Golden State wins the first WNBA Game 7 68-63, and a second-year team has a title

The Golden State Valkyries are WNBA champions in their second season, beating the Atlanta Dream 68-63 on Saturday night in the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history.

Gabby Williams scored 30 points, 28 of them after halftime, and was named Finals MVP, but the final margin was built on the same thing that carried Golden State through the playoffs: a defense that kept the highest-scoring team in the series under 70 for a fourth time.

The game was played in front of 18,000 at Chase Center, most of them in violet, on Halloween night. The Valkyries are the third team across the NBA, BAA and WNBA to win a title within their first two seasons as a franchise, according to Elias.

It was also the first time in the series that the team ahead at halftime lost. Atlanta led 30-24 at the break and by six at one point in the third quarter, with Williams sitting on two points on 1-of-4 shooting.

That changed quickly. Williams scored 15 straight Golden State points across the third and fourth quarters, and the Valkyries never trailed again.

Williams' 30 points tied Penny Taylor's 2007 record for most points in a winner-take-all WNBA Finals game, and her 28 in the second half were the most in any half in WNBA postseason history.

She finished 10-of-23 from the field, 4-of-8 from 3-point range and 6-of-6 from the free throw line, and added four blocks, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

The turning point was a 13-point run in the third quarter that included three consecutive 3-pointers, the stretch that turned a 37-32 deficit into a lead Golden State would not give back.

Williams singlehandedly outscored the Dream 15-14 in the third quarter, and per Elias she became the first player in WNBA history to score 15 consecutive points in a Finals game.

Nat told me to stay patient, Williams said of coach Natalie Nakase. I trust her with my life. Just said, stay patient, stay patient, the game is going to open up for you, and it did.

Golden State finished the regular season as the WNBA's best defensive team, and the Finals were the clearest argument for it: the Valkyries beat Dallas in the first round, defending champion Las Vegas in the semifinals and Atlanta in the Finals.

In Game 7 they held Atlanta to 33% shooting and 20% from beyond the 3-point arc, and in every game they won in the series they held the Dream below 70 points.

That is a significant number against a team that averaged 91.3 points in the regular season, third best in the league.

The last defensive stand mattered as much as the scoring run. Allisha Gray made two free throws with 11 seconds left, Atlanta forced a jump ball, and Veronica Burton came up with it and made two free throws with 5.1 seconds remaining.

Williams' fourth 3-pointer with 2:18 remaining had put Golden State ahead for good, and Kiah Stokes, now a four-time WNBA champion, finished with 13 rebounds and two blocks.

Atlanta's side of the box score explains the gap. Jordin Canada scored 18 points, Gray had 16, and Angel Reese finished with eight points on 3-of-7 shooting and 12 rebounds.

Reese set a Finals record with 90 rebounds across the seven games, and Rhyne Howard, one of Atlanta's three leading scorers in the regular season, went 3-of-14.

This was the Dream's fourth appearance in the WNBA Finals. They were swept in the first three, in 2010, 2011 and 2013, and this was the closest they have come.

Atlanta had won Game 6 at home to force the first Game 7 in league history, and the series had followed a simple pattern until Saturday: when the Dream scored 70, they won.

The Valkyries are also the first team in WNBA history to win a championship without a single All-WNBA selection in that same season, per Elias.

That is the part of the story the roster understands. Golden State was built from players other teams had moved on from, and Williams, a 2018 No. 4 pick who spent seven seasons as a defensive specialist in Chicago and Seattle, was the player the franchise recruited personally.

She's been everything and more, owner Joe Lacob said. She is a tremendous person as well as an incredible player.

Nakase put it more directly. Williams is the closer, and the Finals MVP is the award that measures a full seven-game series rather than one night.

The series now belongs to the record book, and the questions move to what comes next for both franchises.

Atlanta will play all of its home games at State Farm Arena next season after years at the smaller Gateway Center Arena, and this Finals run should make that building feel like the right size.

Golden State has the opposite problem, the good kind: a second-year franchise with a title, a Finals MVP and a defensive identity that survived three playoff rounds.

The last word on the night belongs to Williams. I just walked into a group full of love, she said, and that just changed the entire trajectory of my career.