Angel Reese didn’t just walk into the WNBA Finals; she practically manifested the moment, tweeting “Manifesting the finals” weeks after her 2025 season. Now, exactly 364 days later, she’s the catalyst that drove the Atlanta Dream to their first Finals berth since 2013, setting up a clash with the Golden State Valkyries in a seven-game series starting Saturday afternoon at Chase Center. This isn’t just a championship series, it’s a head-on collision between Reese, the Defensive Player of the Year, and the league’s top defense, a Valkyries squad that’s looked absolutely formidable in the postseason.
The Reese Factor: Rebounds, Resilience, and Relentless Energy
Listen, Reese is a problem, plain and simple. Acquired in a trade, the 24-year-old forward tilts the entire rebounding game in Atlanta’s favor. During the regular season, the Dream’s 35.6 rebounds per game were second-most in the league, and a huge chunk of that is thanks to Reese. She led the league with 12.1 boards per game overall, breaking down to 7.3 defensive rebounds (fourth in the league) and a league-best 4.8 offensive boards per game. That kind of offensive glass dominance isn’t just numbers, it translated to a league-high 4.2 second-chance points per game, according to Hoopsjunkie stats. She’s relentless on both sides of the ball, a pure energy player, and her impact is undeniable. Valkyries guard Veronica Burton knows it, calling Reese “an incredible player” and noting her relentless work on the boards.
Valkyries’ Response: Confidence, Kiah Stokes, and the ‘Box Out’ Brigade
So, how do you even begin to stop that kind of force? For the Valkyries, their forward Kayla Thornton, who’s pulling down 5.7 rebounds per game in the playoffs (second on the team), has a pretty blunt answer: “It doesn’t change nothing that we do. She’s good at what she does, we just have to make sure we execute what we need to and box her out.” Tiffany Hayes, who knows the Dream well from her time there, echoed that sentiment, emphasizing fundamentals. “With our great rebounders there’s only one thing you can do, it’s try to box out,” Hayes said. “She’s definitely going to be harder to box out, we may need a few people to do that, but at the end of the day it really is as simple as boxing out.”
The Valkyries aren’t just talking, though. They have their own beast in the paint: center Kiah Stokes. She’s been perhaps the most dominant player on the boards in the entire postseason, leading all players with 57 total rebounds, outpacing Reese’s 42 (in one fewer game, mind you). Stokes’ physicality was on full display when she consistently boxed out A’ja Wilson and the Aces’ bigs. Vegas even tried to counter in Game 2 by using multiple bigs to draw fouls on Stokes and backup center Aminata Gueye, but the Valkyries still prevailed. Coach Natalie Nakase might even unleash Laeticia Amihere, who leads the league with a 20% putback frequency, if they need an offensive boost inside.
The WNBA Finals are here, and it’s set to be a classic battle of wills. Can the league’s top defense, led by Stokes’ postseason rebounding prowess, contain the unstoppable force that is Angel Reese on the boards? The Valkyries sound confident they can “just box her out,” but we’ll see if that’s easier said than done when the series tips off Saturday afternoon at Chase Center. You do not want to miss this.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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