ATLANTA – In a win-or-go-home situation for the Atlanta Dream, there was only one option for them.
After a tough loss against the Golden State Valkyries in Game 5, where they only scored 55 points, they knew they had to start fast and put points on the board. They also knew they needed to play with that same joy and hunger that got them to where they were at the moment. The Dream were able to accomplish all of the above, and now they're heading back to Ballaha for Game 7 after defeating the Valkyries 80-69.
“You could definitely tell that we got our swagger back,” Reese said after the game. “We wanted to make sure we maximized this opportunity. It’s win or go home right now. Everybody left everything they had out there. And that was what was important to us. We knew shots were going to fall.”
The shots definitely fell, no matter if it took a bounce on the rim first before it went in. That was how Allisha Gray was able to give the Dream their first points of the game, and that was just the beginning of her big performance, as she scored a team-high 23 points.
“My plan was to come out aggressive from the jump. My teammates were really on me to play my game, and they had my back. I got the shooters roll, but the biggest thing is we stayed locked in and stepped up to the challenge.”
From there, it felt like the Dream were in a flow state for the rest of the quarter, finishing with 32 points in the period. They shot 6-for-8 from the 3-point line, while the Valkyries struggled to get about anything going from the field. The Dream had a lead as big as 25 points in the game, and it was obvious that they were clicking on all cylinders.
“It started with us. Being able to have a players-only meeting before film, and talking through things, and getting our confidence back, getting our swagger back, and Naz really emphasized, remember who you are,” Reese said. “All of us have been superstars from a team at some point, and you maximize things and done things that led to winning, and we needed the best from every single person today, and you could definitely see it.
“Everybody came out super confident. Anybody that got in, the people that were on the floor, it was just an effort that you could see that they were the best. I'm really proud of this group, of the punch first that we emphasized. When we can punch first, we won every single game.”
The punch was heavy from the Dream, and it was a hit that the Valkyries took some time to recover from. By the time the Valkyries had truly settled into the game, it was late into the fourth quarter. For the Dream, they caught a rhythm early, and it's the type of Atlanta basketball that they've preached all season.
“We played with a different spacing and pace,” head coach Karl Smesko said. “It’s how we are supposed to play. So it's just getting back to our fundamentals of how we like to play offense. In the first half, we saw them catch it and be ready to shoot, the pace of one action leading directly into another action, to get the ball out and going and putting some pressure on in transition.
“It’s just the way that we're capable of playing, the way we're supposed to play, and I give our players so much credit for the way they came out today.”
The Valkyries' run late in the fourth was negated by Gray, who hit the first 3-pointer of the game and finished it off by hitting the final one of the game. It was a big moment for Gray, as she's been dealing with a hand injury the entire series. She's had her struggles, but not once has she complained.
Instead, she took the challenge from her teammates and put on her best game of the series when they needed it the most.
Article Continues Below“I believe I stepped up to the challenge and I know going into Game 7, not to take the foot off the gas and I feel like I can take it up another level,” Gray said.
“She might be hurting, but you can't tell,” Reese said. “She comes out every day, and she puts in the work, and I'm just really proud of her. She's very coachable. She takes the film and makes sure she executes it in the game every single time. Me and her had a conversation on the way back from San Fran. I told her it was going to be a mental game. Who’s going to be mentally better, and you can't let anybody check you out. You know exactly who you are, and I just want her to continue to be confident in who she is.”
It seems like everybody that touched the floor for the Dream today had that confidence, and that's something that they'll have to keep going into Game 7, which is another win-or-go-home situation. If it's one thing that they've shown, it's that they're built for the moment.
“I think our team is ready for it,” Smesko said. “We're excited for it. The way we came out today, I think there's a mentality right now that, yeah, we're happy we won, but we know the job is not done.”
“We're in a great mindset,” Reese said. “All we needed was a little bit of swagger. Going into this with a little bit of confidence, and I think everybody's just in a really great headspace right now.”