Keep track of the championship matinee between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries.
Photo: Donnoir Vinculado, Ballislife.com
FINAL: Dream 80, Valkyries 69
Series tied 3-3
Valkyries (69)
POINTS: Gabby Williams (26)
ASSISTS: Veronica Burton (4)
REBOUNDS: Laeticia Amihere (10)
Dream (80)
POINTS: Allisha Gray (23)
ASSISTS: Angel Reese (6)
REBOUNDS: Angel Reese (14)
Live Game Log
4th Quarter: Dream 80, Valkyries 69
0.0—One more Reese rebound on a Williams miss seals the deal, and the 2026 WNBA Finals is officially destined for a Game 7
43.4—Two more missed threes lead to a Canada rebound. Golden State does not appear to be fouling.
55.9—Gray perhaps snuffs out hope for good with another three, her fifth on the day. Golden State uses its reset timeout (80-69 ATL)
1:15—An Amihere steal leads to two more for Williams, as well as Howard’s disqualifying sixth foul. Williams hits the freebie and the deficit is at single digits, albeit at a time likely too late (77-69 ATL)
1:34—Burton gets a steal but three misses yield no points, allowing Atlanta to eat clock on a Hillmon rebound
1:56—Amihere pulls in her eighth rebounds and first of the offensive kind on a Williams miss and falls to the ground. Reese was called for a foul, her fifth, but Atlanta challenges. It remains a loose ball foul and Amihere hits two. (77-66 ATL)
2:18—Hillmon misses a layup but Howard gets the offensive rebound and is instantly fouled by Zandalasini. She goes to the line and hits two, going over 20 points (77-64 ATL)
2:36—Now Amihere gets to the line on Reese’s fourth. She makes one of two (75-64 ATL)
2:58—Williams gets back to the line after Reese misses a three, victimized by a Gray foul. She hits two. (75-63 ATL)
3:28—Timeout Atlanta
3:32—Williams to the line for two, Howard charged with her fifth foul. Williams hits one of two. On the inbound, Canada is fouled by Burton away from the ball and gets a free throw. She hits it. (75-61 ATL)
4:06—Shortly after Hillmon picks up her fifth foul, Williams keeps a glimmer of hope alive with a three (74-60 ATL)
5:01—Hayes goes down on a collision with Gray trying to prevent another Golden State turnover. She remains down as trainers and teammates check on her, leading to a timeout. She steps out for Zandalasini when play resumes.
5:32—Williams does score immediately out of the timeout (74-57 ATL)
5:43—Following a Williams miss from deep, Reese hits another three to boost the lead back up. Timeout Golden State (74-55 ATL)
6:33—Williams gets two back but Gray gets another early crowd-pleaser with a three (71-55 ATL)
7:02—Reese restores Georgian sanity with a physical two against Stokes (68-53 ATL)
7:18—Williams to the line on a Canada foul, her second. She sits for a returning Gray while Williams hits two (66-53 ATL)
7:42—A Howard rejection of Stokes leads in an inbound, which yields a Howard foul on Burton, her fourth. Burton sinks two, and the lead is at 15, the closest it has been since the opening period. (66-51 ATL)
8:03—Hillmon’s offensive foul, her fourth, pushes the ball back the visitors’ way
8:18—Hayes gets Golden State on the fourth quarter board (66-49 ATL)
9:03—Golden State gets a stop on the first possession but can’t bite into the lead. Gray makes them pay with a three (66-47 ATL)
3rd Quarter: Valkyries 63, Dream 47
0.8—Charles gives the Valkyries a glimmer of hope with another corner three, ending scoring in the third period. (63-47 ATL)
18.4—Hayes’ fourth foul puts Reese at the line. She hits one. (63-44 ATL)
33.0—Zandalsini gets back on the second half board with a bank (62-44 ATL)
44.9—Reese gets by Stokes to get the lead back to 20 (62-42 ATL)
1:06—Charles responds with a corner three (60-42 ATL)
1:23—Williams’ third foul puts Gray at the line for three. She gets two of them. (60-39 ATL)
1:43—Burton to the line on Canada’s first foul. She hits both. (58-39 ATL)
1:51—After further misfires in the paint for Golden State, Gray scores a close two to get the lead back up to a double-decade (58-37 ATL)
2:56—A Burton drive gets the deficit back under 20 (56-37 ATL)
3:58—Williams continues her mini-surge with a driving two (56-35 ATL)
4:15—Immediately out of the timeout, a Howard drive yields two and a foul (Williams’ second). She hits the extra single (56-33 ATL)
4:19—A further attempt to cut into the deficit is wiped out when Gray strips Williams from behind. With possession, Atlanta calls a timeout.
