Valkyries host the first Game 7 in WNBA history with a first title on the line for both teams

The WNBA has never staged a Game 7. On Saturday, the Golden State Valkyries will host the first one at Chase Center in San Francisco, with the league championship at stake for two franchises that have never won it.

Tipoff against the Atlanta Dream is set for 5 p.m. Pacific (8 p.m. Eastern), with the game on USA Network, Peacock and CNBC, according to USA Today.

Atlanta forced the deciding game by beating Golden State 80-69 on Thursday in Atlanta, tying the series 3-3 three days after the Valkyries had moved within a win of the title.

How Game 6 got away

The Valkyries' defense had carried them through the previous two games, 67-62 and 64-55 wins in which Atlanta never reached 65 points. That changed early Thursday. The Dream led 32-15 after one quarter and 46-26 at halftime, according to The Associated Press, and their lead reached 25.

Allisha Gray scored 23 points for Atlanta and Rhyne Howard added 21. Angel Reese had 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Gabby Williams scored 26 for Golden State and Tiffany Hayes had 15. The Valkyries cut the deficit to 77-66 when Laeticia Amihere hit a pair of free throws with 1:57 left, but Gray answered with a 3-pointer.

Golden State's players and coach were blunt afterward about the opening minutes. Guard Veronica Burton called the first quarter "unacceptable on our end," and coach Natalie Nakase said her team had expected Atlanta's urgency but failed to match it. "This is the Finals. The physicality is supposed to be up," Nakase said, as quoted by the AP. "We just did not do that."

Reese told reporters she had been reminding teammates that the shooting slump would not last, according to the AP. Her summary of what remains, as quoted by USA Today: "The job is not done, and I'm looking forward to it. One more."

A first for the format

This is just the second year the WNBA has used a best-of-seven Finals. The first, in 2025, ended in a four-game Las Vegas sweep of Phoenix, USA Today noted. Before that, the championship was a single game in 1997, a best-of-three from 1998 through 2004 and a best-of-five from 2005 through 2024.

Twelve earlier Finals series went the distance under the best-of-three and best-of-five formats. The most recent was in 2024, when the New York Liberty beat Minnesota 67-62 in overtime of Game 5 for their first title. It was not until 2007 that a team clinched a championship in the opponent's building, when Phoenix won Game 5 at Detroit.

Back home

Every home game in Golden State's short history, regular season and playoffs, has been a sellout, according to the team. Monday's Game 5 crowd of 18,064 was the 52nd in a row.

Neither team has won more than two games in a row. Golden State took Game 1 in San Francisco before Atlanta evened the series, the teams split two games at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, and they split the last two as well. In Golden State's three victories, Atlanta scored 64, 62 and 55 points. The Dream's three wins came with 79, 97 and 80.

Nakase changed her starting lineup for Game 4, moving Hayes and Kaila Charles in, and the Valkyries won the next two games before Thursday's loss. Center Kiah Stokes, who had three blocks in Game 5 for her sixth straight playoff game with at least three, holds the record for blocks in a single Finals series, according to the team.

Saturday's winner leaves with the trophy. For Golden State, an expansion team in 2025, it would come in the franchise's second season.

Sources

usatoday.com

nbcnews.com

valkyries.wnba.com

wnba.com