Dream Beat Valkyries 80-69 in Game 6, Force First Game 7 in WNBA Finals History

The Atlanta Dream scored 32 points in the first quarter Thursday afternoon and beat the Golden State Valkyries 80-69 in Game 6 of the WNBA Finals at State Farm Arena, tying the best-of-seven series 3-3.

Game 7 is Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco. No WNBA Finals had gone to a seventh game before this one.

Allisha Gray led Atlanta with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Rhyne Howard added 21 points, and Angel Reese finished with 15 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Gabby Williams scored a game-high 26 for Golden State. She scored 22 of them after halftime.

Veronica Burton scored the first basket of the game on an 18-foot step-back jumper. Gray answered with a 3-pointer at the 9:04 mark, and the Dream never trailed again. It was the only lead change of the afternoon.

From 6-5, Atlanta scored the next 13 points. Gray hit a floater and a 3-pointer in that stretch, Reese converted a three-point play, and Jordin Canada added a 3-pointer and a fast-break layup off her own steal.

Gray planned to be aggressive from the start, and her first 3-pointer got the shooter's roll.

"Just offensive execution," Gray said. "We know [when] we play Atlanta Dream basketball and support each other and move the ball, we're successful. So the biggest thing was just executing the offense."

Atlanta made 11 of its 15 shots in the opening quarter, 6 of them from beyond the arc on 8 attempts. Golden State went 5-of-17.

By halftime it was 46-26. The Valkyries made 9 of their 34 first-half shots, and Williams was 1-of-9.

Howard's pull-up jumper with 4:21 left in the second quarter made it 44-19. The margin hit 25 again with 7:19 left in the third, when Howard made both free throws after a flagrant 1 foul on Burton.

The Dream had 12 assists on 17 first-half field goals. Dream coach Karl Smesko said that was the way Atlanta is capable of playing.

"I liked it. I like offense," Smesko said. "No, we played with a different spacing and pace. In truth, it's how we are supposed to play. So it's just getting back to our fundamentals of how we like to play offense. And in the first half, you saw it."

"Catching it ready to shoot, the pace of one action leading directly into another action, to getting the ball out and going and putting some pressure on them in transition," Smesko continued. "It's just the way that we're capable of playing and the way we're supposed to play. And I give our players so much credit for the way they came out today. They were relentless."

Kaila Charles made two 3-pointers in the third quarter, the second with 1.2 seconds left, and Golden State won the period 21-17.

Reese's 3-pointer with 5:43 left in the fourth put Atlanta up 74-55. The Dream did not make another field goal for 4:47.

Golden State scored 14 of the next 17 points, and Williams had 11 of them. Howard fouled out with 1:15 left on a Williams fast-break layup, and the free throw that followed made it 77-69.

On the next trip, Reese found Gray for a 3-pointer with 56 seconds left. The Valkyries missed their last three shots.

Golden State allowed 48 points over the final three quarters. The defense cleaned up after the opening 10 minutes, as Burton saw it.

"We talk about it. They scored 32 points in the first quarter," Burton said. "That's unacceptable on our end. So just got to play better defense. Obviously, they were hitting good shots and getting good looks. I think we were spread out a little bit, but we cleaned it up in the other quarters defensively, but can't let that happen right out the gate. There needs to be a sense of urgency. It's the WNBA Finals."

The Valkyries shot 31.4% from the field and 7-of-27 from 3-point range. They went 18-of-21 at the free-throw line.

Tiffany Hayes scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Burton finished with 8 points on 2-of-13, along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

Atlanta scored 18 points off 11 Golden State turnovers.

Golden State won Game 1 68-64. Atlanta took Game 2 79-65 and Game 3 97-71, and the Valkyries won Game 4 67-62 and Game 5 64-55 on Monday.

Thursday's tip-off was set for 12:30 p.m. ET, a slot that let the Dream host Game 6 at State Farm Arena. The Atlanta Hawks host the Cleveland Cavaliers in the same building at 8 p.m. ET. The crowd of 17,099 was a sellout.

Reese thanked fans for turning out on a weekday afternoon in an on-court interview after the win.

Golden State, in its second season, went 32-12 as the No. 2 seed. Atlanta went 30-14 as the No. 4 seed. Neither franchise has won a WNBA title.

Atlanta is 1-2 at Chase Center in the series. Game 7 tips off at 8 p.m. ET Saturday on USA Network and Peacock.