Dream vs. Storm: Angel Reese Sets Franchise Season Record for Offensive Rebounds in 98-89 Win

By now, a missed shot anywhere near Angel Reese should come with a warning label. With 4:51 left on Friday night at Gateway Center, she snatched her sixth offensive rebound of the game, the 137th of her season, and laid it in. That board took the Dream's single-season record from teammate Brionna Jones, who had 136, and Reese needed just 27 games to get there.

Atlanta beat the Seattle Storm 98-89 for its fifth straight win, and Reese's 21 points and 13 rebounds made it 19 double-doubles on the season. She also did something nobody had on the bingo card: she made two 3-pointers.

Atlanta Built It, Seattle Made It Sweat

This looked like it would be over quickly. The teams were tied at 14 late in the first quarter before Atlanta scored 10 straight, and it was 27-15 after one. The Dream led 47-33 at halftime and pushed the margin as high as 17, with the team pointing to 17 second-chance points as the fuel for that cushion.

Then Seattle, losers of seven straight coming in, decided it wasn't going down that easily. The Storm took the third quarter 26-19, and it was 66-59 heading to the fourth. Reese opened the final period with a 24-footer, raising her arms after it fell, for a 10-point lead. Seattle kept coming anyway, with Awa Fam and Jordan Horston combining for seven straight points to make it 71-66.

Atlanta was up 87-74 with 3:53 to go, which should have been the end of the story. It wasn't. Seattle scored 10 of the next 12 points, highlighted by Ezi Magbegor's 3 with 1:43 left, and Jade Melbourne's driving layup made it 92-88 inside the final minute. Allisha Gray answered with two free throws, Jordin Canada added four more in the last 25 seconds, and the Dream finally exhaled. Coach Karl Smesko told the team's site he never felt at ease until the closing 10 seconds, and the box score supports him.

The Second 3

The moment that kept Seattle from turning this into a real fight came 2:13 into the fourth. The Storm had just made it a five-point game and the building was getting nervous. Reese, of all people, stepped into another 24-footer off a Rhyne Howard pass, and Canada followed with a layup for 76-66.

Two 3-pointers in a game was a first for Reese this season, according to the team, and Smesko said the staff has been breaking down her shot on film. "These are shots that we work on every single day," Reese said. "It obviously always doesn't show up right away when you want it to, but it feels good for the small win."

Naz Hillmon put the swing plainly. "There was a point in the game where it might have gotten to four points, and we were able to pick it back up and stretch it back out to 10," she said. "It just shows that when we're on, we're on, and we can really get it going quickly."

The Thunder Department

Reese's supporting cast has a name now. She called Hillmon the other half of the "Thunder Twins" and Jones a "Thunder Triplet," and the frontcourt played like it. Hillmon scored 18 on 6-of-9 shooting, and Jones had 14 off the bench on 4-of-5 from the field and a perfect 6 of 6 at the line. Reese herself went 9 of 12 on free throws, with six of her 13 rebounds on the offensive end and a plus-14 that led everybody in the game.

Gray added 16, and Jaylyn Sherrod gave the second unit seven points in just nine minutes. Canada finished with 10 points and nine assists, doing nearly all of her scoring at the line, where she went 8 of 8. Howard, averaging 17.2 points per game according to the AP, was held to nine on 3-of-13 shooting, but she still found a way to matter with four steals, three blocks and five assists.

Natisha Hiedeman led Seattle with 23 despite going 0 for 6 from deep. Dominique Malonga was excellent in 25 minutes, with 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 13 rebounds. Magbegor scored 12 in 14 minutes before fouling out. Flau'jae Johnson had a night she will want to delete, going 2 of 11 with seven turnovers.

Stats That Matter

• 34 of 39: Atlanta at the free-throw line, against 24 of 30 for Seattle.
• 5 of 23: The Storm from 3-point range. The Dream made 10 of 26.
• 14: Atlanta steals, four by Howard.
• 11-8: Atlanta's offensive rebounding edge, and Reese had six of those by herself.
• 42-32: Seattle's advantage in the paint, the rare column it won.

What It Means

Atlanta is 18-10, 10-4 at home, with 16 regular-season games left. Our recount confirms the five straight wins, and the Dream took the season series from Seattle 2-1. Las Vegas comes to State Farm Arena on Monday, and the team notes a win would lift Smesko to third on the franchise's coaching wins list. His own read on where this group stands was measured. "We have the makings of a great team, but the best teams do it for longer periods of time," he said.

Seattle fell to 6-25 and 2-14 on the road, and the losing streak is now eight straight by both the AP's count and ours. Next up is a Monday night trip to New York.

A Roomba With a Vertical

Reese keeps insisting all of this is simple. "I'm just trying to do my job," she said. Fine. But understand what that job looks like from the other side. She is a Roomba with a vertical: she never stops, she bounces off everything, and eventually she has covered every inch of your floor. The record stands at 137 with 16 games left to add to it, and Seattle was just the latest team to find her under the furniture.

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