At halftime of Saturday's Game 7, Gabby Williams had two points and the Golden State Valkyries trailed the Atlanta Dream 30-24. Coach Natalie Nakase's message to her was simple: be patient, the game will come to you.
It came in a flood. Williams scored 28 points in the second half, finished with 30, and the Valkyries beat Atlanta 68-63 before a sellout crowd of 18,064 at Chase Center to win the WNBA championship in only their second season. She was named Finals MVP.
"Nat told me to stay patient, I trust her with my life," Williams said afterward, according to The Associated Press.
The third quarter
The turn came late in the period. With Atlanta up 40-34, Williams buried three straight 3-pointers in a span of about a minute, and her turnaround jumper with 1:05 left gave Golden State its first lead since the opening quarter.
She accounted for the Valkyries' final 11 points of the quarter and 15 overall in it, and Golden State carried a 45-44 edge into the fourth.
The finish
The last 10 minutes were a trade of punches. Allisha Gray's fadeaway tied it 53-53 with a little over five minutes to play, and two Williams free throws put Golden State back in front.
When Rhyne Howard's driving layup tied it again at 57 with 2:41 to go, Williams answered from well beyond the arc, a 31-footer set up by Veronica Burton that gave the Valkyries a 60-57 lead they never gave up. Two more foul shots at the 1:40 mark stretched the cushion.
Williams went 10 of 23 from the floor, 4 of 8 from 3-point range and 6 of 6 at the line, with four blocks and two steals. The AP noted that only one other player, Phoenix's Penny Taylor in 2007, had reached 30 in a deciding Finals game. The league credited her with series averages of 19.6 points and 2.6 steals.
