WNBA Finals opener: Valkyries outlast Dream in defensive thriller

SAN FRANCISCO. The Golden State Valkyries ground out a 68-64 win over the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA Finals opener on Saturday afternoon at Chase Center, taking the early edge in the best-of-seven series. Gabby Williams delivered a 26-point night, the only Valkyrie to reach double figures, in a game neither team shot well enough to run away with.

The WNBA Finals opener played out as a defensive struggle between the league's two most efficient defenses. The teams traded dominant quarters all afternoon: Atlanta owned the first and third, Golden State answered in the second and fourth, and the fourth quarter belonged to the home team when it mattered most. Golden State shot 32.1 percent from the field and still found a way, leaning on stops and free throws down the stretch.

Williams shakes off a slow start

Williams opened the game ice cold, missing all four of her shots in the first quarter while Atlanta scored the last eleven points of the period to build an early cushion. Nothing was falling for either side early, and the Dream's defense made every Golden State possession a chore. Then she took over. Williams poured in 16 points in the second quarter, nearly matching Atlanta's output for the period by herself, and the Valkyries carried a three-point lead into halftime.

Her driving layup pulled Golden State within one with just over three minutes left in the game. Moments later she put the Valkyries ahead for good on a pair of free throws inside the final minute. After Kiah Stokes split a pair of late free throws at the other end, Allisha Gray's three-point attempt with nine seconds left rimmed out, and Williams sealed the win with two more foul shots in the closing seconds. She finished seven of eight from the line.

Williams had an injury scare in the final minutes. While boxing out for one of her free throws, Dream guard Jordin Canada crashed into her and knocked her to the floor, and Williams was seen limping and holding her left knee. She stayed in the game and brushed off the concern afterward, telling reporters she was fine after a long, physical game. Williams entered the night as the Valkyries' leading scorer this season, according to the Associated Press.

Atlanta goes cold at the wrong time

The Dream got 19 points from Gray, who returned to the lineup after missing nearly three games with an injured ring finger on her shooting hand. Angel Reese added 14 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double, but she picked up her fifth foul in the final minute and watched the ending from the bench. Atlanta managed just eight points in the fourth quarter and missed its last six shots from the field.

Golden State's bench helped cover for a quiet night from the supporting cast, contributing twenty points to the Dream reserves' six. Stokes anchored the late defensive stand: with the Valkyries clinging to a two-point lead, she grabbed the rebound off Naz Hillmon's missed three and drew the foul on Reese that sent the Atlanta star to the bench. The Valkyries also lost guard Tiffany Hayes for the night after she dove for a loose ball, hit the hardwood hard and walked to the locker room with the training staff.

First blood in a defensive series

The second-seeded Valkyries swept the regular-season series against Atlanta, but Saturday showed how little that matters now. The Dream led for most of the afternoon, and the Valkyries won without a single field goal in the closing minutes, surviving on defense and free throws. One of these two franchises will claim its first championship, and if the opener is any indication, every game is going to be a grind.

The series stays in San Francisco for Game 2 on Monday night at Chase Center, where the rowdy home crowd gave the Valkyries the exact hostile environment coach Natalie Nakase had asked for. Atlanta will spend the next two days studying the film, trying to figure out how a team that shot barely over thirty percent just took a Finals lead. The full box score and play-by-play were reported by the Associated Press (full recap).