The Dream’s late-season addition of DeWanna Bonner has already paid off. The veteran didn’t just step up her on-court production in Game 1 of the semifinals, scoring 23 points off the bench and playing extended minutes when Allisha Gray exited the game with a hand injury. She also gave the team the halftime push it needed to take over the third quarter.
“DB got into us at halftime, I’ll just say that,” Jordin Canada said in the postgame press conference. “We knew we didn’t play our best in the first half…We just weren’t being aggressive enough on the defensive end and offensive end.”
Bonner didn’t share what exactly she told her teammates, but it certainly worked. The Dream started the second half aggressively and ready to lean into their defensive identity. They racked up steals quickly and used them to fuel their offense.
With Game 2 fast approaching and the Liberty still looking to steal a game in Atlanta, the Dream must remember Bonner’s message. They will have to play with the intensity they showed in the third quarter of Game 1 right from the start in Game 2. They cannot afford to wait until the second half to play their best defense.
We can’t count the Liberty out just yet
The Liberty may not have played their best in Game 1—they conceded 32 points off turnovers, the bench only scored six points, and Jonquel Jones was relatively quiet with 12 points—but the Dream cannot expect them to look like that for the entire series. Despite everything that has happened this season, New York is still a team led by a championship big three and two former league MVPs.
They upset the No.1 seed, and betting against Breanna Stewart with any kind of championship or title on the line is never a wise choice. She knows what it takes to win and how to take her game to the next level. Stewart and the Liberty’s other veterans will be more prepared to face the Dream’s defensive pressure in Game 2.
Moreover, the Dream may be shorthanded if Allisha Gray has to miss some time. Even if she plays, she likely won’t be at 100% after injuring a finger on her shooting hand. If Gray doesn’t play or struggles, the Dream will need to get a lot out of DeWanna Bonner. The 39-year-old is certainly capable of putting together big games. But asking her to play 30 minutes a game for an entire series and score around 20 points is a lot.
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