Angel Reese stood on the familiar Wintrust Arena court in late April, firing jumper after jumper before the Atlanta Dream's first preseason game, which doubled as her debut with the team and her return to Chicago following a stunning offseason trade from the Sky.

Under the basket, watching intently with his arms folded, was Dream coach Karl Smesko. His presence was conspicuous. WNBA head coaches typically delegate on-court pre-game work to assistants and player development staff, but Smesko wanted to keep a keen eye on Reese's jump shot. 

"She has the green light to take open 3s right now," Smesko said later that night. "We've been together a week working on it. This is gonna be a process that is gonna take a little time. But I will say that I've been very impressed with the progress that she's made already in practice. Now, the next step is solidifying that, and then the step after that is where you really start to feel comfortable doing it in games. 

"Whenever you're trying something new, there's a time period it takes to really feel comfortable in it to where you'll use that during the game rather than your old habits. That's gonna take some time, so hopefully people will be patient with that."

Six months later, Smesko's patience and Reese's hard work have paid off. The Dream are two wins away from the first title in franchise history. And notably, they are undefeated -- 9-0 in the regular season and 6-0 in the playoffs -- when Reese makes a 3-pointer, which has become an increasingly common occurrence. 

Reese made two 3s in the Dream's dominant win over the Golden State Valkyries in Game 3 of the 2026 WNBA Finals on Wednesday, and is now 8 of 17 (47.1%) from behind the arc in the playoffs. In the postseason, she's made as many 3s as DeWanna Bonner and more than Naz Hillmon, and has the best 3-point percentage of anyone in the Dream's rotation. 

Reese's 3-point improvement

All season long, teams have ignored Reese on the perimeter in order to clog the paint. Even as she showed some improvement after the All-Star break, it was still a successful strategy. 

But in the playoffs, Reese has made teams pay. Since the start of the semifinals, she's made at least one 3 in five of six games, and has twice made two 3s, tying her career-high. 

Speaking more broadly, Smesko said Thursday after practice that Reese "very well might be the most improved player from the beginning of the season to right now." 

Reese's growth has not been comfortable or easy. After the Dream completed a three-game sweep of the New York Liberty in the semifinals, she admitted that she was "embarrassed" by her poor shooting when she first arrived in Atlanta, and had to learn to trust Smesko's approach. 

"It's really hard for me to not want to rush success, and Karl told me how patient I had to be with it," Reese said. "I remember a moment in training camp where we were going through drills and he stopped everybody and told me I had to make two in a row in front of everybody. 

You never want to let your teammates down, and we couldn't resume the drill until I made two in a row. I was upset with him that day for sure. Because I didn't want to let the team down, I didn't want to feel embarrassed of how long it could have taken me to make them. But now it's like so easy. My confidence is through the roof when I shoot them. It just feels like practice."

How Reese rebuilt her shot 'from scratch'

Smesko has kept a keen eye on Reese's jumper the entire way. At Finals media day last week in San Francisco, Smesko explained why it's important to him to be on the floor with her before games, in addition to all of the work that they do behind the scenes. 

"I thought it would be a good way for Angel and I to get to know each other a little bit and develop the relationship if we could spend some time together every day," Smesko said. "And I thought that if we worked together, we could really improve her shot. 

"She's put the time in, she's rebuilt her shot from scratch from two weeks before the first game of the season, which is just remarkable that you'd even do that at that point. She deserves a lot of credit for the amount of effort that she's put in to making or expanding what she can do on the floor."

Smesko is Reese's third coach in as many seasons as a pro, and her fourth coach in four seasons dating back to her senior year at LSU. His commitment won her over, and for the first time in her career, she's made meaningful strides as a shooter. In her four seasons at LSU and her first two seasons with the Sky combined, she made 12 3s; in one season in Atlanta, she's made 19 between the regular season and playoffs. 

"When a coach shows up for you, it means everything to me. Not just saying something, but also being intentional about it. He told me how hard it was gonna be and the steps he was gonna take, but he told me he was gonna be here with me every step of the way and that just felt really good to me," Reese said at Finals media day. 

"I've been on two different teams and in two different organizations and feeling different things. Finally, in my Year 3, I'm figuring it out and I'm playing my best basketball right now. So, it's really kudos to him."

Come Saturday morning, when Reese hits the court before Game 4 of the Finals, you'll know where to find Smesko.