Dream vs. Liberty: Jordin Canada Scores 25 as Atlanta's Defense Wins Semifinals Game 1

For one half, Semifinals Game 1 was a coin flip with a pulse. Fourteen lead changes, nobody up by more than six, and the New York Liberty nursing a 40-37 halftime lead. Then the Atlanta Dream walked out of the locker room and turned the third quarter into an all-you-can-eat turnover buffet.

Jordin Canada scored 20 of her 25 points after halftime and piled up five steals, and the Dream beat the Liberty 92-82 on Sunday afternoon at State Farm Arena to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five semifinal series. Atlanta won the third quarter 32-15, and New York spent the rest of the day chasing.

A Tight First Half and a Big Loss

The opening 20 minutes were as even as they come. New York led 24-21 after one quarter and 40-37 at the break. The bigger storyline for Atlanta was who went down: Allisha Gray, who finished with seven points in 11 minutes, suffered a left hand injury in the second quarter, and the Dream had to find offense somewhere else.

They found it on defense, which is very on brand for this group.

The Third-Quarter Avalanche

New York nudged ahead 43-39 early in the third, and that was the last good memory the Liberty had for a while. Atlanta ripped off 13 straight points to go up 52-43, with Angel Reese and Canada collecting three steals apiece in the quarter. Seven different New York players committed at least one turnover in the third, and the Liberty shot 4 of 14 from the floor during that stretch. By the end of the period, it was 69-55.

That is what makes this Dream defense so exhausting to play against. It does not just force mistakes, it turns them into layups before you can get back. Atlanta finished with 18 fast-break points. New York had zero.

New York Makes It Interesting

To their credit, the Liberty did not fold. Down 71-55 early in the fourth, they scored eight straight to get within 71-63, and Jonquel Jones kept them hanging around late with a layup and a 24-foot 3 that cut it to 80-75 with four minutes left.

Every time New York got close, Atlanta had an answer. Canada's 25-foot 3 at 4:55 had already pushed the lead to 78-70. Reese answered with two layups to make it 84-77. Then came the dagger: Canada's step-back 3 with 1:30 left, beating the shot clock buzzer, for an 87-77 lead. Ionescu scored five straight, including a 29-footer, to make it 87-82 with 51.7 seconds left, but Rhyne Howard made a free throw, Canada added a running layup in transition and Howard closed it at the line.

Jordin Canada Owns the Second Half

Canada's line: 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting, 4 of 6 from 3, 3 of 3 at the line, five steals and four assists. The 20 second-half points were the headline, but the steals were the fuel.

"Everybody stepped up, and that's what we need," Canada said. "Next man up mentality."

DeWanna Bonner was the next woman up. She came off the bench for 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting with nine rebounds and zero turnovers, filling the scoring void Gray left. Reese added 17 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three blocks while shooting 6 of 10. Howard struggled to find her shot, going 5 of 20, but still produced 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Naz Hillmon did not score in 37 minutes and still finished a game-best plus-14, which tells you plenty about what she does without the ball.

For New York, Ionescu scored 27 on 10-of-20 shooting but committed five turnovers. Breanna Stewart had 19 points, three steals and three blocks while making all six of her free throws, and Jones posted 12 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks. The Liberty went 15 of 15 at the line and blocked nine shots. None of it could offset the giveaways.

"Live ball turnovers," Stewart said of what decided it. "We couldn't get a basket until pretty late in the third. We know what Atlanta likes to do."

Thirteen Straight, and the Series Tilted

The game turned on the 13-0 run in the third quarter. New York had just taken a four-point lead. A few minutes later, Atlanta was up nine and the Liberty were staring at a turnover problem with no obvious fix. Everything after that was New York trying to climb out of a hole it dug in about three minutes of basketball.

The Turnover Receipts

• 32: Atlanta's points off turnovers, which the AP noted tied an all-time WNBA playoff record.
• 21: New York turnovers, including team turnovers.
• 14: Atlanta steals, with Canada responsible for five.
• 18-0: The fast-break scoring margin.
• 32-15: The third quarter, which flipped a three-point deficit into a 14-point lead.

Undefeated and Unbothered

Atlanta leads the series 1-0, and the numbers around this team keep getting louder. Per the AP, it was the Dream's first victory in the semifinal round since 2018, and it left them as the only undefeated team remaining in the postseason. They are 3-0 in these playoffs after sweeping Washington in the first round.

The AP also noted that Atlanta has now won eight in a row, a streak that started in the regular season, and the game log backs it up. That run includes back-to-back wins at Barclays Center over these same Liberty, 95-84 on Sept. 21 and 83-65 on Sept. 23, the stretch Stewart referenced after the game. Make it three straight wins over New York.

The Liberty, who knocked off top-seeded Minnesota in the first round as the No. 8 seed, now have to solve the Dream's pressure before Wednesday's Game 2 in Atlanta.

Blue Shell Basketball

Atlanta's defense is the blue shell of these playoffs. You can be cruising in first place, minding your own business, and then it shows up out of nowhere and wrecks your whole lap. New York led at halftime. It never led again.

"I thought we had a great third quarter," Dream coach Karl Smesko said. Understatement of the weekend.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press.