point range Friday night at Barclays Center, where the Atlanta Dream beat the New York Liberty 85-83 to close out a three-game sweep of the WNBA semifinals.

She finished with 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. Reese shot 7-of-18 from the field and 6-of-6 at the free-throw line.

The win sends Atlanta to the Finals for the first time since 2013.

Before the trade that brought her to Atlanta, Reese had made 7 of 38 career 3-point attempts in two seasons with the Chicago Sky.

At the postgame news conference, she said Dream coach Karl Smesko stopped a drill during training camp and would not let the team resume until she made two in a row.

"It's really hard for me to not want to rush success, and Karl told me how patient I had to be with it," Reese said. "I remember a [specific] moment in training camp where we were going through drills and he stopped everybody and told me I had to make two in a row in front of everybody.

"You never want to shut down your teammates, you never want to let your teammates down, and we couldn't resume the drill until I made two in a row," Reese continued, "and I was upset with him that day for sure. Because I didn't want to let the team down, I didn't want to feel embarrassed and in how long it coulda took me to make them. But now it's like so easy."

Reese could not put a number on how many shots it took.

"It wasn't that many," Smesko said.

It was her first training camp with Atlanta.

"My teammates are cheering for me on the sideline, and I was pretty embarrassed," Reese explained.

During the regular season, her first with the Dream, Reese made 45.1% of her shots. She shot 45.8% in her second season with Chicago and 39.1% as a rookie in 2024.

Her 3-point percentage this regular season was 19.3%. In 2025 she went 4-of-22 from beyond the arc. In 2024 she went 3-of-16.

Chicago sent Reese to Atlanta in the offseason for two first-round draft picks. The Sky missed the playoffs in both of her seasons there and went 10-34 in 2025.

On Oct. 1, the league named her the 2026 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, the first Dream player to win the award.

She averaged a career-high 16.4 points to go with 12.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals. Reese also set WNBA single-season records with 521 total rebounds, 206 offensive rebounds, and 32 double-doubles.

Across the three games against New York, she totaled 62 points. She made two free throws with 4.3 seconds left in overtime of Game 2, which Atlanta won 101-98.

Jordin Canada had 19 points and 11 assists Friday. Rhyne Howard scored 21 on 7-of-21 shooting, including 4-of-10 from 3-point range, and DeWanna Bonner added 13 points and 13 rebounds.

Atlanta played without Allisha Gray for the second straight game. Gray hurt her hand in Game 1.

For New York, Breanna Stewart scored 26 points and made all 13 of her free throws. Jonquel Jones had 26 points and 14 rebounds. After the game, Smesko credited Naz Hillmon's defense on Stewart.

Golden State reached its first Finals by sweeping the Las Vegas Aces, finishing the series with an 87-77 win in Las Vegas on Friday.

The Valkyries are the No. 2 seed. Atlanta, the No. 4 seed, is 5-0 this postseason.

Game 1 is Saturday, Oct. 17, at 3:30 p.m. ET at Golden State. Golden State also hosts Game 2 on Monday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. ET. Game 3 is Thursday, Oct. 22, in Atlanta.