4:51—Despite some missed lay-ups, Williams manages to hit a three to cut the lead to 20 (53-33 ATL)
6:29—Williams turns an interception of Hillmon into a hard-fought two (53-30 ATL)
7:19—A Gray steal of Hayes leads to a breakout, which finds Howard before she’s swatted in the face by Burton on a shot block attempt. Howard stays down a little bit while Burton’s foul will be review for upgrade potential. Burton is charged with a flagrant one and Howard shoots two, both of which she hits. Atlanta keeps the ball. (53-28 ATL)
8:10—The missed foul shot immediately yields a two for Canada (51-28 ATL)
8:20—Hayes to the line on a Reese foul, the latter’s second, for an and-one opportunity. She misses, and Reese rebounds, her 10th. (49-28 ATL)
8:59—A Hillmon rebound of a Reese misfire finds Howard, who picks up right where she left off with her fourth three (49-26 ATL)
9:23—After an exchange of misfires, Williams gets charged with an offensive foul, her first
Halftime Leaders
Valkyries (26)
POINTS: Tiffany Hayes (11)
ASSISTS: Veronica Burton/Kaila Charles (2)
REBOUNDS: Kiah Stokes (5)
Dream (46)
POINTS: Rhyne Howard (11)
ASSISTS: Angel Reese (5)
REBOUNDS: Angel Reese (8)
2nd Quarter: Dream 46, Valkyries 26
0.0—Despite forcing another turnover, that’s as close as Golden State can get, and that’s the half in Atlanta.
1:04—Williams turns a steal of Borlase into a double through a streaking Amihere. She scores the Valkyries first points off a turnover today (46-26 ATL)
1:36—After a shot clock violation and exchanged misfires, Hayes breaks the post-timeout lid with a three (46-24 ATL)
2:31—Hayes and Borlase exchange twos amidst misfires, and Atlanta takes a timeout. (46-21 ATL)
4:21—After a Hayes offensive foul, her third, Howard puts up another two to boost the leader further (44-19 ATL)
4:40—Reese sinks a three in the corner to create a new largest lead (42-19 ATL)
5:37—Hillmon picks up her third foul out of the timeout, putting Hayes at the line. Hillmon sits for Bonner and Hayes hits two (39-19 ATL)
5:52—Gray makes the most out of another re-entry, taking her rebound of a Williams misfire all the way back for another easy double. Timeout Valkyries as the Dream takes a new largest lead. (39-17 ATL)
7:02—Five assists for Reese, who finds a charging Hillmon for two more (37-17 ATL)
7:11—Hayes sinks a long two but immediately picks up her second foul on the other end (35-17 ATL)
8:11—The Valkyries can’t capitalize on four opportunities and Howard makes them pay with a long three to open second quarter scoring. It’s already her third three. (35-15 ATL)
8:36—Hillmon picks up two quick fouls, the first of the loose ball variety. She remains in the game but Gray sits for Canada.
9:00—The second period opens with misses from Zandalasini and DeWanna Bonner, as well as Gray’s second foul.
1st Quarter: Dream 32, Valkyries 15
0.0—A Reese travel and a missed Burton three ends the first quarter. The Dream’s 32 points stand as the most either team has scored in a period in these Finals and their 17-point advantage is the largest after a first frame in Finals history.
