Dream Force WNBA's First Game 7 After 80-69 Win Over Valkyries

The WNBA has never played a Game 7, and it never will again be able to say that after Saturday night, when the league's 30th season concludes with its longest championship series on record. Atlanta and Golden State are tied 3-3.

Allisha Gray hit a corner 3-pointer to close out Atlanta's 80-69 victory Thursday at State Farm Arena, a result that kept the Dream's season intact and pushed the Finals to a deciding game. The chant that followed from the Atlanta crowd, "Dream in seven!", had no precedent. The league adopted a best-of-seven format for the Finals last year, but the Las Vegas Aces closed out the Phoenix Mercury in four games.

Saturday's game tips at 8 p.m. ET at Chase Center in San Francisco, exactly two weeks after the Finals opened Oct. 17. Golden State hosted Games 1, 2 and 5 and will host the decider.

History favors the home side. Across the eight championship series since 2005 that reached a final game, the host team won six of them.

Both rosters carry players who have already won titles. Kiah Stokes owns three rings with the Aces, and Tiffany Hayes was on one of those teams; Kayla Thornton won with the New York Liberty and Cecilia Zandalasini with the Minnesota Lynx. For Atlanta, DeWanna Bonner and Jordin Canada have two apiece, from Phoenix and Seattle, and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough won with Washington. Four of those titles were decided in a winner-take-all game.

The length of this series has drawn its own complaints. The travel alone has taken a toll on the players, with flights of 4½ hours each way between the cities. "You feel it mentally and you feel it physically," Bonner said. "It's how you handle it." Stokes, who has never played a seven-game series before, put it more bluntly: "But man, it is long."

The two teams have split along a clear line all series. Golden State's three wins came from its defense; Atlanta's three came from an offense that scored above 70 points in each. Thursday, the Valkyries trailed by as many as 25 points in the first half. Veronica Burton said the team "didn't quit," unlike its losses in Games 2 and 3.

By now the scouting reports are finished. "We know the schemes, they know our set, we know their tendencies and they know theirs," Stokes said. Gabby Williams, Golden State's leading scorer, described the pregame handshakes as "a little softer" and called Saturday's matchup "probably going to be the hardest game that we will play in our entire lives." Gray offered her own warning about the mental side: "You can't let your opponent win the mental game."

Atlanta led the series after wins in Games 1 and 2, then dropped three straight before answering in Game 6. The Dream have not won a championship since joining the league; the Valkyries are in their first season. Reese, asked what Saturday requires, said: "You're going to have to peel me off the court."