'I need the ball': Inside what fueled Angel Reese to one of the best performances in WNBA Finals history

Reese demanded the ball and supplied the Dream with 30 points and 16 rebounds in Game 2 against the Valkyries SAN FRANCISCO — Ninety minutes before tip-off on Monday, Angel Reese finished her pre-game warm-up and walked straight to a scrum of a dozen media members waiting in a tunnel. The youngest member of the Atlanta Dream's starting five made no excuses for how Game 1 ended. She only promised that Game 2 would be better. In front of another hostile Ballhalla crowd that booed her introduction louder than any other Atlanta player, and erupted every time she was called for a foul, Reese carried the Dream to a 79-65 win over the Golden State Valkyries in Game 2 of the 2026 WNBA Finals.

She finished with a playoff-career-high 30 points on 10 of 16 from the field, 16 rebounds, three assists, a steal and two blocks in 34 minutes. The best performance of her young career not only evened the Finals at 1-1, but gave the Dream their first Finals victory in franchise history. "That's what we expect from her night in, night out. She's young and she hasn't been here before, but that's not an excuse," DeWanna Bonner told CBS Sports after Reese became the third player in WNBA history with 30 points and 15 rebounds in a