Jordin Canada leads Atlanta Dream past New York Liberty in WNBA semifinals opener

The semifinals of the 2026 WNBA playoffs got underway on Sunday when the Atlanta Dream used a dominant third quarter to surge past the New York Liberty for a 92-82 win. They lost star guard Allisha Gray to a hand injury in the process, however, and her status for the rest of the series is unclear.

Out in the Bay Area, Game 1 between the Golden State Valkyries and the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces is underway. As that action continues, here are some winners and losers from Dream vs. Liberty.

Winner: Jordin Canada

Canada has long been one of the most reliable point guards in the league, but has generally flown under the radar on a national level. That will change if she keeps playing like she did on Sunday, which continued a stellar showing to begin the playoffs.

Gray only played 11 minutes due to a hand injury and Rhyne Howard shot 5 of 20. You would have assumed a comfortable Liberty win under those circumstances, but Canada picked up the scoring slack while still providing her usual level of fiesty perimeter defense.

Canada finished with 25 points -- tied for the third-highest scoring game of her entire career, regular season or playoffs -- on 9 of 14 from the field to go along with four assists and five steals. A 29.2% 3-point shooter during the regular season, Canada shot 4 of 6 from behind the arc, which tied a season-high and helped the Dream stay just about even in that department against a much better shooting Liberty team.

On the defensive end, Canada played a major role in forcing 21 Liberty turnovers, which the Dream turned into a whopping 32 points. In the game-changing third quarter, which the Dream won, 32-15, Canada had three different steals that she turned into layups on the other end.

Loser: Liberty's ball security

No team was better at forcing turnovers in the regular season than the Dream, who led the league with a 19.5% opponent turnover rate. The Liberty, meanwhile, had an 18.2% turnover rate in the regular season, which was tied for the third-worst mark.

Perhaps it wasn't surprising, then, that turnovers decided the game.

The Liberty turned the ball over 21 times, which led directly to 32 Dream points. That was tied for the most turnovers the Liberty have had in a game this season, while the Dream's 32 points off turnovers were tied for their fourth-most in that category this season. The turnovers helped the Dream outscore the Liberty 18-0 in fastbreak points in a 10-point victory.

Ionescu led the way with five turnovers, while every single Liberty starter had at least two turnovers, as did Han Xu and Marine Johannès.

The third quarter was particularly rough for the Liberty, who had nine giveaways in the frame. Seven of them led directly to Dream baskets and 15 points for Atlanta, which fittingly won the third quarter by 15, 32-15. Here's the quarter-by-quarter breakdown to see just how damaging the third was for the Liberty.

Quarter Liberty TOV Dream Pts. off TOV Quarter score

1

6

4

24-21, Liberty

2

4

7

16-16, Tie

3

9

15

32-15, Dream

4

2

3

27-23, Liberty

For what it's worth, I went through the play-by-play and the tape multiple times and could only find 29 points off turnovers, not the 32 that is in the box score, but the point remains. It's very hard to win when you gift the other team so many extra possessions and uncontested fastbreak opportunities.

Loser: Allisha Gray

Gray has been in the league since 2017, but had never been to the semifinals prior to this season, despite seven previous playoff appearances. Unfortunately, her first semifinal game was cut short due to an injury to her shooting hand. Dream coach Karl Smesko did not have an update during his postgame press conference, and Gray's status for the remainder of the series is unclear.

In the middle of the first quarter, Gray was defending Sabrina Ionescu when she deflected a pass that appeared to possibly dislocate one of her fingers on her left hand, though the Dream did not give an official diagnosis.

After heading to the locker room, Gray returned to action early in the third quarter with her fingers taped. She took a 3-pointer that was nowhere close on her first possession and soon after removed the tape, but remained in the game. Late in the second, she made another nice defensive play on Ionescu, but reaggravated the injury and left the game for good.

Gray averaged a team-high 19 points in the regular season en route to her fourth consecutive All-Star appearance. If she cannot go the rest of the series, that would be a major blow for the Dream. As great as Canada and Bonner were offensively in Game 1, they cannot bank on getting 48 points on 19 of 32 shooting from them every night.