Allisha Gray Is Out for Game 3 as the Dream Go for the Sweep in Brooklyn
Allisha Gray is out for Game 3. She took part in shootaround Friday and was a game-time decision as recently as early afternoon, but the Atlanta Dream will try to sweep the New York Liberty without their leading scorer. Atlanta won Game 1 with Gray on the floor for just 11 minutes. And there's a date on ESPN's report that tells you what the Dream are hoping for.
Updated 3:45 PM PT, Friday, Oct. 9
What we know
- ESPN's injury report now lists Gray as out with a left hand injury, updated at 3:21 PM PT. It shows an estimated return date of Oct. 11 (ESPN game page). That's Sunday, the day of Game 4 in New York if this series gets there (WNBA.com).
- Yahoo Sports' live blog reported Gray out for Game 3 at 3:22 PM PT (Yahoo Sports).
- Earlier Friday, ESPN's Alexa Philippou said she saw Gray in shootaround with something stabilizing her finger and that Gray would go through warmups before the Dream decided (ClutchPoints, 1:01 PM PT).
Why she matters
Gray led the Dream at 19.0 points a game this season and averaged 22.0 in their first-round sweep of Washington (ESPN). In Game 1 she had 7 points in 11 minutes, going 1-of-5 from the field and 4-of-5 at the line, before hurting her shooting hand (box score).
Atlanta won anyway. 92-82 in Game 1 with Gray out from late in the first half, then 101-98 in overtime in Game 2 without her at all (box score).
What it means tonight
My take: this hurts less than it should. The Dream have won this series on turnovers, offensive boards and Angel Reese, not on Gray's scoring. I still like Atlanta to finish it tonight. If it slips, that Sunday return date starts looking pretty important.
Photo: John Mac / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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