Breanna Stewart, known for her composure, lost it in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter during their loss against the Atlanta Dream. Stewart, the veteran power forward for the New York Liberty, caught a rare technical foul that came at the worst moment, with New York trailing and a playoff seeding on the line.
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The sequence happened with 1:57 left in the game on Monday. With the Dream leading 88-80, the Liberty was desperate to close the gap and potentially send the game to overtime. So Stewart attempted a drive inside the paint and was met with Atlanta’s Angel Reese, who attempted to block Stewart’s jump shot. Commentators mentioned that, in the process, it appears that Reese hit Stewart’s arm, and Stewart immediately put up her arms in protest.
With no foul called against Reese, Stewart lost her cool and bumped into the Dream forward to contest possession when the referee called a personal foul against Stewart. The 2026 World Cup MVP then walked up to the referee, stomping her feet to show her protest.
This prompted the referee to blow the whistle for a technical as captured in espnW’s clip, which became Breanna Stewart’s first technical foul in nine years. The last time she picked up a technical was in 2017, her second year in the W.
This possession cut short New York’s bid to mount a comeback, and the Dream closed the game in their favor at the end, winning 95-84.
It was a significant game for the Liberty, as a win here would have seen them jump two places in the standings. And Breanna Stewart did everything in her power to stem the tide in New York’s favor, but it was not enough.
This was the second game in a row in which Stewart scored 27 points. She finished the night with a double-double of 27 points and 14 rebounds. Jonquel Jones contributed 18 points and added 12 rebounds.
New York trimmed the deficit to eight on multiple occasions down the stretch, but was unable to pull any closer. The Liberty, now with a 26-17 record, had their three-game winning streak snapped, and this defeat officially locks New York into opening the postseason on the road.
Following the incident, Reese did walk up to Stewart, and the two even exchanged some words. However, the WNBA veteran wasn’t over the technical foul, as she made it clear while speaking to reporters during the post-game press conference. In fact, Stewart even told Reese that the Atlanta Dream star should pay for the foul, literally.
“[That tech] absolutely was because of a no-call. She slapped the s— out of my hand. Angel should pay my fine. Yes [I told her that to her face as well].”
Stewart’s Liberty teammate Sabrina Ionescu didn’t feel like the 2026 World Cup winner’s reaction warranted a technical foul, while speaking to reporters after the game.
“If I wanted to see Stewie get a tech for the first time since 2017, I would have wanted something a little bit more animated than that because I think there’s a lot of players in the league that do that nightly and don’t get techs.”
While Angel Reese didn’t say anything about the play that led to Stewart picking up her technical, she did make a comment about the New York Liberty that didn’t sit well with Leonie Fiebich.
Breanna Stewart and the Liberty are aiming to close the season on a high note
During the New York Liberty’s post game presser, Fiebich was surprised to find out what Angel Reese had said following Atlanta winning the first of two back-to-back games to close out their respective WNBA regular seasons.
“They were tired, and you could see it in their eyes,” Reese told reporters.
When asked what she felt about that response, Leonie Fiebich said that should be obvious as seven Liberty players were part of Team USA’s 2026 World Cup-winning roster.
“Obviously, back-to-back is always hard, especially since we have more than half of the team coming off the World Cup, right?”
However, the German basketball star, who also stood out at this year’s World Cup in Berlin, said that things will be different when they meet next time at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
“It’s hard, but not an excuse. Physicality is going to go up, so we just got to play through it. We’re going to take on the challenge. They can feel good about the win. It’s good, cool for us. We’re gonna win the next one.”
However, the Liberty will have to make adjustments if they plan to beat the Dream, who are now riding a five-game win streak.
In their win against New York, Angel Reese scored 18 points, and Jordin Canada added another 19 points, while DeWanna Bonner added 17 points coming off the bench. A top-four seed looks very probable for Atlanta at this moment, and they can secure home-court advantage in the opening round of the postseason with either a victory over New York on Wednesday or a single Indiana loss over the Fever’s final two games.
Meanwhile, the Liberty will surely hope that Stewart’s presence can guide them to a deep playoff run, now that they will be facing the higher seeds early in the postseason. The Liberty will now face the Dream once again in their last regular-season game on September 23 in Barclays Center.
The Liberty have primarily relied on Stewart’s form to turn results in their favor this season. In the previous game against Toronto Tempo, Stewart moved into the 8th spot in the WNBA’s all-time scoring list, with 6,833 career points. Previously this season, she also crossed Hall-of-Famer Sue Bird in all-time points scored in a game against the Minnesota Lynx. The 32-year-old is averaging 20.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.4 steals per game this season, leading the Liberty in points, steals, and blocks.