The Golden State Valkyries and Atlanta Dream have each won once on the other's floor, and the WNBA Finals now come back to Chase Center tied 2-2 for Game 5 on Monday at 5 p.m. PT. The game airs on USA and streams on Peacock.
The winner will be one victory from the franchise's first championship. Golden State, the No. 2 seed, has home court in the 2-2-1-1-1 format, so Game 6 would be Thursday, Oct. 29, in Atlanta and a seventh game, if needed, would return to San Francisco on Saturday, Oct. 31.
How the series has swung
Golden State took Game 1 at home 68-64. Atlanta answered with a 79-65 win in San Francisco and then a 97-71 rout at home in Game 3, a 26-point margin that is the widest of the series. The Valkyries evened it Saturday with a 67-62 win at State Farm Arena.
Angel Reese had posted a double-double in every game of the series before Saturday, and in Atlanta's two wins she averaged 25.5 points to go with 14 boards, the Associated Press noted. In Game 4, Golden State held her to eight points on 2-of-12 shooting.
Rhyne Howard led the Dream with 19, and Atlanta shot 33.3% from the field and 4 of 23 from 3-point range.
What changed Saturday
Coach Natalie Nakase changed her starting lineup for Game 4, the AP reported, starting Tiffany Hayes and Kaila Charles in place of Kayla Thornton and Cecilia Zandalasini. Hayes scored all 13 of her points after halftime. Zandalasini, coming off the bench, added 10 points and three steals.
Ball security was the other swing. Golden State had committed 36 turnovers across Games 2 and 3, according to the team. On Saturday it turned the ball over nine times, forced 18 Atlanta turnovers and won the points-off-turnovers battle 16-8.
"I think we were really aggressive in our coverage," Nakase said after the game.
The Valkyries also took back the paint. They were outscored 44-20 inside in Game 3, then finished with a 38-28 edge in Game 4, while making only four 3-pointers from a team that led the league in made threes per game for most of the regular season.
Kiah Stokes anchored the inside work with 16 rebounds, eight on the offensive glass, and three blocks. She has 14 blocks through four games, a Finals record; Brittney Griner and Sylvia Fowles had shared the old mark of 12.
