Dream vs. Sky: Jordin Canada's Last-Second Layup Beats Chicago 93-91 After Angel Reese Exits

There were 0.3 seconds left when Jordin Canada's layup fell, and by then the Atlanta Dream had already lived through about four different games on one Sunday afternoon. They had led by 22. They had lost Angel Reese to a knee injury. They had watched a three-point lead disappear on a Sydney Taylor bomb with 6.2 seconds on the clock.

Then Karl Smesko drew up one more, Brionna Jones got the ball to Canada on the move, and the Dream walked out of Gateway Center with a 93-91 win over the Chicago Sky. Nobody in a crowd of 3,575 will be asking for a refund.

How to Lose 22 Points Without Really Trying

The first quarter was pure wish fulfillment. Atlanta dropped 31 points, held Chicago to 15, and got six first-half threes from Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard while Canada piled up seven assists before the break. The lead reached 22 and it looked like the fourth quarter would be mostly a chance to rest people.

The first warning was Taylor's half-court three at the second-quarter buzzer, which made it 49-34. The second warning was everything after halftime. Chicago ripped off a 9-0 run that turned 51-38 into 51-47 inside of about two minutes, and the Sky won the third 27-13 by simply going wherever they wanted. By the end of the frame, a blowout was a 62-61 game.

Then the afternoon got heavier. Early in the fourth, Reese landed a jump stop under the rim, her knee gave way, and she went to the floor as her layup missed. She got up, went down again moments later, and eventually made it back to the bench. Atlanta declared her done for the day. When Chicago went up 75-72 with 5:07 left, this had the look of a very bad Sunday.

Atlanta's answer came fast. Gray hit two free throws, Canada scored on a running layup, Madina Okot made two more at the line, and an 8-0 run put the Dream back in front 80-75. The final 2:40 was pure chaos, with ties at 80, 84, 86, 88 and 91. Nobody could get a stop. Everybody could get a bucket.

Gray Carried It, Canada Finished It

Gray was the reason Atlanta never truly fell apart. She scored 29 on just 11 shots, going 4 of 6 from three and 11 of 13 at the line, and eight of those points came in the last 4:36. Along the way she passed Érika de Souza for fifth on the Dream's all-time scoring list. That's a nice footnote on a day when she also had to keep a team upright.

Canada's box score (10 points, nine assists, three steals) undersells her. Seven of those 10 came in the final 4:03, including a floater that broke an 80-all tie and the shot everybody will remember.

The bench is where this game got weird and wonderful. Okot scored 14 in 11 minutes on 6-of-8 shooting, and with Reese gone she became the answer to a very urgent question. "I thought she was great down the stretch we had a situation where we were short in the post we went to Madina," Smesko said.

Jones, playing just her second game of the season after missing the first 24 with a knee injury, grabbed 10 rebounds in 15 minutes, four on the offensive glass, in her home debut. "I mean she's such a great player and just so smart she's really good in those situations," Smesko said.

Chicago had plenty of heroes of its own. Azura Stevens scored 20 with nine rebounds on 8-of-12 shooting, Taylor had 18, and Kamilla Cardoso added 15 on 6-of-9 shooting, with her last two baskets tying the game in the final 70 seconds. Courtney Vandersloot had 11 points and six assists, and Elizabeth Williams went for 12 in 16 minutes. All this came without Skylar Diggins, who missed a sixth straight game with a knee issue.

The Last 9.5 Seconds

Gray's two free throws with 9.5 left made it 91-88, and that should have been close to the end. Chicago used a timeout to move the ball up, and Taylor drained a 26-footer off a Vandersloot assist to tie it. If you had that on your bingo card after the first quarter, go buy a lottery ticket.

Atlanta didn't blink, or at least it hid the blink well. Out of a tie with 5.5 seconds left, Jones played the role of facilitator, handing off to Canada, who turned the corner and got to the rim before Chicago could load up. Good look, good finish, no time for a miracle. The clip the league posted shows the clock at zero and the entire building losing its mind, which is how it should be.

Stats That Matter

• 27-13: Chicago's third-quarter edge, the stretch that erased nearly all of a 15-point halftime hole.
• 13-4: Atlanta's offensive rebounding edge, and the reason it could shoot 42% against Chicago's 52% and still win.
• 23 of 27: The Dream at the line, against 15 of 21 for the Sky. Eight extra points in a two-point game.
• 58-46: Chicago in the paint. Atlanta had no answer inside, especially after Reese left.

What It Means

Atlanta moves to 16-10 and 9-4 at home, and it has now won three straight and four of five after that five-game skid in late June and early July. According to the AP, the Dream have also won seven straight against Chicago, and the team says this was its 300th franchise win. Chicago falls to 9-17 and 4-10 on the road, with a two-game winning streak gone.

The big question is one this box score can't answer. Reese had eight points on 3-of-13 shooting and five rebounds in 20 minutes before she went down, but nobody needs to explain what she means to this team. Gray credited the fans for helping the group push through. "We appreciate the energy … their energy really keeps us going and keeps them up. We really appreciate them," she said.

The Takeaway

Inception fans will recognize the structure here: a Dream inside a nightmare inside another Dream, and everybody leaving unsure which level they ended up on. Atlanta got the win. It also blew a 22-point lead and spent most of the last quarter without its star. The scoreboard says this one was real, but nobody in that locker room will feel fully awake until they get a good look at that knee.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press. Postgame quotes and team milestones from the Atlanta Dream's game recap.