WNBA semis winners and losers: Angel Reese proves clutch as Liberty, Aces face elimination after Game 2 losses

The 2026 WNBA playoffs continued in thrilling fashion Wednesday when the Atlanta Dream outlasted the New York Liberty in overtime, 101-98, to win Game 2 of their best-of-five semifinal series and take a commanding 2-0 lead. The Dream are now one win away from their first Finals appearance since 2013. 

Out on the West Coast, the Golden State Valkyries' 83-81 win over the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces was just as exciting. The Aces battled back from a 17-point deficit to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, only for Veronica Burton to hit a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute to give the Valkyries a 2-0 lead of their own. The franchise, which joined the league just last season, is now on the verge of its first-ever Finals appearance. 

Here are some winners and losers from an entertaining Wednesday night in the WNBA playoffs:

Winner: Jordin Canada

Canada continues to be the biggest winner of this postseason. 

Allisha Gray, who was ruled out of Game 2, has played 11 minutes in this series. Rhyne Howard has, incredibly, shot 5 of 20 from the field in both games. And yet the Dream are up 2-0 in large part because their defensive-minded point guard has turned into an unstoppable scorer. 

Canada put up 23 points and eight assists on 9 of 15 from the field, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range in Game 2. Time and again, she was able to get into the paint and find a way to finish over the Liberty's lengthy interior defenders. And she once again knocked down outside shots when the Liberty dared her to shoot. 

In 26 career playoff games, Canada has reached 20 points three times -- two of them have come in this series. And if you include the first round, three of her four highest-scoring playoff performances have come in this postseason. Just look at the difference between Canada's regular season numbers and her playoff numbers:

Loser: The officials

No one wants to talk about the officials, especially after a game like we just saw in Atlanta, but they have left us no choice. 

There were 29 fouls called in the first half, including a truly baffling one on Rhyne Howard just before the break, which resulted in a combined 34 free throws. And then, in the second half, the standard completely changed. There were just 14 fouls in the second half and overtime -- three of which were take fouls -- and 16 free throws. 

But the biggest issue came in the final seconds of overtime and had nothing to do with any call on the floor. Rather, according to Breanna Stewart, the officials mistakenly told the Liberty that they did not have any timeouts remaining. 

After Angel Reese made two free throws to put the Dream up by three with 4.3 seconds left, the Liberty had the ball with a chance to tie the game and force a second overtime. But instead of calling a timeout, they tried to throw a deep pass to Marine Johannès, which was broken up. The ball somehow found its way to Stewart, who was able to put up a heave, but it came nowhere close.

Initially, it seemed that first-year coach Chris DeMarco had made a massive blunder. But here's what Stewart said happened:

"This is not blaming the refs, but when I ask both refs if we have a reset timeout and they tell us 'no,' and then we leave the game with a reset timeout, it's pretty frustrating," Stewart said. "Like, yeah, OK, I kinda got a good look at the end, but would just love to have some clarity on that situation as well."

The Liberty had plenty of chances to win Game 2, but if Stewart's version of events is accurate, that is a major blunder that cannot happen, especially late in a playoff game. 

The officials, for their part, disagreed with Stewart's timeline. In fact, they denied that there was any direct communication with the Liberty during that sequence. "Stewart was standing behind referee Fahy when he confirmed with his partner between Reese's penalty free throws that New York did indeed have its reset timeout remaining," Cissoko-Stephens said in the pool report. "There was no communication with the officials [and] the team." 

Breanna Stewart says refs wrongly told Liberty they had no timeouts left in final seconds of loss to Dream

Jack Maloney

Winner: Angel Reese

Reese's first playoff run got off to a frustrating start with a 4 of 15 shooting performance in Game 1 of the Dream's first-round series with the Washington Mystics, but since then she has been awesome on both ends of the floor. That trend continued in Game 2, as she stepped up alongside Canada to make up for Gray's absence and Howard's lack of production. 

Reese tied Canada for a team-high 23 points, which doubled as her playoff career-high, and chipped in seven rebounds -- five offensive -- two assists, a steal and two blocks. She shot 8 of 16 from the field, and the Dream were plus-11 in her 39 minutes in a three-point win. 

Plus, with the game on the line in overtime, Reese came up with two of the biggest plays of the game. First, she converted a nifty feed from Naz Hillmon bucket to give the Dream a one-point lead with 44 seconds to play. Then, with 4.3 seconds to play, she calmly walked to the line and made two massive free throws to put the Dream up by three. 

Loser: The old guard

The last four championships have been won by the Las Vegas Aces or New York Liberty, and those teams have accounted for five of the eight possible Finals appearances in those seasons:

Despite a frustrating regular season for the Liberty, a rematch of the 2023 Finals was on the cards after both teams won their first-round series. At the minimum, at least one of the Aces or Liberty seemed likely to get back to the Finals, extending a five-year streak. 

Instead, both teams are down 0-2 after heartbreaking defeats on Wednesday, and find themslves on the brink of elimination. In WNBA history, no team has ever come back from an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five series. Barring a historic comeback from one (or both) of the old guard, it now looks like we're in for our first Finals without either the Aces or Liberty since 2021. 

Winner: Veronica Burton

The Valkyries' steady point guard was not at her best in Game 2. 

With under a minute to play, Burton still hadn't made a shot, and her most notable moment was an offensive foul during the Aces' 17-point comeback that she was lucky didn't get upgraded to a Flagrant 1. That all changed when Gabby Williams decided to trust her with the game on the line. 

With the game and shot clock ticking away, and the score tied 76-76, Williams drove, was cut off by Jackie Young and kicked the ball out to Burton. Though she was well beyond the 3-point line, Burton had space because A'ja Wilson had not come all the way out to meet her. 

Burton never hesitated, and her shot nestled into the back of the net to put the Valkyries back in front by three. 

If that wasn't enough, Burton then came up with a crucial jump ball with 35 seconds to play, and hit two clutch free throws with six seconds left. She finished with just eight points and three assists on 1 of 3 from the field, but without her, the Valkyries would be tied 1-1 instead of up 2-0.