ATLANTA — Alyssa Gray missed two first-half appearances with an injured left hand in the Dream’s 92-82 victory over Liberty on Sunday.
It is unclear whether she will be able to participate in the remainder of the semifinals.
Gray appeared to injure his little finger and ring finger on his shooting hand during the first quarter. She held her hand and walked to the dressing room.
Gray re-emerged from the tunnel with his fingers wrapped in tape and reentered the game at 8:30 of the second quarter.
After shooting a 3-pointer, Gray ripped off the tape and threw it toward her team’s bench.
Despite having his hands raised, Gray’s defensive intensity didn’t waver. She dove to the floor looking for a loose ball and was credited with a steal. Gray remained at one end of the Liberty’s side while the game progressed on the other end.
She eventually quit the game again and returned to the locker room—this time for good.
Gray, the Dream’s leading scorer with 19 points per game, was ruled out before the end of the first half.
Dreams coach Carl Smesko did not have an immediate update on Gray’s condition after the game.
“Hopefully she’ll be OK,” Smesko said. “Obviously, she’s been a big reason why we’ve been so successful this year and it’s hard to see her not here, but I’m really proud of the team coming together and how they performed in the games.”
Hurriyet did not know whether Han Xu would be free on Sunday after falling ill.
Han missed Saturday’s practice with a fever, a game-time decision. She was still not feeling well on Sunday.
“I know the team, they need me, and I want to be ready,” Han said. “Although it was a little difficult to breathe, I still tried my best.”
Han came off the bench and played a key role in New York’s first-round sweep, finishing with three points and two rebounds in eight minutes.
Jonquel Jones praised Han’s persistence.
“She was locked in,” Jones said. “She did a really good job of coming in and giving me a good break on the bench and really just watching the game from a different perspective, so she was great.”
Breanna Stewart says she’s willing to do whatever it takes to win, even if it means playing 40 minutes.
She did that for the second straight game on Sunday, but Liberty still lost.
Stewart isn’t concerned about the possibility of burnout, given the amount of playing time she’s playing in the FIBA Women’s World Cup and WNBA.
“It’s tricky sometimes,” coach Chris DeMarco said. “It’s better to take a break, or in other cases, [her] It’s a lot closer and more rhythmic in this game, but yeah, we’re going to continue to monitor it and make sure she’s good to go. “