Atlanta Dream Clinch Home-Court for First-Round Series vs. Washington Mystics

Headline: Atlanta Dream Clinch Home-Court for First-Round Series vs. Washington Mystics

Playoffs after finishing the regular season 30-14 and securing home-court with a decisive win over the New York Liberty. Game 1 is scheduled for Sunday at 7 p.m. at State Farm Arena and will stream on Amazon Prime Video. Game 2 moves to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and will stream on ESPN. If the series reaches a Game 3, it will be played back in Atlanta.

Home-court in a short, best-of-three series matters because the higher seed hosts two of the three potential games. Atlanta's win over the Liberty (83-65) clinched their edge and finalized matchups across the bracket. The Dream finished the regular season with a strong record and entered the postseason following a late-season stretch the team described as inward-focused, aiming to peak for the playoffs.

Forward Naz Hillmon framed the team's mindset after the clinching victory: "I think these last two games, really this last stretch, has been about us and not our opponent. We know that we're looking forward to playoffs, and we want to be playing our best basketball. So, whatever that was supposed to look like in these last couple of games, that was our focus."

Angel Reese was highlighted by the league as one of the season's top performers and was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week. The article reports Reese averaged 12.1 rebounds per game over the period cited.

Mystics split their regular-season meetings, with Atlanta finishing 1-2 against Washington. The series format requires the Dream to win two games to advance. Atlanta's likely alternative first-round opponent would have been the Indiana Fever, but the Fever dropped to the sixth seed after a loss late in the season, leaving Washington as Atlanta's opponent.

Other first-round matchups listed in the report

• New York Liberty (8) at Minnesota Lynx (1)
• Dallas Wings (7) at Golden State Valkyries (2)
• Indiana Fever (6) at Las Vegas Aces (3)

Game 1: Sunday, 7 p.m., State Farm Arena — streams on Amazon Prime Video. Game 2: Wednesday in Washington, D.C. — streams on ESPN. Game 3, if needed: back in Atlanta.

Atlanta enters the playoffs with home-court advantage and a late-season run that the team says focused on internal preparation. The Mystics will visit State Farm Arena to start the series, and Atlanta will look to convert the regular-season momentum into postseason wins.