WNBA playoff takeaways: History is on side of Dream, Valkyries after Game 2 wins

The WNBA's semifinals continued on Wednesday night, with the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries getting one step closer to a trip to the WNBA Finals.

Here are some key takeaways from Wednesday's games.

Angel Reese dominates for Dream

When Atlanta acquired Angel Reese before the season, this is probably the sort of performance they were expecting to see. Or at least hoping to see.

She was a force for the entire game, dominating at both ends of the floor. 

Offensively, she put up 23 points, tied for a team high, and shot 8-of-16 from the field, including a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. She also had six of the Dream's 13 points in overtime of their 101-98 win over the New York Liberty to take a 2-0 series lead.

Defensively, she collected seven rebounds, blocked two shots and recorded a steal, while also finishing as a game-high (between both teams) plus-11. 

It was another big showing for a lot of the Dream's top players as they all had to step up in the absence of Allisha Gray, who suffered a hand injury in Game 1 of the series. 

Liberty unhappy with referees for end-of-game confusion

The game had a pretty chaotic and confusing ending when the Liberty did not take a reset timeout following two foul shots by Reese to make it a three-point game.

The Liberty had a reset timeout remaining, but did not take it (to the confusion of the announcers and everybody else in the building) and instead tried a desperation inbounds that ultimately failed.

Breanna Stewart, who scored a game-high 35 points in the game, said after the game that she asked both referees if they had a reset timeout remaining, and both referees told her no.