Two teams new to the bright lights of the WNBA Finals go head-to-head Saturday afternoon when the best-of-seven championship series between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries tips off in San Francisco.
Both teams swept their way into the Finals. The fourth-seeded Dream defeated the New York Liberty, the 2024 champs, three games to none in the WNBA semifinals, while the second-seeded Valkyries ended the season of the defending champion Las Vegas Aces 3-0.
Atlanta will be making its first Finals appearance since 2013, when it went winless against the Minnesota Lynx in what was then a best-of-five. Coincidentally, the only player from that Dream team returning to the grand stage 13 years later is Valkyries backup guard Tiffany Hayes.
Golden State, meanwhile, is in just its second season of existence. Last year, it earned the eighth and final spot in the playoffs, where it lost 2-0 in the first round to the Lynx.
In a matchup of teams that haven’t seen each other since July 4, the Valkyries will have home-court advantage by virtue of more regular-season wins (32-30). The difference was Golden State sweeping the three-game season series, in which the Valkyries exploited advantages near the hoop and on the perimeter.
Playing two of the three games at home — including two in three nights in San Francisco on June 24 and 26 — the Valkyries outshot the Dream 37.5% to 28.1% on 3-pointers, outscoring them 99-54 from deep. Gabby Williams, the leading scorer in the season series, with 58 points, went 7-for-17 from beyond the arc, while Janelle Salaun was 7-for-15.
Atlanta stars Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray combined to make just nine of their 38 3-point attempts.
Dream center Angel Reese recorded double-doubles in all three games, averaging 14.0 points and 12.3 rebounds, but had trouble turning 17 offensive rebounds into hoops. She had six point-blank shots blocked by Golden State defensive ace Kiah Stokes, who totaled 12 rejections in the three wins.
Reese, who was named WNBA Defensive Player of the Year earlier this month, believes the Valkyries will have trouble recognizing the current Dream, especially after they added veteran forward DeWanna Bonner, a two-time WNBA champion.
“Playing a team three times in a stretch of, what, 10 days? … We didn’t have a lot of time to figure things out,” Reese said this week. “We’re a completely different team right now. All of us … adding (Bonner) as well. We’re on a great stretch right now. We’re rolling and piecing things together at the right time.”
While the Dream initially had trouble securing a Finals-worthy site for their home games in the series before landing at State Farm Arena, Golden State coach Natalie Nakase was attempting to fire up her team’s fan base, which has led the league in attendance the last two seasons at the 18,064-seat Chase Center, a building nicknamed “Ballhalla.”
“Ballhalla better be prepping a game plan,” Nakase said this week. “I need some hostility. I need (the arena) to be rocking. Get ready, get prepped, because we definitely need to use Ballhalla as our sixth man.”
Game 2 is set for Monday, also in San Francisco.
–Field Level Media
