Valkyries Win WNBA Title in First-Ever Game 7
Golden State beat Atlanta 68-63 on Saturday to take the championship in their second season. Gabby Williams scored 30 and was named finals MVP.
The Golden State Valkyries are WNBA champions after only two seasons. They beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 at home on Saturday night, in the first Game 7 the league has ever played.
Williams takes over the second half
Gabby Williams scored 30 points and was named finals MVP. Most of them came in a second-half run that carried Golden State at the Chase Center.
Golden State had missed its first 10 three-point attempts before Kayla Thornton connected in the second quarter. In the third, Williams hit three straight threes to cut Atlanta's lead to two. Her 15 points in the period put the Valkyries ahead 45-44 going into the fourth.
Point guard Veronica Burton said Williams looked ready at half-time. "She was like, 'I just gotta get going,'" Burton said.
A tight finish
Allisha Gray tied the score at 53 with 4min 52sec left. A Williams free throw gave the lead back to Golden State about a minute and a half later.
Williams put Golden State up 60-57 with 2min 14sec to play, hitting a contested shot just before the shot clock expired. Atlanta did not recover.
Tiffany Hayes added 11 points and won her first WNBA title at 37. Burton finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Atlanta's top scorer was Jordin Canada with 18, followed by Gray with 16. Angel Reese was held to eight points, and she grabbed 12 rebounds.
How the series got there
It was the first Game 7 in WNBA history. Best-of-seven finals are new to the league, introduced last year. That series never reached a decider: Las Vegas beat Phoenix in four straight games.
Golden State won Games 1, 4 and 5 of the series. It finished the regular season 32-12 and took the No 2 seed after narrowly beating the Sparks on the final day. Along the way it beat Dallas in the first round and swept the defending champions Las Vegas Aces.
The team had to come back several times. It recovered from 16 points down in Game 3 against Dallas and 17 down in Game 3 against Las Vegas. Against the Dream, it came back from a 2-1 series deficit.
Owner Joe Lacob said the title came quickly. "It's just a lot of good decisions, a lot of good execution, a great coach," he said.
Our View
Three comebacks in one postseason suggest a team that kept finding ways back into games. Williams carried the final night, but two earlier games turned from deficits of 16 and 17 points.
The open question is whether the longer finals format will produce another Game 7 or leave this night a one-off.
Source: the Guardian