Golden State Valkyries host Atlanta Dream as WNBA Finals open

The Golden State Valkyries open the franchise's first WNBA Finals appearance on Saturday against the Atlanta Dream, a best-of-seven series pairing the league's newest success story against a team still chasing its first title after three earlier tries. Game 1 is set for 3:30 p.m. Eastern at Chase Center, with the second-seeded Valkyries holding home-court advantage.

Golden State is only in its second season as an expansion franchise, having made the playoffs a year ago before losing in the first round to the Minnesota Lynx. This postseason, the Valkyries beat the Dallas Wings in three games and then swept the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals, closing out the series with an 87-77 overtime win on the road. Forward Gabby Williams, a two-time All-Star who finished runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year, led Golden State with 16 points in the clinching game and enters the Finals as the betting favorite for series MVP, according to lines published by the league.

Atlanta, seeded fourth, swept the Washington Mystics in the first round and then the New York Liberty in the semifinals, winning the Game 3 clincher 85-83 on two late free throws from DeWanna Bonner after Angel Reese and Rhyne Howard combined for 43 points. It is the Dream's fourth trip to the Finals and first since 2013; the franchise lost each of its previous three appearances, in 2010, 2011 and 2013, and has never won a Finals game.

A trade for Reese remade Atlanta's roster

Atlanta's run follows an offseason trade that brought in Reese, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, from the Chicago Sky after the Dream's early playoff exit last season. Reese, averaging career highs of 16.4 points and 12.1 rebounds, starts alongside Howard, the No. 1 overall pick in 2022, guard Allisha Gray, a four-time All-Star, and point guard Jordin Canada, who won two titles with the Seattle Storm before signing with Atlanta. The Dream set a franchise record with 30 wins in each of the past two seasons under coach Karl Smesko, in his second year in Atlanta after a long head-coaching career at Florida Gulf Coast.

Golden State's roster is built differently, around Williams, sixth-player-of-the-year winner Janelle Salaün and guard Veronica Burton, the third pick in last year's expansion draft who was named Most Improved Player. Coach Natalie Nakase, who won two championships as a Las Vegas Aces assistant, was named Coach of the Year last season for leading the Valkyries to the playoffs in the franchise's debut year. BetMGM lines cited by the league list Golden State as a slight series favorite and a 2.5-point favorite in Game 1 betting, with Atlanta close behind.

The league shifted part of the schedule this week, moving Game 3 up a day to Wednesday, Oct. 21, and pushing Game 4's tip-off to 1 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, Oct. 24, after the Dream opted to play both home games at State Farm Arena rather than the team's smaller regular-season venue. Games 1 and 2 remain at Chase Center on Saturday and Monday, and the series returns to San Francisco for a Game 5 on Oct. 26 if needed, with a possible Game 7 on Oct. 31.

Both semifinal sweeps were lopsided enough that neither team has lost since the opening round, a point noted in recaps of Golden State's sweep of Las Vegas and of Atlanta's sweep of New York. Whichever side wins will collect the first championship in its history, extending either the Valkyries' rapid rise or ending the longest Finals drought on the Dream's side of the bracket.