Dream vs. Liberty: Allisha Gray Scores 24 as Atlanta Clinches the No. 4 Seed Despite Angel Reese's Early Exit

The Atlanta Dream lost Angel Reese right before halftime on Wednesday night. They did not lose anything else. Not the lead, not the rhythm, and definitely not the No. 4 seed they came to Brooklyn to grab.

Allisha Gray poured in 24 points and Naz Hillmon chipped in 16 as the Dream beat the New York Liberty 83-65 at Barclays Center to clinch the No. 4 seed and home court for the first round of the playoffs. New York, playing without Breanna Stewart because of left knee soreness, according to the AP, settled into the No. 8 spot and a first-round meeting with top-seeded Minnesota.

Brooklyn's Second-Quarter Horror Show

The first quarter was a fair fight. The Liberty led 19-18 after one, and the teams traded the lead early. Then the second quarter happened, and New York's offense went missing like a sock in the dryer.

Atlanta won the period 23-7. An 8-0 run turned a 28-24 game into 36-24, and the Liberty simply could not buy a basket. By halftime it was 41-26.

The only real scare for Atlanta came with 5.6 seconds left in the half. Reese took a hit to the face while drawing a foul on Sabrina Ionescu, and the call was upgraded to a flagrant 1, per the AP. Reese made both free throws and then headed to the locker room. She returned to the bench with 6:19 left in the third quarter but did not play again, finishing with six points and six rebounds in 17 minutes.

The Dream Did Not Need the Help

If New York hoped Reese's absence would open the door, Atlanta slammed it shut. A 9-0 run that started in the final minute of the first half and spilled into the third pushed the lead to 45-26, and the margin eventually grew to 20. The Dream led 58-44 after three.

The Liberty's night got worse in the third quarter when Jonquel Jones left with a left ankle injury. Per the AP, it happened on a missed 3, when she seemed to come down on a fan's foot. Jones still finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds in 20 minutes, a reminder of what New York was missing down the stretch.

New York did make one push. Two Anneli Maley free throws cut it to 65-58 with 4:23 left, but that was as close as it got. DeWanna Bonner made a pair at the line, Gray hit a 24-foot 3, Jordin Canada scored on a Gray feed, and after two Marine Fauthoux free throws, Atlanta ended things with a 9-0 burst: Bonner from 25 feet, Gray from 25 feet, and Bonner again from 23 feet with 58.5 seconds left. That made it 81-62, and the Barclays crowd started heading for the subway.

Gray Was the Best Player in the Building

Gray's line was the cleanest on the floor: 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting, 4 of 7 from deep, 4 of 4 at the line, five assists, four rebounds and three steals, with a plus-21 to show for it. She scored eight points in the final 4:49 alone, plus an assist on Canada's bucket, which is what a closer looks like.

Hillmon did a lot of heavy lifting with Reese out, playing 33 minutes and scoring 16 points with two 3s. Canada added 12 points and five assists before fouling out. Rhyne Howard scored only eight on 4-of-12 shooting, but she dished six assists without a single turnover, including the passes on Gray's late layup, Gray's 3 and Bonner's first 3. Bonner chipped in nine points and eight rebounds off the bench.

The Dream's defense was the real story. Atlanta had 12 steals and committed only six turnovers, while New York gave it away 20 times. That gap showed up on the scoreboard: Atlanta scored 15 points off Liberty turnovers, and New York got just two off Atlanta's. The Dream also won the assist battle 25-15.

New York's Long Night

Fauthoux led the Liberty with 14 points, most of them at the line, where she went 8 of 9. Han Xu added 11. Ionescu struggled to 7 points on 2-of-7 shooting with four turnovers. As a team, New York shot 36% from the field and 5 of 29 from deep, which is the basketball equivalent of trying to start a car with a dead battery over and over again.

Before tipoff, the Liberty unveiled their 2026 Commissioner's Cup banner and held a brief retirement ceremony for Rebecca Allen, who the AP said is playing her final season in her third stint with the team after earlier runs from 2015 to 2019 and in 2021 and 2022. Allen hit two 3s for six points.

The Turning Point

The second quarter, all of it. New York had 19 points after one and seven in the next 10 minutes. Atlanta did not need a single highlight-reel moment to win this game. It needed the Liberty to go cold, and the Dream's defense made sure that happened.

Stats That Matter

• 23-7: Atlanta's second-quarter edge.
• 20 to 6: The turnover gap, Liberty to Dream.
• 15-2: Atlanta's advantage in points off turnovers.
• 5 of 29: New York's 3-point shooting.
• 24: Gray's game-high point total.

What It Means

Atlanta closes the regular season 30-14, including 15-7 on the road, and finishes on a five-game winning streak. The Dream won both games of this week's back-to-back in Brooklyn, following Monday's 95-84 win with this one, and took the season series 2-1. Per the AP, Atlanta had to wait until Thursday to find out whether its first-round visitor would be Indiana or Washington.

New York finishes 26-18, including 14-8 at home, and dropped its final two games. Without Stewart and with Jones banged up, the No. 8 seed now has to figure out how to handle the top-seeded Lynx.

Closing Take

This was supposed to be the Liberty's night. Banner on the wall, a retirement send-off for a longtime favorite, a big crowd in Brooklyn. Instead, Atlanta crashed the party like the guest who shows up late, eats all the snacks and leaves with the best seat in the house. The Dream lost their star before halftime and still won by 18. That kind of resilience is exactly what makes a four seed dangerous.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press.