Two sweeps set up the final
The WNBA Finals open on Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco, where the Golden State Valkyries host the Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of a best-of-seven series. Tip-off is 3:30 pm ET on NBC and Peacock.
Both teams arrived by sweeping their semifinal series. Golden State, the number two seed, beat the defending champion Las Vegas Aces 3-0, closing out the series with an 87-77 overtime win. Atlanta, seeded fourth, swept the New York Liberty to reach the Finals for the first time since 2013.
A second-year team against a patient veteran
The Valkyries finished the regular season 32-12, a nine-win improvement over their inaugural campaign, and won all three regular-season meetings with Atlanta. Point guard Veronica Burton called the run unimaginable after the overtime clincher, saying the team is making history in just its second year.
Atlanta's path was different. The Dream built their season around balanced scoring and late-game defence rather than one dominant star, and they enter the series with a healthier rotation than they had in July, when the Valkyries beat them three times in eleven days. Guard Gray had a minor procedure on her hand and is listed as day to day.
What to watch
Golden State host Games 1, 2 and, if needed, 5 and 7 under a 2-2-1-1-1 format. Games 3 and 4 have been moved to State Farm Arena in Atlanta on 21 and 24 October, with the rest of the series scheduled through the end of the month.
The matchup is a test of pace against patience. The Valkyries want to run and shoot early in the clock; the Dream prefer to work the ball inside and drag games into the final five minutes. Whichever style holds first will likely decide the series.
The Finals are also a commercial milestone for the league after a season of record attendance and expansion talk. A seventh game, if needed, would fall on 31 October in San Francisco.