19.5—Zandalasini hits two more at the foul line, fouled by Gray shortly after her re-entry (32-15 ATL)
34.0—Back in after a two-game absence, Laeticia Amihere fouls Reese, who goes to the foul line. Reese sinks one of tow (32-13 ATL)
39.2—Following Borlase free throws (foul charged to Zandalasini) and a Canada drive off Reese’s fourth assist, Zandalasini hits the Valkyries’ second three (31-13 ATL)
2:01—Borlase’s drive yields not another three but she finds Hillmon for a deep two (27-10 ATL)
2:23—Cecilia Zandalasini, another entry during the jumpball pause, drives for a two (25-10 ATL)
2:47—Gray checks out for Isobel Borlase during a jumpball but the offensive onslaught doesn’t end, as Howard hits another three (25-8 ATL)
3:31—Howard immediately negates it with a three-pointer of her own (22-8 ATL)
3:49—Williams finally stems the bleeding with a three-pointer (19-8 ATL)
4:09—Howard intercepts a Hayes pass an immediately turns it into two, extending this run to 13 unanswered (19-5 ATL)
4:24—Charles picks up her second foul on offense and sits for Kayla Thornton. Gray immediately responds with a three off Reese’s third assists of the game (17-5 ATL)
4:58—After a Golden State shot clock violation and a foul on Kaila Charkes, Canada sinks a three off a feed from Gray (14-5 ATL)
5:41—Following consecutive rejections of Burton, Reese gets to the line for an and-one opportunity and coverts. The foul was on Stokes, her first (11-5 ATL)
6:41—Gray puts in a two while Stokes’ attempted putback of a Williams misfire bounces off her foot and goes out of bounds, giving Atlanta possession. Timeout Valkyries. The ailing Gray, still working with finger issues, already has five points and three boards. (8-5 ATL)
7:31—A floater from Hayes and a single from Williams (following a defensive three-second call) narrows the gap to one (6-5 ATL)
8:20—A Rhyne Howard rejection of Gabby Williams leads to a three for Naz Hillmon on the other end. (6-2 ATL)
8:45—Reese is charged with her first foul after getting Tiffany Hayes in the face. Hayes is none worse for the wear.
9:04—Allisha Gray immediately switches the lead with a triple on the other end (3-2 ATL)
9:19—Following a Jordin Canada misfire, Veronica Burton opens scoring with a deep two (2-0 GSV)
10:00—Angel Reese wins the opening tip from Kiah Stokes and afternoon Atlanta basketball is underway.
Pregame
Who: (2) Golden State Valkyries @ (4) Atlanta Dream
What: WNBA Finals, Game 6 (GSV leads series 3-2)
Where: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA
Watch: 12:30 p.m. ET, USA/E!/Syfy/Peacock
Who’s Favored: ATL -4.5 (O/U: 147.5)
Starting Lineups
VALKYRIES: Veronica Burton, Kaila Charles, Tiffany Hayes, Kiah Stokes, Gabby Williams
DREAM: Jordin Canada, Allisha Gray, Naz Hillmon, Rhyne Howard, Angel Reese
Injuries
VALKYRIES: None
DREAM: Brionna Jones (OUT, leg), Te-Hina Paopao (OUT, leg)
Referees: TBA
Biscuits and Burton. Waffles and Williams.
Toast and a trophy? The Golden State Valkyries certainly hope not to burn such an opportunity.
Amidst the hosting hullaballoo that has forced their local fans to endure a morning tip-off with a championship on the line, the Valkyries remain confident in their ability to land that fateful fourth victory against the Atlanta Dream.
That game, of course, is destined for a high noon tip-off on the East Coast since an NBA game featuring the local Atlanta Hawks at the Dream’s home of State Farm Arena was unable to be moved from primetime. That’s no issue for Golden State, as interior heroine Kiah Stokes, who remarked that the Valkyries needed only “94 feet, two hoops and each other” when addressing the relocation efforts after Game 5.
Whereas an Atlanta victory will more than likely yield an MVP award for Angel Reese, the Valkyries have engaged in more of a heroine-by-committee approach in a series where betting the under has been the prudent practice. Franchise face Gabby Williams now leads all participants in scoring, but it has taken some effort to get there considering she’s shooting under 30% over the first five. Stokes and Veronica Burton led the way in Game 5’s victorious return to Ballhalla, scoring 13 points each in a 64-55 victory. Four different women have led the team in scoring during the five games, further driving home the point of team cohesion pushing the purple narrative forward.
“Listening to my players after losing two, that’s when we really learn from our losses and they become super vulnerable. At the same time, I really, really listen, like something is going on. Like this is a game plan but why aren’t we doing this?” head coach Natalie Nakase said after Game 5. “I think the coolest thing was that communication [during Game 5], even the timeouts, they’re talking about how they made adjustments and boom, we’re trying to make adjustment right from that timeout.
“The players are adjusting, and I think that’s the coolest thing, there’s no are you sure, are you sure,” Nakase continued. “The way they are communicating, it’s with conviction, it’s with confidence, and you can see that when we are confident coming out of these huddles, we know how to get stops. I think that’s really cool.”
Thursday will feature the first-ever Game 6 on the WNBA postseason docket now that the Finals is engaged in a best-of-seven format. Golden State can make more history with a win, as it’d become the quickest expansion club to capture a title, as triumph in its second tour would beat the mark the 2004 Seattle Storm set by three seasons.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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