Angel Reese, Dream unmoved by Liberty’s playoff stature: ‘I don’t give a damn’

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ATLANTA — Dream star Angel Reese didn’t balk at Liberty co-owner Joe Tsai’s declaration that his was the best team in this year’s WNBA playoffs. 

“I don’t give a damn,” Reese said after practice Saturday. 

There it was. Quick and to the point. 

No deference. 

Just a very Atlanta-sized message to the Liberty: Come on down. 

The No. 4 Atlanta Dream might be the higher seed in their semifinal matchup against the eighth-seeded Liberty, which begins Sunday. They may have recently beaten the Libs twice to close out the regular season. 

But that doesn’t mean the Dream are necessarily getting the respect that should come with it. 

Not that Atlanta seems to care. 

If anything, the Dream appear perfectly comfortable being the underdogs in this setting. 

“Nobody wants the Atlanta Dream in it,” Reese said. “And we have that chip on our shoulder and we’re just gonna continue to fight through it.” 

The chip has been growing for a while — even before Reese was traded to Atlanta in April. 

Atlanta is already on its deepest postseason run since 2018. 

Prior to sweeping the Washington Mystics in the first round, the Dream experienced three consecutive first-round exits. 

Atlanta owned its first-round series earlier this week and shed the label as a team that couldn’t show up when the lights got bright. 

But the Dream are still far from satisfied. 

“Winning one series is not enough,” Reese said. “Being able to turn the page, those are the teams that continue to advance. You can’t get too high, can’t get too low in these moments — just continuing to stick together. Nobody’s gonna give you anything. Everybody’s gonna come for you and come for our heads.” 

That’s where the Liberty come in. 

Most pundits picked against the Libs making history with their first-round matchup against the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx. 

The Liberty proved the naysayers wrong, playing their best basketball of the season to end the Lynx season in two games. 

“I don’t think we felt like the underdog coming into the game either,” Rebecca Allen said. “We weren’t a traditional eighth seed by any means, and I think we’re just really showing what we are capable of and hey, this is the moment that we’re stepping into the team that we are. That’s great timing in my opinion.” 

The Dream want to knock off the heavyweights in a matchup that’s loaded with enough bigwigs to fill a marquee sign. 

The Liberty have their collection of stars, including Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones. 

The Dream have Reese, Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray on one side. 

The Liberty have the championship experience. They know what this moment feels like. 

The Dream are here for the first time in a long time and trying to own their space. 

Atlanta doesn’t seem impressed by the Liberty’s playoff stature. 

“We have everything we need to win a championship,” Dream guard Jordin Canada said. “We’ve been hitting our stride as of late, and so I honestly believe that we can win it all, I think the biggest thing for us is just locking in and being consistent and stick to the game plan, making sure we’re doing what we need to do to play the best Atlanta Dream basketball that we can play.” 

The Liberty feel the same way about themselves. And in the end, that’s all that matters. 

“I don’t know if it’s about proving anyone right,” Allen said. “This is really about ourselves at this point. There’s going to be comments left, right and center and it’s really focusing on this group, this immediate moment. And I think it’s just that we all have that self-belief and we know what we can achieve and it’s now about doing it and doing it together. Playoff basketball has to be a together brand of basketball, it can’t go individual and I think that’s why we were so good against Minnesota.”