'The hardest game that we will play': Everything on the line in WNBA Finals' historic Game 7 — SkimNews
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- Atlanta Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries 80-69 in Game 6 at State Farm Arena, with Allisha Gray's corner 3 as the finishing touch, tying the series 3-3 and forcing the WNBA's first Finals Game 7.
- Chase Center will host the deciding Game 7 at 8 p.m. ET Saturday, the longest series in league history: the Finals opened Oct. 17, will conclude exactly two weeks later, and required five cross-country trips, with Golden State also hosting Games 1, 2 and 5.
- WNBA finals since 2005 have gone the distance eight times, and the home team won six of those decisive games — the record behind Golden State's favored status for Saturday's Game 7.
- Veronica Burton said Golden State “didn't quit” after trailing by as many as 25 points in the first half of Game 6, a game the Valkyries had hoped to close out on the road.
- Gabby Williams said she stopped recognizing her team after Game 3; the Valkyries' three wins were powered by stifling defense while Atlanta's three came with 70-plus points, and Williams called Saturday the “hardest game that we will play in our entire lives.”
- DeWanna Bonner said the two extra games feel longer because of the travel — “4½ hours back and forth” — and that after Game 5 Atlanta lacked the joy it needs to win.
- Kiah Stokes, a three-time champion with the Las Vegas Aces, said “man, it is long”; seven players on the two rosters own titles, and four of those championships were decided in a winner-take-all game.
Why it matters: Golden State has history on its side — home clubs won six of the eight winner-take-all championship series since 2005 — but Atlanta's task is heavier on the road: five cross-country trips and a 4½-hour trip back and forth, with the Dream scoring 70-plus points in each of its three wins. The Valkyries' stifling defense must contain that production Saturday.
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