'Locked in' Gray, Dream hold off Valkyries, force first Finals Game 7 — SkimNews
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- Atlanta Dream defeated the Golden State Valkyries 80-69 in Game 6, forcing the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history; Game 7 is Saturday at Ballhalla in San Francisco at 8 p.m. ET.
- Allisha Gray scored 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, with two steals and three blocks; as the primary defender, she held the Valkyries to 2-of-17 shooting before making the far-right corner three with just under a minute left to seal the win.
- Allisha Gray became the second player in league history to make at least five 3-pointers while facing elimination in a Finals game; the performance was also her second-highest-scoring playoff game.
- Atlanta Dream outscored the Valkyries 32-15 in the first quarter while making six 3s with at least 75% accuracy from beyond the arc, the first 30-point quarter the Valkyries had allowed in franchise history.
- Atlanta Dream reached halftime with a 25-point lead, the largest by a team facing elimination in Finals history, after making 13 3s to tie the Finals record when facing elimination.
- Angel Reese urged an ice-bagged Allisha Gray, who had injured multiple fingers and needed a minor procedure, to treat Game 6 as a mental test; Reese finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds and said, “When we punch first, we have won every single game.”
- Atlanta Dream held a players-only meeting about returning to its confident, trash-talking identity, and Rhyne Howard put it on display by scoring 21 points, hitting four 3s and flexing after nearly every make.
Why it matters: Atlanta’s margin came from collective perimeter dominance, not merely Gray’s late shot: the Dream hit 13 first-half threes and led by 25 at halftime. That 80-69 win gives Atlanta another chance Saturday, while Golden State now faces elimination in the WNBA’s first Finals Game 7.
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