Welcome to the trap: swaggering Atlanta Dream turn WNBA finals into a hometown spectacle | Andrew Lawrence

Atlanta’s wounded sports fans know better than to get carried away. But the Dream’s first WNBA finals game in 13 years showed this might finally be a team worth falling for

The Atlanta Dream were exactly where they wanted to be on Wednesday night, comfortably ensconced inside their downtown arena for Game 3 of the WNBA finals against the Golden State Valkyries. Kerry Washington, Ludacris and Cam Newton led the courtside celebrity delegation. Quavo and TI headlined the halftime show, while two more hugely popular Atlanta rappers performed during other extended play stoppages – a mini-spectacle that speaks to the city’s deep bench of hip-hop talent.

But it was the crowd that really made State Farm Arena a house of horrors for Golden State. They didn’t just fill the 17,608-seat venue. They donned matching sky-blue T-shirts and waved rally towels. They sang along with their favorite emcees and lived and died with every point. They were so loud in the first quarter that I couldn’t hear the referee’s whistle from my 100-level press seat. They stayed to the end – well, two minutes from the buzzer anyway (gotta beat traffic) – and, with the 97-71 win sealed and DJ Khaled’s All I Do Is Win blasting through the arena speakers, serenaded the departing Valkyries with the unofficial Atlanta battle cry: “ATL hoe!”

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