Gabby Williams and the Valkyries have a 1-0 WNBA Finals series lead.
SAN FRANCISCO — In front of a sea of purple at Chase Center on Saturday, the Golden State Valkyries took Game 1 of the WNBA Finals 68-64 over the Atlanta Dream.
The Valkyries shook off early shooting struggles. It wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that the Valkyries took their first lead of the night. But being down all afternoon didn’t shake this bunch. Gabby Williams had no doubt they would find a way to win.
“Even though we were down with a few minutes left, I think we had the game right where we wanted it,” Williams said, “because it just came down to getting stops. That’s been our bread and butter all season. That’s why we harp on it so much, because we’ve built great defensive habits for these moments.”
The Valkyries were able to pull off the win behind Williams’ own 7-0 stretch to end the game.
The Dream went 0-for-7 in the final 2:53, with five of those attempts coming from beyond the arc. At the same time, Williams went 6-for-6 from the free throw line, icing the contest from the charity stripe with 4.1 seconds remaining.
Gabby Williams led all scorers with 26 points on 8-of-22 shooting. No other Golden State player was in double figures.
Alisha Gray led the Atlanta Dream with 19 points on 5-of-19 shooting. This was her first game back since a hand injury suffered in Game 1 of the semis vs. New York Liberty. Angel Reese added 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Rhyne Howard finished with 12 points on 3-for-14 shooting.
Dream coach Carl Smesko made it clear after the game that he felt his team fell into too much one-on-one play in the second half and didn’t get Reese enough touches.
“Well, some of them were good, Some of them they had us well-defended when we were getting late on the clock. But we had a couple what I would call good looks just didn’t go down for us…We were right there. Right there. That’s why it hurts a little bit, but it also motivates us.” Smesko said.
This was a historic WNBA Finals game in terms of defense.
Both teams shot just 32% from the field in Game 1. This marks only the second time in a WNBA Finals game that both teams shot below 33 percent.
The Valkyries forced 12 Atlanta turnovers and scored 17 points off of them. Golden State center Kiah Stokes also recorded four blocks in the first half to add to the team’s ten total.
The #1 defense in the league came to play. With 23 seconds remaining and trailing by two points, the Dream had the chance to either send the game into overtime or win it, but they fell short on an Alisha Gray three-pointer, allowing the Valkyries to secure the victory.
“We always knew we were going to find a way somehow,” Williams said of Golden State.
Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase agreed.
“It kind of just fits into who we are,” Nakase said. “That’s been our identity. We rely on it. We know it’s effort. We know it’s the details.”
“That’s kind of been our, you know, our philosophy, especially down the stretch in close games. You could see that it’s just kind of, ‘Here we go again.’ So it’s the same thing. There’s a lot of familiarity and composure down the stretch.” Nakase said.
The Valkyries, have now won all five playoff games at home this postseason and snapped the Dream’s 10-game winning streak, which dated back to the regular season.
Game 2 is on Monday night at Chase Center. Tip-off is at 5 PM PST.
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