Golden State Valkyries Ride Momentum Into Game 5 of WNBA Finals Against Atlanta Dream
After a much-needed — and well-played — win on Saturday, the Golden State Valkyries are back at home in San Francisco tonight for Game 5 of the WNBA Finals, fighting the Atlanta Dream for the championship title.
In Ballhalla, the Valkyries are seeking to build on their win and take a decisive 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series — which will inevitably produce the first WNBA championship win for either franchise. Should Golden State fail to meet the moment, the team heads back to Atlanta for the league’s first Game 6 in history.
After the Valkyries’ showing on Saturday, fans aren’t too worried.
The team led the Dream in enemy territory at State Farm Arena for much of the game, learning from past missteps and refusing to let the ball near Atlanta star Angel Reese. Coach Natalie Nakase also surprised fans with a tighter rotation, moving Kaila Charles and Tiffany Hayes into the starting lineup.
Nakase told reporters after the game that the team “locked into the details.”
“We took a breath,” Nakase said. “We get even closer after our losses, because we learn from our lessons.”
“We can bounce back, rest, recover, remind ourselves of what motivates us,” Gabby Williams said after the game.
Fans haven’t wavered in their support of the team during those rough moments.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re behind or not,” Kim Cruise said. “We’re standing on our feet because we believe in them every step of the way. We believe in our family.”
Some fans traveled to Atlanta for the last two games — including Valkyries guard Hayes’ father, Renard, who told KQED after Game 4, “We want to beat them bad.”
“We want to send them back home with the thought in their mind, like, ‘These guys are too good for us,’” Hayes said.
Players and fans on both sides are also shaking off an embarrassing oversight surrounding the scheduling and planning around the potentially championship-clinching Game 6 — which lacked a venue until Monday morning.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that Game 6 would tip off at State Farm Arena on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. PDT, so as not to conflict with the Atlanta Hawks game later that evening.
Fortunately, there will be no conflicts for Game 5, which tips off at 5 p.m. The 18,000-seat Chase Center is sold out again, as it has been for every home game of the Valkyries two seasons in the league. Fans will be tuning in online and at watch parties across the Bay Area.
“Our fight has never not been there,” Nakase said. “I feel like this is just a long series. We’ve been down before. We’ve come back from games where we’ve been down, and so now we just put it as a longer series.”
KQED’s Sydney Johnson contributed to this report.