On Saturday evening in Atlanta, the Golden State Valkyries did what was least expected of them: after two straight losses, they returned to their signature game and defeated the Atlanta Dream 67:62, evening the score in the WNBA Finals 2-2. The main paradox of the evening lies not in the score, but in how a team that had lost its previous game by a margin of 26 points suddenly became impenetrable again.
The key to victory lay not in the offense, but in the defense. The Valkyries completely neutralized Angel Reese, who in the previous two games had averaged 25,5 points and 14 rebounds. In the fourth meeting, she had only eight points on 2 of 12 shooting. Guard Kaila Charles and center Kiah Stokes forced Reese to miss from under the basket and turn the ball over, while the team as a whole allowed the Dream to convert only 33 percent of their shots.
The leader of the Valkyries was Gabby Williams — 17 points, three steals and three assists. It was she who, before the game, urged her teammates to "leave no regrets," and the team responded. Tiffany Hayes and Veronica Burton added 13 points each, and Burton also made the decisive free throw with 28 seconds left. The Dream tried to come back in the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to four points, but the Valkyries did not flinch.
The psychological turning point came before the game. After the rout in the third game, coach Natalie Nakase and the team's leaders realized: they needed to return to the version of themselves that had brought them to the Finals. Instead of trying to outplay the Dream on offense, they bet on tough defense and tempo control. It worked: the Valkyries dominated in the paint (38 points to 28) and did not allow their opponents to score easy points in fast breaks.
For the Atlanta Dream, the loss was a lesson. Rhine Howard scored 19 points and was the best on her team, but support from Reese and Allisha Gray was not enough. The Dream led the series 2-1, but could not close it out at home. Now the series returns to California, where the fifth game will take place on Monday.
What happened in Atlanta shows that in the WNBA, the Finals are not only about stars and offense, but also about a team's ability to remember its identity at a critical moment. The Valkyries proved they know how to do that. From here on, it only gets tougher.
