ATLANTA — The Atlanta Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries 80–69 in Game 6 of the WNBA Finals at State Farm Arena on Thursday, tying the best-of-seven series at three games each and forcing the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history. Allisha Gray scored 23 points and Rhyne Howard added 21 for Atlanta, which led by as many as 25 points and held off a late Golden State rally. The deciding game is Saturday night at Chase Center in San Francisco, where each team will play for its first WNBA championship.
A First Quarter That Decided The Night
Atlanta trailed 6–5 in the opening minutes, then scored 13 straight points in a run that included two 3-pointers from Jordin Canada. The Dream made six of their eight 3-point attempts and 11 of 15 shots overall in the first quarter and led 32–15 after one period — a 17-point margin reported as the largest first-quarter lead in WNBA Finals history. Gray and Howard kept the pressure on in the second quarter, and a Reese 3-pointer helped push the lead to 25 points, at 44–19, before Atlanta took a 46–26 lead into halftime, tied for one of the largest halftime leads in Finals history.
Golden State, by contrast, made only nine of its 34 shots in the first half and finished the game shooting 31 percent from the field. The Valkyries had arrived with a chance to close out the series and win a championship in just their second season, having beaten Atlanta 64–55 in Game 5 on Monday to take a 3–2 lead. Instead they spent the afternoon chasing a game that had effectively been settled before halftime.
Gray, Howard And Reese Carry Atlanta
Gray scored her 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including five 3-pointers, and added six rebounds, three assists, two steals and three blocks. Her fifth 3-pointer, with about a minute left, answered Golden State’s last push and closed the game out. Howard, who had been in a shooting slump earlier in the series, scored 21 points on four 3-pointers, with four rebounds and four assists, before fouling out with 1:15 remaining. Angel Reese recorded a double-double with 15 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. Canada added 10 points. Atlanta made 13 3-pointers as a team, shooting 43 percent from beyond the arc — tied for the most 3-pointers by a team facing elimination in Finals history, after managing only six in all of Game 5.
The Rally That Fell Short
Golden State outscored Atlanta 43–34 in the second half and won both the third and fourth quarters. Gabby Williams led all scorers with 26 points, most of them after halftime, including 10 straight points during a fourth-quarter run. Kaila Charles closed the third quarter with a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 16 at 63–47, and Williams pulled the Valkyries within 13 at 68–55 before Gray and Reese answered with 3-pointers. A Williams three-point play with 1:15 left cut the margin to eight, at 77–69, but Gray’s final 3-pointer restored the cushion. Tiffany Hayes added 15 points for Golden State. Veronica Burton was called for a flagrant foul in the third quarter after a review of her contact on Howard, and Hayes picked up her fifth foul in a loose-ball collision with five minutes left and left the court slowly after attention from a trainer.
An Unusual Tip Time, Then A Historic Game 7
Game 6 tipped off at 12:30 p.m. Eastern — 9:30 in the morning on the West Coast — because of a scheduling conflict at State Farm Arena with the Atlanta Hawks’ game against Cleveland that night. Atlanta had announced a sellout for the game despite the early start. The series now returns to primetime: Game 7 is scheduled for Saturday, October 31, at 8 p.m. Eastern at Chase Center in San Francisco, on USA Network and Peacock. Atlanta won Game 2 at Chase Center earlier in the series. The Finals format expanded to best-of-seven in 2025, and no previous WNBA championship series has gone to a seventh game.
What The Books Had
On the Davies Daily Wagers board, DraftKings had Atlanta favored by 4.5 points with a total of 147.5 and the Dream at −185 on the moneyline against +154 for Golden State; Kalshi had Atlanta at 63 percent. FanDuel posted no line for the game. No odds had been posted for Game 7 when the board was last updated.
Comments
Loading comments…