Dream and Valkyries meet in Game 7 on Saturday in San Francisco

The corner three

With her defender closing out, Allisha Gray shot from the far-right corner with just under a minute left in Game 6 of the WNBA Finals. The ball went in, Gray turned to the State Farm Arena crowd and roared, and Atlanta had an 80-69 win over the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday night. The series is tied 3-3. The first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history is Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco at 8 p.m. ET.

The final score undersells how early the game turned. Atlanta led 32-15 after the first quarter and by 25 at halftime, a halftime margin ESPN reported as the largest by a team facing elimination in Finals history. Golden State cut into the lead in the second half but did not get within single digits in the final five minutes.

Game 6 arrived with Golden State one win from the title and Atlanta coming off a loss in Game 5. The Dream spent the two days before Thursday talking about getting back to the style that produced their two earlier wins in the series, and they opened the game with the ball moving and the shots falling.

Thirteen threes

Atlanta made 13 3-pointers. ESPN and USA TODAY both noted the total tied the WNBA Finals record for a team facing elimination, matching the 2023 Liberty and the 2006 Shock. USA TODAY counted Atlanta at 43.3% from beyond the arc for the game.

Six of those threes came in the first quarter, on 6-of-8 shooting, which matched Atlanta's 3-point total from all of Game 5. ESPN reported it was the first 30-point quarter the Valkyries had allowed in franchise history. Rhyne Howard made four 3-pointers, Gray made five, and Angel Reese made two, the second one in the fourth quarter putting Atlanta ahead by 19.

A 13-three night depends on shot quality and on the defense having to guard the arc, and Atlanta got both. USA TODAY reported that the Dream are 16-0 this season when Reese makes a 3-pointer, a number that says less about her shooting than about what her makes have meant for the team's spacing. Ticket prices for Game 6 and Game 7 tracked the series as it went the distance.

Gray and the left hand

Gray finished with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 5-of-7 from three, her second-highest scoring playoff game, according to ESPN. She also had two steals and three blocks, and as the primary defender she held the Valkyries to 2-of-17 shooting. ESPN reported she became the second player in league history to make at least five 3s in a Finals game when facing elimination.

She has said she is not fully healthy. She injured multiple fingers on her left hand in Game 1 of the semifinals and needed what ESPN described as a minor procedure, which affected her shot through the first five games of the Finals. She sat beside Reese after Game 6 with an ice bag on that hand.

Dream coach Karl Smesko said he spoke with Gray on Wednesday about what he needed from her. "The execution from film and practice to the floor was flawless on her part," Smesko said. Gray said she was giving herself grace and that the shots fell, then added that she could not take her foot off the gas in Game 7.

Reese, Howard and a players-only meeting

Reese finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds, per ESPN. USA TODAY's recap listed 14 rebounds, and a live entry earlier in the fourth quarter had her at 13, so the two outlets do not agree on the final count. USA TODAY counted it as her fourth double-double of the series.

Howard scored 21 points and made four 3-pointers after a slow start to the Finals. Jordin Canada added 10 points. Reese said the team had its swagger back and credited a players-only meeting with restoring the tone the Dream played with earlier in the series.

For Golden State, Gabby Williams scored 26 points and Tiffany Hayes had 15. USA TODAY's in-game log had the Valkyries at 5-for-16 around the basket and 3-of-13 elsewhere in the paint, a set of misses that kept Atlanta's lead comfortable even as the pace slowed.

What Game 7 asks

Saturday's game is at Chase Center, and it is the first time a WNBA title will be decided in a seventh game. Both teams have played six games in 12 days, and the travel and the short turnaround apply to both rosters. The Finals venue question explains how the schedule was built around available arenas.

The series has moved with 3-point shooting. Golden State won the opener, Atlanta won Games 2 and 3, Golden State won Games 4 and 5, and Atlanta won Game 6 by making 13 threes. Our report on Game 2 covered the first shift in the series, when Atlanta answered a narrow loss with a stronger second half.

One game decides the title, and both teams have now shown they can win in this series. The team that wins Saturday will be the one whose half-court offense still produces good shots on a night when the 3-pointers do not fall at 43%.

Game 7 removes the correction. There is no next game to fix a defensive assignment or a cold quarter, and both teams have already seen what the other does when the threes fall. The Dream's 16-0 record when Reese makes a 3-pointer and the Valkyries' 2-of-17 night against Gray describe the same thing from opposite sides: in this series, the team that wins the arc usually wins the game.