Kiah Stokes Details Challenge of Defending Angel Reese After 30-Point Game

Kiah Stokes blocked 4 shots Monday night, two days after blocking 5 in Game 1, and became the second player in WNBA history with at least 4 blocks in consecutive Finals games. Brittney Griner did it in 2014.

The Golden State Valkyries still lost Game 2 to the Atlanta Dream 79-65 at Chase Center, and the series is tied 1-1.

Stokes played 30:23. She grabbed 11 rebounds, 9 of them on the defensive end, and finished without a field-goal attempt.

According to league game notes, those 9 defensive rebounds moved Stokes to 18th in WNBA playoff history with 222. Her 4 blocks put her in a tie for 19th in career postseason blocks with 42. She also moved into a tie for 23rd in postseason offensive rebounds with 75.

This was Stokes’ fifth game of the 2026 playoffs with at least 3 blocks. The single-postseason record is six, held by A’ja Wilson, who did it in 2022 and 2025, and Lisa Leslie in 2003.

Stokes and Angel Reese jumped for the opening tip and again with 5:32 left in the second quarter.

Two of Stokes’ blocks came against Reese, on a cutting layup with 5:14 left in the first quarter and on a turnaround with 8:49 left in the third. She also blocked DeWanna Bonner on a cut in the third quarter and Naz Hillmon’s hook early in the fourth.

Reese finished with 30 points and 16 rebounds.

In Game 1, she had 14 points and 12 rebounds with 11 of the points in the first quarter, and the Valkyries laid out the adjustment they made on her after that game.

Stokes felt Golden State let everyone have their way on Monday, Reese included.

“She does a great job of taking advantage of mismatches,” Stokes said. “So I was really just trying to stay with her when she started to get going, but she just has a great motor and she works really hard. She makes it difficult not to foul her.”

“She can finish with her right and her left hand,” Stokes continued. “So for me, it’s just trying to make her score over me. But she had a great game today. So we really just have to get back to the drawing board today and see what else we can come up with.”

Stokes was called for 4 fouls, all after halftime. Three came against Reese, who went 4-of-5 at the line on those possessions.

The other, away from the play 72 seconds into the third quarter, sent Allisha Gray to the line for one.

Atlanta went 30-of-35 from the line, including 21-of-24 in the second half. The Dream made all 12 of their attempts in the third quarter, when Golden State didn’t shoot a free throw.

Atlanta ramped up its defense in Game 2, and Stokes counted too many lapses on plays where the Valkyries knew what to do and didn’t execute.

“Don’t foul,” Stokes explained. “Just really just make an effort to keep our hands up. We can’t control what the refs call, but we can try to make it clear to not foul but that’s on us. We can’t be reaching and getting really dumb fouls.”

Golden State was whistled for 23 fouls to Atlanta’s 18. Veronica Burton and Tiffany Hayes each finished with 5.

Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said Golden State relies on its defense on nights when the shots don’t fall.

“We’re going to see like how close these actual fouls were,” Nakase said. “They do lunge for it at times. We just have to make sure we take a close look, again, utilizing the film. That’s what we have to do.”

“Again we also have to make sure — we have to play harder than them, No. 1 but we have to play smarter as well,” Nakase noted.

In a 78-75 win over Atlanta in San Francisco in June, Stokes blocked 7 shots.

Tip-off for Game 3 at State Farm Arena is 8 p.m. ET Wednesday.