On a historic day for the league in general, the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries will attempt to author history of their own when they compete in Game 7 of the WNBA Finals on Saturday night in San Francisco.
Overcoming a last-minute venue announcement and an early weekday start, the Dream forced the winner-take-all finale with a dominant 80-69 victory in Game 6 on Thursday afternoon in Atlanta.
The result ensured the first Game 7 in the WNBA Finals, which were contested as a single game in 1997, a best-of-three through 2004 and then a best-of-five until last season.
With Atlanta’s championship hopes on the line, Allisha Gray overcame two dislocated fingers on her shooting hand to produce a team-high 23 points on Thursday.
After shooting 16-for-57 (28.1%) overall and 5-for-26 (19.2%) on 3-point attempts in the series’ first five games, Gray buried eight of her 12 shots and equaled her postseason career best with five 3-pointers in seven attempts in Game 6. The Dream, held to 62 and 55 points in losses in Games 4 and 5, respectively, found the offensive rhythm that led to 79 and 97 points, respectively, in wins in Games 2 and 3.
Reminded before Game 6 by teammate Angel Reese that “you’re a superstar; act like a superstar and we’ll follow behind you,” Gray not only helped save the season for the Dream but also vowed to do her best to do it again and deliver Atlanta’s first WNBA title in its 19-year history.
“My teammates were really on me to just play my game,” the four-time All-Star said after the win. “I do believe I stepped up to the challenge, and I know going to Game 7 not to take the foot off the gas. I feel I can take it up even another level.”
The fourth-seeded Dream controlled Game 6 at both ends of the floor. They outshot the second-seeded Valkyries 43.5% to 31.4% overall and outscored them 39-21 on 3-pointers. Atlanta held a double-digit lead for 33 straight minutes while pushing its margin to as many as 25 points.
Claiming “we got our swagger back,” Reese disclosed the game plan for Game 7.
“When we can punch first,” the WNBA’s Defensive Player of the Year noted, “we’ve won every single game.”
Trying to win a title in their second year of existence, the Valkyries flew home Thursday night believing they had momentum on their side.
Not only were they returning to the site of six previous playoff wins against just one loss in the past month, they took it as a positive they outscored the Dream 43-34 in the second half of Game 6, giving themselves a fighting chance at the end of what could have been a blowout.
They got as close as 77-69 with 1:15 left before Gray cashed her fifth 3-pointer to close out the scoring.
“At the end of the day, we feel good,” Valkyries team leader Veronica Burton said after the game. “Yes, we lost. It was a bad game for us. We had a terrible first quarter. But we cleaned it up. We found a way. We didn’t quit.”
Golden State earned the right to host the deciding game by finishing the regular season with two more wins than Atlanta.
Coming off a 26-point performance in which a 1-for-9 first half helped put her team in a big hole, Valkyries All-Star Gabby Williams left Atlanta thankful all the hard work of the regular season has given her team an edge in the ultimate showdown.
“What’s great is we have another chance,” she said.
–Field Level Media
