ATLANTA — Jordin Canada scored 20 of her 25 points in the second half and had five steals to help the Atlanta Dream beat the New York Liberty 92-82 on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-five WNBA semifinals series.
DeWanna Bonner added 23 points and helped fill the void when Allisha Gray went down with a left hand injury in the second quarter. Atlanta once again played stellar defense, scoring 32 points off 21 forced turnovers, including 16 in a dominant third quarter. The 32 points off turnovers tied an all-time WNBA playoff record.
“Everybody stepped up, and that's what we need,” Canada said. “Next man up mentality. I just tried to do what I do best. I tried to be aggressive, find my shots and take my shots with confidence.”
Gray's injury was the key moment of a very even first half. Neither team led by more than six points in a half that had 14 lead changes. New York went into the locker room with a slim 40-37 advantage. But Atlanta outscored New York 32-15 in the third quarter, seizing control with relentless defensive pressure.
“We knew we didn't play our best in the first half,” Canada said. “We gave up a lot of defensive assignments, we weren't playing up to our schemes and we just weren't being aggressive enough on the offensive end.”
Reese and Canada had three steals apiece in the third, keying a 13-3 run to start the half which gave Atlanta a lead it never surrendered. Seven different New York players recorded at least one third quarter turnover, and the team shot just 4 of 14 from the floor in a stretch that created a margin too big to overcome.
“Live ball turnovers," Liberty star Breanna Stewart said made the difference. “We couldn't get a basket until pretty late in the third. We know what Atlanta likes to do. Similar situation to what happened to us at home (in last week's regular season match-up) where they just came out and raced it down our throats. We need to be better.”
New York trimmed a 16-point deficit down to five in the closing minutes, but a clutch 3-pointer by Canada just before the shot clock buzzer followed by another transition layup off a stop stemmed the tide. Sabrina Ionescu led the Liberty with 27 points and Stewart added 19.
The win marked Atlanta's first victory in the semifinal round since 2018, and left it as the only undefeated team remaining in the postseason. The Dream are also on an eight-game winning streak dating back to the regular season.
“I thought we had a great third quarter,” Dream head coach Karl Smesko said. “They made a run at us, but we were just able to make enough plays down the stretch to close them out.”
Game 2 of the series is Wednesday in Atlanta.
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