Gabby Williams Scores 28 of Her 30 After Halftime as the Valkyries Win the WNBA Title 68-63 in Year 2
Gabby Williams scored 30, 28 after halftime, as Golden State beat Atlanta 68-63 in Game 7 for its first WNBA title.
Photo: Official WNBA headshot, credit WNBA.
The Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63, per the WNBA, in Game 7 of the WNBA Finals on Saturday night at Chase Center, winning the franchise's first championship in its second season. Gabby Williams scored 30 points, and 28 of them came after halftime, by our count.
That makes Golden State the fastest expansion team in WNBA history to win a title, per the league, and the third team across the NBA, BAA and WNBA to win the Finals within its first two seasons, per Elias Sports Bureau via ESPN's Alexa Philippou. It was the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history. Atlanta finished under 70 for the fourth time, and it lost all four, by our count.
Two points at the half, 28 after it
Williams went into the locker room with 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting. Atlanta led 30-24, and Jordin Canada had 13 by herself, 11 of them in the second quarter. Every game in this series had gone to the team leading at halftime. The Dream had that lead.
Then Williams scored 15 in the third quarter alone, including three straight threes, per CBS Sports, and Golden State won the frame 21-14 to go up 45-44. By the 2:02 mark of the fourth she had 26 second-half points on 9-of-17 shooting. She finished at 30.
Williams had three blocks by the break, and Golden State opened the night with four blocks before Atlanta made a single shot. The Dream started 0 of 7.
The 70-point line held to the end
The Dyme's Game 7 preview framed this one around a single total, and ESPN's preview made the same point: in this series, when Atlanta scored under 70, Atlanta lost. Here is the full run.
| Game | Result | Dream points | |---|---|---| | 1 | GSV 68-64 | 64 | | 2 | ATL 79-65 | 79 | | 3 | ATL 97-71 | 97 | | 4 | GSV 67-62 | 62 | | 5 | GSV 64-55 | 55 | | 6 | ATL 80-69 | 80 | | 7 | GSV 68-63 | 63 |
Atlanta's three wins came at 79, 80 and 97. Its four losses came at 64, 62, 55 and 63. Not one game landed between 65 and 78, by our count.
Golden State's own scoring barely moved. The Valkyries scored between 64 and 71 in all seven games, by our count, and 68 in the clincher.
The last 2 minutes
It was tied 55-55 with 3:15 left after two Allisha Gray free throws, per the WNBA. Golden State led 60-57 at 2:02. Kiah Stokes cleaned up a miss for a 64-57 lead with 53.8 seconds left. Gray answered with a three to make it 64-60 at 34.2, and the margin got down to 66-63 with 8.3 seconds left before Golden State closed it out at 68-63.
Two days earlier Stokes played 20 minutes in Game 6, scored 0 and finished minus-25, and Natalie Nakase went to Laeticia Amihere for long stretches. In Game 7 the three-time champion was on the floor for the possession that put the Valkyries up seven inside the final minute.
What Atlanta did get
The Dream got the start they wanted. Angel Reese hit an early three, and Atlanta had been 16-0 this season in games where Reese made at least one, per CBS Sports. That streak ends here. DeWanna Bonner reached 600 career postseason defensive rebounds, a WNBA record, per CBS Sports. Canada had 18 points with 4:09 to play.
What Atlanta did not get was Rhyne Howard. At halftime the former No. 1 pick was 1 of 7 from the field and 0 of 4 from three, per CBS Sports, two days after scoring 21 with four threes in Game 6.
Year 2
The Dream scored 80 in Game 6 to get here. They scored 63 in Game 7, and the series line held one more time.
Sources:
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