Valkyries beat Dream 68-63 in the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history as Gabby Williams scores 30 to win title in franchise's second season
Golden State beat Atlanta 68-63 in San Francisco to win the WNBA Finals 4-3, a title in only their second season. Finals MVP Gabby Williams scored 30.
At a glance
- Golden State Valkyries beat Atlanta Dream 68-63 at Chase Center on Saturday night to win the best-of-seven Finals 4-3.
- Finals MVP Gabby Williams scored 30, including 28 in the second half, and only Penny Taylor in 2007 had previously scored 30 in a winner-takes-all Finals game.
- The Valkyries became the fastest North American expansion team to win a title in an established league.
- Natalie Nakase became the first Asian American head coach to win a WNBA championship.
The Golden State Valkyries are WNBA champions in only their second season. They beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in San Francisco on Saturday night to win the Finals 4-3, in the first Game 7 the WNBA Finals have ever produced, with Gabby Williams scoring 30 points and taking the Finals MVP award.
No North American expansion team in an established league has won a title faster. Coach Natalie Nakase also became the first Asian American head coach to win a WNBA championship.
Down at halftime, then 11 straight from Williams
Atlanta led 30-24 at the break after a second quarter in which Golden State managed just 10 points. Williams had only two points at that stage. She finished with 28 in the second half.
She scored the Valkyries' last 11 points of the third quarter as Golden State took control, and the sellout crowd of 18,064 at Chase Center was chanting her name through the fourth.
| Quarter | Valkyries | Dream |
|---|---|---|
| First | 14 | 12 |
| Second | 10 | 18 |
| Third | 21 | 14 |
| Fourth | 23 | 19 |
| Final | 68 | 63 |
"Gabby is our closer," Nakase said after the game. Only Penny Taylor, for Phoenix in 2007, had scored 30 or more in a winner-takes-all Finals game before Williams did it.
A jump ball and two free throws with 5.1 seconds left
Rhyne Howard's layup tied the game at 57 with 2:41 to play. Williams answered with a three-pointer, then made two free throws with 1:40 left, and Kiah Stokes added a late basket.
Atlanta would not go away. Allisha Gray made two free throws with 11 seconds remaining to keep the Dream within reach, and Atlanta then forced a jump ball between Gray and Williams. Veronica Burton, who was cut by Dallas two years ago, collected it and made both free throws with 5.1 seconds left to seal the title.
The numbers behind the win
| Player | Team | Points | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gabby Williams | Valkyries | 30 | 10 of 23 shooting, 4 of 8 threes, 6 of 6 free throws, 4 blocks |
| Tiffany Hayes | Valkyries | 11 | |
| Veronica Burton | Valkyries | 10 | 10 rebounds, 5 assists |
| Kiah Stokes | Valkyries | 8 | 13 rebounds, 2 blocks |
| Jordin Canada | Dream | 18 | 5 assists |
| Allisha Gray | Dream | 16 | 5 of 16 shooting |
| Angel Reese | Dream | 8 | 12 rebounds |
| Rhyne Howard | Dream | 6 | 3 of 14 shooting, 0 of 7 threes |
Howard's night hurt Atlanta badly. The Dream were held under 65 points in all four of their Finals losses, a measure of how far Golden State's defence carried this run. Stokes collected her fourth WNBA title.
"We got good people"
Williams returned to the Bay Area, where she grew up playing youth basketball, after leaving Seattle to join the second-year club. She said the team's critics had been wrong about it from the start. "All we heard last year was we don't have no stars. We don't have no talent. Yeah right!" she said. "We got good people. We got winners."
Nakase, who collapsed from exhaustion late in the Valkyries' comeback in Game 3, was already looking at next season, though not immediately. "I'm ready for the next," she said, before adding that a break came first.
For Atlanta, this was a fourth Finals defeat in four attempts, after being swept in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Coach Karl Smesko's team will move its home games to State Farm Arena full time next season.
The Valkyries hold their championship parade next week.
