Gabby Williams went into halftime of Game 7 of the WNBA Finals (LIVE LOG) with 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting. Over the final 20 minutes Saturday night at Chase Center in San Francisco, she scored 28 more, and the Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 to win a championship in the franchise’s second season.
Williams finished with 30 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals, and four blocks, three of them before halftime, and was named Finals MVP. Her 28 points after the break set a WNBA Finals record for a half.
Golden State took the series 4-3. It was the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history, and it was played in front of a sellout crowd of 18,064 (Social Media Reacts). Atlanta has now lost in the Finals four times in franchise history.
The Dream led 30-24 at the break, and Williams had taken four shots in 17 minutes and 41 seconds. After the game, she took the podium with Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase and center Kiah Stokes.
“Nat told me to stay patient,” Williams said. “I trust her with my life. I stayed patient. I trusted her. She said, ‘Stay patient, stay patient. The game is going to open up for you [and] it did.’”
“It’s what we did all year, just trust each other,” Williams continued.
Impossible to overlook. Impossible to ignore. Your 2026 @WNBA Finals MVP, Gabby Williams. Gabby is the only player in WNBA Finals history to record 30+ points, 4+ blocks and 2+ steals in a game. @JWinery | Celebrating Milestones https://t.co/tgaADY9Hbj
— Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries) November 1, 2026
Williams’ Third Quarter
Atlanta’s lead reached nine when DeWanna Bonner scored on a layup with 5:59 left in the third quarter, making it 37-28. Stokes and Cecilia Zandalasini answered with baskets, and a Williams driving layup at 4:17 cut the deficit to 37-34.
Isobel Borlase hit a 3-pointer for the Dream at 3:19. Williams answered with a 26-foot step-back 3-pointer at 2:58. After Borlase scored on a drive, Williams made another 3 from 26 feet at 2:22. Angel Reese followed with a hook, and Williams hit a third 3-pointer, this one from 24 feet, with 2:00 left in the quarter to cut Atlanta’s lead to 44-43.
With 1:05 remaining, Williams’ 11-foot turnaround put Golden State ahead 45-44. It was the first Valkyries lead since the opening minute of the second quarter. Williams scored the team’s last 13 points of the third and finished the period with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Jordin Canada, who led Atlanta with 18 points, sat beside Reese and Allisha Gray at the Dream’s postgame podium.
“I just think Gabby started to get going a little bit, and I think this made everybody on the Valkyries start to get their confidence and started making the hustle plays,” Canada said. “We were losing the 50/50 battles and not boxing out. I thought we were getting the looks that we should have been getting. We just didn’t knock it down. But I think that was the shift in the energy of Gabby getting going from the 3-point line.”
The Final Five Minutes
Gray’s 11-foot fadeaway tied the game 53-53 with 5:14 remaining. At 4:09, Golden State won a coach’s challenge that overturned a foul on Williams and turned the play into a Williams block on a Canada drive. Atlanta committed a shot-clock violation on the same possession.
From the tie, Williams scored nine straight Golden State points. She made two free throws at 3:34, and after Gray tied it again at the line, Williams drove for a layup at 3:02. Rhyne Howard’s layup tied the game for the third time in the quarter, 57-57, with 2:41 to go.
Williams pulled up from 31 feet off a pass from Veronica Burton and made it 60-57 with 2:18 left. Atlanta called timeout. Two more Williams free throws at 1:40 put the Valkyries up five, and Stokes’ tip-in with 53.8 seconds left made it 64-57.
GOLDEN STATE VALKYRIES
2026 WNBA CHAMPIONS! In their second season EVER! #wnba #wnbafinals #valkyries #goldenstatevalkyries https://t.co/AaIC9XK4Jt
— Ballislife Bets (@BallislifeBets) November 1, 2026
The Last 34 Seconds
Gray hit a 3-pointer with 34.2 seconds remaining. Tiffany Hayes and Reese traded free throws, and Gray made two more at 10.5 seconds after Reese stole a Williams pass, cutting the margin to 66-63. On the next possession, Williams and Gray tied up for a jump ball. Burton came away with the tip and made both free throws with 5.1 seconds left. Howard missed a 29-foot 3-pointer in the final seconds.
Golden State went 10-of-10 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. Williams scored 13 of the Valkyries’ 23 points in the period, and all six of her free throws came in the final 7:44.
After halftime, she made 9-of-19 shots, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range.
“Unfortunately, today we had more miscommunications and kind of breakdowns, especially that second half, than what we’ve had all series,” Dream coach Karl Smesko said. “But we did know where the help was supposed to come, and we did know how we were supposed to guard Gabby. And give Gabby all the credit. If we break down and we don’t execute it at a high level, she made us pay, and she made us pay repeatedly, and just really got it going. I give her all the credit.”
Williams on Naz Hillmon
Williams spent Game 7 guarding Naz Hillmon. The Atlanta forward finished with 3 points on 1-of-5 shooting, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in 32 minutes.
“I tell you, y’all think I know what I’m doing,” Nakase said. “I switch things just to switch it up. You think there’s some science behind it, it really isn’t. It’s just literally just to mix it up.”
Hillmon took two shots after halftime and did not score.
“I thought that was smart because like we had been using Naz more as a screener and gave her the opportunity to switch more of those screens,” Smesko explained, “so then we kind of tried to switch who was setting some of the screens. But really, I thought if we could just get into transition more and get the actions that we wanted to get to in transition, that they were going to have to switch out some other things any ways, and some of those matchup things wouldn’t have been as important.”
