Dream Rout Valkyries 80-69 at a Lunchtime Tipoff to Force a WNBA Finals Game 7
Seven Lights
The Atlanta Dream, facing elimination at a lunchtime tip-off, overwhelmed the Golden State Valkyries 80-69 Thursday at State Farm Arena to force a decisive seventh game of the WNBA finals. The series now moves to San Francisco’s Chase Center for Saturday night’s winner-take-all finale.
Atlanta buried six three-pointers and shot 73.3 per cent from the floor in a blistering opening quarter, building a lead that reached 25 points before half-time. Allisha Gray scored a team-high 23 points with five three-pointers, Rhyne Howard added 21, and Angel Reese recorded her fourth double-double of the series with 15 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. Gabby Williams finished with a game-high 26 for the Valkyries after managing four points in the first half.
The Dream had managed only 62 and 55 points in back-to-back defeats that erased their 2-1 series lead. Reese said a players-only meeting before a film session restored Atlanta’s confidence; forward Naz Hillmon urged her teammates to remember who they were. “I have to set the tone early, and I feel like that’s what I did today,” Gray said.
The Valkyries closed to 77-69 on a Williams three-point play with 1min 15sec left — a sequence on which Howard fouled out — but Atlanta held on before a sellout crowd of 17,099. The midday start drew criticism of the league’s television scheduling; CBS News reported fans’ complaint that the WNBA “dropped the ball” by setting a finals game at lunchtime. Golden State’s head coach Steve Kerr predicted a “street fight” in Game 7.
The finals adopted a best-of-seven format last year, a series that ended in a four-game sweep. This is the first to reach a seventh game. The Dream, reaching the brink of defeat twice in a week, arrive in San Francisco with the momentum their scoring had abandoned in between.