ATLANTA -- Facing a 3-2 deficit in their best-of-seven WNBA Finals series, the Atlanta Dream are looking to tap back into the confidence, joy and swagger that got them to the championship series ahead of a must-win Game 6 against the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday.

"I feel like the last couple games, we just haven't been ourselves, and we know that," DeWanna Bonner, a two-time WNBA champion, said on Wednesday. "You haven't seen us smile. You haven't seen us enjoying [each other], and that's how we play.

"Once you get to that moment and you get inside your head and you lose the joy of the game, it's really hard. You're playing against yourself, and you playing against the Golden State team. You can't do that."

The Dream had much of the early momentum in the series, which they entered on a 10-game winning streak. After narrowly losing Game 1 despite leading for nearly 30 minutes of the contest, Atlanta won Games 2 and 3 by a combined 40 points.

Games 4 and 5 have been more of a slog, which has worked into the hands of the Valkyries, who after Monday's win just need one more victory to clinch the championship.

The Dream see plenty that's fixable, particularly offensively, as they scored 62 and 55 points in the past two games and combined for 35 turnovers.

They want to start the game strong and feed off their home crowd at State Farm Arena. The team raved about the productivity of their film session and team meetings on Wednesday, including what star Angel Reese called "uncomfortable conversations" with each other about what they could do better individually and collectively.

Reese said "everybody's in a great mind space right now."

"We don't want to just be like the world is ending because our backs are against the wall," guard Rhyne Howard added. "We had them against the wall [after Game 3] and they showed up and they punched. So I think it's just our turn to come out and do the same thing."

Atlanta would have to win two games in a row to secure the franchise's first-ever championship, but having already done that in Games 2, which was in San Francisco, and 3, which was in Atlanta, makes the Dream believe they can do that again.

Facing elimination for the first time these playoffs, Atlanta is fighting to extend the series and force a winner-take-all Game 7 on Halloween back in San Francisco.

"Our confidence is still high," Bonner said. "There's no reason to lose confidence. We're down one game in this. We get [Game 6] and it's a series all over again."

"We have no doubt," Reese said. "I have no doubt that this team will come back and fight back and win this Game 6 and then move on from it."

In fact, Reese -- who was limited to single digits each of these past two losses for the Dream -- has been itching to get back out there since Monday -- "After the game, I wanted to play a game right away," she said.

"Just having a mindset of leaving it all out there," Reese said about Game 6. "You're going to have to peel me off the court. I want to be so damn tired. I want to just be able to give everything."