“But if you get through a possession and there’s no screening action, no cutting action, then they can just load up to the ball and kind of limit what kind of shots you’re going to get,” Smesko continued.
“So I thought it was a good move by them and I just didn’t think that we executed our offense the way we did in Game 6,” Smesko added.
Joe Lacob’s Five-Year Target
Valkyries owner Joe Lacob said on Oct. 5, 2023, the day his group was awarded the expansion franchise, that the team would win a WNBA championship within its first five years, according to The Associated Press. Golden State hired Nakase as its first coach in October 2024. She was an assistant with the Las Vegas Aces when they won titles in 2022 and 2023.
“I’m impatient. I’m impatient. But no, No. 1, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Joe,” Nakase explained. “Joe interviewed me. He hired me. He believed in myself and he set the standard. Look, whoever takes this job has to win in five years, and so it’s like, yes, that’s going to happen but even faster.”
“I’m impatient. I’m obsessive but it’s because he pushes me,” Nakase continued. “He pushes me. He leads. He says, look, we’re going to take care of and we are going to get all the resources you want, and so that’s what I’m saying, is someone who invests in women’s sports, this is a result.”
“So it starts with Joe, his leadership, his care factor for us,” Nakase added. “He shows up. Joe shows up for every playoff game. Like with that type of support, he shows up, that means everything to me. So I appreciate you, Joe.”
In 1996, Bay Area Venture capitalist Joe Lacob had a dream of building a championship sports franchise. Joe believed women’s basketball was the next big thing & wanted to show his daughters that women’s sports matter. So he invested in the newly formed American Basketball League & became the owner of the San Jose Lasers, but the league abruptly folded in 1998 & Lacob lost $10million dollars. He said he had no regrets he still believed in women’s basketball. 30 years nearly to the day that the Lasers played their first game, the Valkyries played in game 1 of the WNBA Finals. Now they are champions. A dream deferred until the world was ready. You did it Joe. #wnba #valkyries
— Kylen Mills (@KylenMills) November 1, 2026
Williams’ Return to the Bay Area
Williams signed with Golden State before this season after playing for the Seattle Storm. She played youth basketball in the Bay Area, according to the AP. She attended high school in Reno, Nev.
“That matters, it really does,” Williams explained. “Mr. Joe, again, that matters. It’s like I’m driving to the game, I’m stressed, nervous, I see a Valkyries Waymo, I see a billboard, I see buildings lit up in purple and I see ‘Go Valks’ everywhere, and all I’m thinking is I can’t lose. I’m on the drive, like this is the moment.”
“This is my time to give it my everything for this community, just driving to — I live in Oakland,” Williams continued. “I live farther than the other girls and my drive is longer and I pass a lot of Valkyries sh– and I’m like, this is the community I want to play for and I just want to thank Mr. Joe for that investment.”
Stokes, Burton, and Hayes
Stokes finished with eight points, 13 rebounds, and 2 blocks, and four of her rebounds came on the offensive glass. Her tip-in with 53.8 seconds left was the Valkyries’ last field goal.
“I would just tell my mini me, just embrace it,” Stokes said. “I took a leap leaving Vegas. So I took a chance. Obviously me and Natalie have history. I would have just told myself, trust your gut. Be where your feet are and lean into it.”
“I went to a team where I knew a few players but not that many,” Stokes continued. “The coaching staff, I know Gabby from college. It’s the perfect storm and it was something special and I would just tell myself, just trust your gut. You’ve got it. The sky is the limit and you can achieve anything.”
Burton posted 10 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists in 38 minutes and 45 seconds, the most minutes of anyone in the game. She shot 3-of-13 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line. Burton was the WNBA’s Most Improved Player in 2025, the same season Nakase was named Coach of the Year.
Hayes added 11 points, including 6 in the fourth quarter. Kaila Charles had 4 points and 7 rebounds in 36 minutes.
The Dream’s Fourth Finals
Canada scored 11 of her 18 points in the second quarter, when Atlanta outscored Golden State 18-10. Gray scored 11 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter.
Howard shot 3-of-14 for 6 points and missed all seven of her 3-point attempts. Atlanta shot 23-of-69 from the field and 6-of-30 from beyond the arc. The Dream scored 18 second-chance points to Golden State’s 9.
The Valkyries shot 24-of-64 overall and 5-of-20 from 3-point range.
“From our end, for a series, we probably played the best defense you could play in a series without winning the series,” Smesko said. “So we’ve got to go back and figure out how we can make our offense more efficient and be in a situation even when you go against a great defense, we can kind of dictate the shots that we want a little better than we did consistently in this series.”
Reese finished with 8 points, 12 rebounds, and four turnovers.
“It’s tough,” Reese said. “Especially with the good group, great group, that I’ve honestly had the honor to battle with all year. They changed my life, and I’m just so grateful for them and I’m so thankful for them. It is tough in the moment but we’ll be back.”
“I always say, delayed, not denied and this is only year three,” Reese continued. “They have a lot [more] years left, too. I’m just really grateful that I got to go to war with this group and I would do it again, all over again.”
Atlanta brought back Gray, Hillmon, and Brionna Jones in April. Jones has not played since injuring her left leg Aug. 13, and the team announced in September that she would miss the rest of the season. She was listed inactive for Game 7.
The post ‘Stay Patient’: How Gabby Williams Won the Valkyries a Title in Year Two appeared first on Ballislife.com.