A dominant second half sent the Atlanta Dream into their season-ending road trip on a high note, as the club blew past the Chicago Sky 106-81 on Saturday at State Farm Arena — the final home game of the regular season.
The win pushed the Dream to 28-14 and cemented their hold on fourth place in a razor-thin Eastern Conference playoff race. Atlanta’s postseason berth is already locked in, but the margins around it are as tight as they come: the Dream sit just a half-game behind third place and a half-game ahead of fifth, meaning the final two games of the regular season will go a long way toward determining home-court advantage once the playoffs begin.
“We have to pick up some wins,” Head Coach Karl Smesko said.
Those two remaining games come back-to-back in Brooklyn, with Atlanta set to face the New York Liberty on Monday and Wednesday to wrap up the regular season slate.
Reese Keeps Rewriting the Record Book
Angel Reese was the headliner once again, leading all scorers with 23 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks for her 31st double-double of the season. The rebounding number carried extra weight — Reese became the only player in WNBA history to reach 500 rebounds in a single season, another milestone in a historic year on the glass.
Borlase Breaks Out
Isobel Borlase turned in a career night, scoring a career-high 18 points and igniting the fourth quarter with three straight 3-pointers that put the game out of reach. Allisha Gray added 17 points, Rhyne Howard chipped in 14, and Jordin Canada rounded out the balanced attack with a game-high 10 assists and 11 points of her own.
Atlanta’s defense was just as much the story as its offense. The Dream forced 13 steals, with Borlase and Gray each swiping three, and in the process set the WNBA’s single-season record for steals with 347.
A Statement Third Quarter
The game turned in the third quarter, as Atlanta came out of the break with what Gray called a different edge and outscored Chicago to take an 83-66 lead into the fourth. Gray led all scorers in the period with 10 points.
“We just came out with a different energy,” Gray said. “We knew we had to punch first.”
From there, Atlanta’s defense shut the door on any hope of a Chicago comeback, and Borlase’s fourth-quarter outburst turned a comfortable lead into a 25-point statement win to close out the home slate.
Looking Ahead
With the regular-season home schedule now complete, the Dream turn their attention to Brooklyn, where two games against the Liberty will decide seeding before the playoffs tip off. Atlanta enters that stretch playing its best basketball of the season — historic individual numbers from Reese, a record-setting defense, and a bench spark in Borlase who may have just earned himself a bigger role down the stretch.
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