The Indiana Fever and the Atlanta Dream played one of the best overtime thrillers on Sunday in the nationally televised matchup. The biggest story coming out of the game was Dream star Angel Reese’s missing a potential game-winning layup. However, the post-game presser saw her Dream teammate and head coach supporting Reese.
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“I’ll put everything on the line that the next time she gets a shot like that, she will make it 100%. It’s just this time she came up a little short, but I have all the faith in the world in Angel that she’s going to finish her shots,” Allisha Gray told reporters in a post-game presser on YouTube by The Ballers Magazine.
The Fever-Dream game was tied at 81 when Dream’s Rhyne Howard air-balled a go-ahead 3-pointer with four seconds left. Angel Reese caught the ball in the paint, but failed to make the layup. Naz Hillmon caught the offensive rebound, but it was another failed attempt, trying to make a bank shot.
However, Dream head coach Karl Smesko also gave credit to the 24-year-old. Despite an off-night on scoring, the Dream kept themselves in close contention in regulation. Atlanta had a chance to win it, but according to HC Karl Smesko, even before Reese, the Dream’s initial screen play broke down, which forced Howard to take a 3-point attempt. Reese and Hillmon were his backup plan.
“We told those two to really crash the boards and give us a second chance. They both did exactly what we asked for them. Then we got two looks right at the end of the game that could have won it for us, but they rolled out. Just kind of a bad break,” Smesko said per The IX Sports’s Wilton C. Jackson II.
Angel Reese had yet another game that featured her paint dominance, but she struggled to put the ball in the basket, making just 5-of-16 shots from the field in her 15-point performance. But she was also one of only two players on the positive side of plus/minus. Meanwhile, Rhyne Howard also stressed that the blame should not be put on Reese alone.
“No one person lost us the game. It’s a team effort, and just like she’s with us when we’re struggling, we do the same thing for Angel. It’s a sisterhood. Like, we really love each other, support each other,” Howard said.
Atlanta was led by Gray with 32 points. However, no other player reached even the 20-point mark. Angel Reese and Howard added 15 and 17 points, respectively. Isobel Borlase added 10 points off the bench. On the other hand, the Fever had three players with north of 20 points. Caitlin Clark scored a team-high 26 points. Makayla Timpson and Kelsey Mitchell each added 20 points.
Angel Reese was able to give Atlanta a 2-point lead in the first minute of overtime. However, eight straight points from the Fever, including six straight points from Makayla Timpson, took Atlanta out of the game, leading to a 95-91 loss.