The primary-ever WNBA Finals Recreation 7 delivered on Saturday evening.
Whereas trick-or-treaters had been out looking for sweet, a 68-63 Golden State Valkyries title-clinching victory proved popcorn-worthy.
Natalie Nakase’s squad rallied on Halloween to take down the Atlanta Dream, and the must-watch showdown at San Francisco’s Chase Middle averaged 3.3 million viewers on USA Community, CNBC and Peacock, turning into the most-watched WNBA recreation because the league’s innaugural season in 1997.
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Gabby Williams put up a 30-piece, scoring a WNBA postseason-record 28 second-half factors and giving her Valkyries a shot within the arm after they trailed 30-24 on the break. Williams, this 12 months’s Finals MVP, in the end powered Golden State to a monumental victory over Angel Reese, Allisha Grey, Rhyne Howard and the remainder of the Dream at Ballhalla.
In a matchup of two franchises trying to find their first-ever league championship, the nascent Valkyries — simply of their second season of existence — got here out on prime.
The Dream, at the moment led by Karl Smesko, have now misplaced within the Finals every of the 4 instances they’ve superior that far. It was their first look within the Finals since 2013.
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This season was solely the second in league historical past that featured a best-of-seven Finals. The W expanded the sequence from a best-of-five in 2024, first implementing the change final season. However the 2025 marketing campaign ended considerably unceremoniously, with the Las Vegas Aces sweeping the Phoenix Mercury in 4 video games.
In 2026, the WNBA obtained the total best-of-seven expertise, that includes not solely its first-ever Recreation 7 but in addition, within the course of, its first-ever Recreation 6.
Notably, the timing of Recreation 6 was hotly debated after scheduling problems resulted within the contest beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET final Thursday.
Again then, the Valkyries had a 3-2 lead within the sequence and had been on the highway. The early tip-off stemmed from a battle that was pervasive all through the sequence. With the intention to proceed to play Dream dwelling playoff video games at State Farm Enviornment, they needed to work across the venue’s prior commitments, together with these to the NBA’s Hawks.
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When it got here to Recreation 6, that iteration of Valkyries-Dream needed to be performed early — that’s, if it was going to happen on Thursday, as a result of a beforehand scheduled Hawks recreation that evening. That compromise was scrutinized, resulting in a Dream possession clarifying that, on a number of events, it had raised issues concerning the matter.
Nonetheless, regardless of all of that controversy, Recreation 6 nonetheless generated comparatively spectacular viewership numbers. The truth is, the Dream’s series-extending 80-69 victory went down because the fifth most-watched WNBA Finals recreation on cable to this point, based on USA Sports activities PR.
As a complete, the sequence zigged and zagged, with Golden State taking Video games 1, 4, 5 and seven, whereas Atlanta wound up profitable Video games 2, 3 and 6. Alongside the way in which, Reese — one of many greatest names within the sport — piled up 4 double-doubles, the second most a participant has recorded in a single WNBA Finals.
Ultimately, although, a well-rounded Valkyries workforce wore the crown, after Williams starred in an attention-grabbing winner-take-all recreation on Saturday.
