​ATLANTA — Angel Reese thrives on perceived disrespect. The mere mention of that to her is disrespectful. She turns, her face shutting off, an “I don’t care” signaling the end of a one-on-one conversation toward the end of shootaround. But she does care. Or else she wouldn’t drop an aside that the goals she wrote down at the beginning of the season were ones “that many people may not think I can do.” A shiny new Defensive Player of the Year trophy sat beside her on a black-clothed table. Or that “nobody wants [the] Atlanta Dream in it” on the eve of what would become a semifinals sweep of the New York Liberty. Not if it didn’t linger with her. Not if it wasn’t what she herself called a chip on her team’s shoulder, an ordinary if not overused motivator used by the greatest in the world.Reese is not immune. She lifted LSU to its first NCAA national championship as a squad of overlooked transfers that didn’t face top competition until the tournament. Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey attended Game 3 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Wednesday, delivering an embrace and telling her star to go get it again.She’s in a similar role as the imperative offseason addition, the motor to the previously built bus that finally clicked back on every offensive cylinder in a 97-71 win over the Golden State Valkyries. The Dream lead the series 2-1 and are halfway to the title, as Dream head coach Karl Smesko astutely pointed out, with Game 4 back at State Farm on Saturday (1 p.m. ET). Angel Reese turned up in front of the home crowd 🤩She was consistent from start to finish recording 21 PTS, 12 REB, 3 AST, 3 STL & 2 3PM on 7-12 shooting! She’s averaging 21.7 PPG & 13.3 RPG through the #2026WNBAFinals and becomes the second player to reach those averages… pic.twitter.com/VT0TjaYi6A— WNBA (@WNBA) October 22, 2026In her first WNBA Finals, Reese and the Dream disrespected themselves. Despite leading late on the road inside the most consistently intense arena in the WNBA, they let a victory slip by in the final minutes. They didn’t play their style, and were exposed in the process. The franchise dropped to 0-10 in Finals games. It pissed Reese off. That was exactly what Reese needed. “As soon as she stepped on the court, she was like, I’m going to be the best player on that court tonight,” DeWanna Bonner, the Dream’s August signing, said ahead of shootaround of Reese’s Game 2 performance. She did it again in Game 3. With 21 points and 12 rebounds, Reese became the youngest player in Finals history with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in consecutive games and only the second after three-time Las Vegas Aces champion A’ja Wilson. She also became the youngest, at 24 years old, with three straight double-doubles in the Finals. In Game 3, she added three assists and three steals, shooting 7 of 12 including both of her 3-point attempts and all five free throws. “Angel shows up in every game,” point guard Jordin Canada, a two-time champion, said. “Some peo