Valkyries vs. Dream: Gabby Williams Scores 30 as Golden State Wins WNBA Finals Game 7 for Its First Title

Halloween night in San Francisco ended with confetti falling from the Chase Center rafters, a violet-clad sellout crowd of 18,064 losing its collective mind, and Gabby Williams pulling on a pair of goggles for the locker room party. The Golden State Valkyries are WNBA champions.

Williams poured in 30 points on Saturday night, and the Valkyries outlasted the Atlanta Dream 68-63 to take Game 7 of the WNBA Finals, the series 4-3 and a title in just the franchise's second season. The Associated Press called it the first WNBA Finals Game 7, and it delivered: four lead changes, a tie at 57 with 2:41 left and a jump ball in the final seconds.

How This Thing Got to Seven

For anyone who missed it, the short version: Golden State took Game 1 at home, 68-64, with Williams scoring 26 and icing it at the line. Angel Reese answered with 30 points and 16 rebounds in a 79-65 Game 2 win that gave Atlanta its first Finals victory after going 0-10 across three previous trips. The series moved to State Farm Arena, where the Dream rolled 97-71 in Game 3 to go up 2-1.

That is when coach Natalie Nakase blew up her lineup. She started Tiffany Hayes and Kaila Charles, moved Kayla Thornton and Cecilia Zandalasini to the bench, and the Valkyries won Game 4 in Atlanta 67-62. They followed with a 64-55 defensive suffocation in Game 5 that included a 25-22 halftime score, the lowest-scoring combined first half in WNBA Finals history. Facing elimination in a Thursday matinee, Atlanta scored 32 in the first quarter and won Game 6 80-69.

One more wrinkle: the team leading at halftime had won all six games. Hold that thought.

Atlanta Owned the First Half. Williams Owned the Rest

The Valkyries jumped out first, opening on an 8-0 run and leading 14-12 after one. Then Atlanta did what Atlanta does. A 9-0 burst in the second quarter flipped a 14-11 deficit into a 20-14 lead, Golden State managed just 10 points in the period, and the Dream went to the locker room up 30-24. By the series' own logic, the trophy was already halfway to Georgia.

Nakase had a different read. "Nat told me to stay patient, I trust her with my life," Williams said.

The patience paid off quickly. Golden State won the third quarter 21-14, and Williams scored the team's final 11 points of the period to send the Valkyries into the fourth up 45-44. The fourth quarter turned into a staring contest. It was tied at 53 with 3:34 left before Williams hit two free throws, Allisha Gray matched her, Williams scored on a drive, and Rhyne Howard's driving layup knotted it at 57.

A 31-Footer for the Time Capsule

With 2:18 left and the building holding its breath, Veronica Burton found Williams well beyond the arc. The play-by-play logs it as a 31-foot 3-pointer. The scoreboard logged it as 60-57, and Atlanta never drew even again. Williams added two free throws at 1:40, and Kiah Stokes tipped in a miss with 53.8 seconds left for a 64-57 cushion.

Atlanta did not go quietly. Gray drilled a 3 with 34.2 seconds left, and after Hayes and Reese traded free throws, Gray made two more with 10.5 seconds to go to make it 66-63. Atlanta then tied up Williams for a jump ball against Gray. Burton came away with it and sank two free throws with 5.1 seconds left. Cue the confetti.

Gabby Williams, Postseason Final Boss

Thirty points on 10-of-23 shooting, 4 of 8 from deep, 6 of 6 at the line, four blocks and two steals. Nobody else on either side scored more than 18. Per the AP, only two players in WNBA history have scored at least 30 points in a winner-take-all Finals game: Penny Taylor, for Phoenix in 2007, and now Williams. Per the team, her averages of 19.6 points and 2.6 steals per game led all players in the series, and she was named Finals MVP.

"All it took was good people," she said. "All we heard last year was we don't have no stars. We don't have no talent. Yeah right! We got good people."

Burton, cut by Dallas two years ago according to the AP, posted a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Stokes grabbed 13 rebounds, blocked two shots and is now a four-time WNBA champion, with her first three won in Las Vegas. Hayes, the 37-year-old who spent 10 seasons with the Dream, scored 11 against her old team.

For Atlanta, Jordin Canada led with 18 and Gray had 16, but the Dream shot 33 percent and went 6 of 30 from 3. Howard scored six on 3-of-14 shooting and missed all seven of her 3s. Reese finished with eight points, 12 rebounds and four turnovers. Atlanta's DeWanna Bonner made history in defeat: per the AP, no player in WNBA history had reached 600 career postseason defensive rebounds before she did.

Championship Math

• 15 of 16: Golden State's free throw shooting, including Williams' perfect 6 of 6. Atlanta went 11 of 15.
• 6 of 30: Atlanta from 3-point range, with Howard going 0 for 7.
• 8 to 2: The Valkyries' edge in blocks. Williams had four by herself.
• 44-33: Golden State's second-half scoring edge after trailing 30-24 at the break.
• 16-0: Atlanta's record this season when Reese made at least one 3, per the AP, entering Saturday. She made one, and the Dream lost.

Year 2, Ring No. 1

The Valkyries finish the postseason 9-4 after beating Dallas 2-1, sweeping Las Vegas 3-0 and outlasting Atlanta 4-3. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, as cited by the team, Golden State won a title faster than any North American professional expansion team since 1967, counting the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB and WNBA. Owner Joe Lacob guaranteed a title within the franchise's first five years when the Bay Area was granted the team three years ago, and the Valkyries cashed that promise in Year 2.

"These ladies deserve all the credit in the world for the incredible resilience, every last one of them, and our coach," Lacob said.

Atlanta leaves with a fourth Finals trip and still no championship, but this group dragged a champion all the way to the final possessions of a seventh game.

Trick, Treat, Trophy

Golden State spent last season hearing it had no stars. Turns out the Valkyries had one, and she was saving her best for the fourth quarter of the biggest night in franchise history. Halloween is about costumes. Williams spent the night dressed as exactly what Nakase calls her: "Gabby is our closer she stayed patient, she stayed with it."

Co-owner Peter Guber summed up the logistics problem: "We gotta build a bigger trophy case."

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes and historical notes as reported by the Associated Press; championship and MVP figures from the Golden State Valkyries.