{"id":890848,"date":"2026-10-22T14:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T14:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/890848\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T14:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T14:30:19","slug":"wnba-finals-game-3-do-atlanta-dream-have-golden-state-valkyries-number","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/890848\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA Finals Game 3: Do Atlanta Dream have Golden State Valkyries’ number?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are the WNBA Finals<\/a> a wrap?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the question hanging over the Golden State Valkyries<\/a> after the Atlanta Dream\u2019s<\/a> lopsided 97-71 win in Game 3 on Wednesday night in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

The Dream leads the series 2-1, and the Valkyries\u2019 dramatic come-from-behind Game 1 victory<\/a> is quickly becoming a distant memory. Since that game, troubling trends have emerged.<\/p>\n

Golden State has led very little in all three games, including Game 1. Atlanta led most of all four quarters on Saturday before the Valkyries mounted a late fourth-quarter comeback to steal the opener.<\/p>\n

But since the Dream pulled away in the second half of Game 2, it\u2019s been all Atlanta. The Dream have not trailed since the 8:48 mark of the third quarter of Monday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

And they have the confidence to back it up. After Wednesday\u2019s win, Angel Reese, who has been generally unstoppable, essentially declared that Atlanta will finish the job. Game 4 is Saturday morning in Atlanta, and then the series returns to Chase Center on Monday night in what could be a clincher for the Dream if the Valkyries can\u2019t find a way to stop Reese and Co.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we win a championship for the city of Atlanta that has done so much and poured so much into the sports here, that\u2019s what\u2019s going to feel amazing more than anything,\u201d Reese told reporters in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Reese scored 21 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in Game 3, making her the first player in WNBA history to record a double-double in each of her first three Finals games. She joined five-time MVP A\u2019ja Wilson as the only players to average 21.7 points per game and 13.3 rebounds per game across any three-game stretch of the WNBA Finals.<\/p>\n

She was also caught on camera saying \u201cYou can\u2019t guard me\u201d to reserve center Aminata Gueye and \u201cShe can\u2019t (expletive) with me\u201d to the Valkyries\u2019 bench.<\/p>\n

In the face of that resolve, what will the Valkyries do in response?<\/p>\n

Gabby Williams and Natalie Nakase both appeared confident in Golden State\u2019s ability to turn things around after Game 3, avoiding making excuses while noting the length of the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n

Nakase seemed particularly unbothered as she discussed bouncing back and what it will take to even the series on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t think they\u2019re confident? They\u2019re fine,\u201d Nakase said of her players. \u201cOur fight has never not been there. This is a long series. We\u2019ve been down before. We\u2019ve come back from games where we\u2019ve been down. It\u2019s a longer series, you guys can map it out like a long game. We\u2019re resilient. We\u2019ve done it before. They know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She took responsibility for the losses and said she needed to figure out \u201ca couple different schemes that could be a little bit more aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what are those answers? Golden State wasn\u2019t particularly good in any facet on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Valkyries shot just 34.8% from the field (24 of 69), which was their best percentage of the series, and allowed their highest point total in regulation since Game 1 of their 2025 playoff series against the Minnesota Lynx.<\/p>\n

Though they perhaps relied on it more than was ideal \u2013 Atlanta had a 44-20 edge in paint points \u2013 the Valkyries did shoot 40% from 3 on 30 attempts. That breakthrough was powered by strong performances for Cecilia Zandalasini and Janelle Sala\u00fcn, who went a combined 7 of 10 from deep.<\/p>\n

Williams went 3 of 8 from 3 but again struggled from the field overall, making 5 of 18 attempts and finishing with 15 points.<\/p>\n

She refused to blame her knee, which Dream guard Jordin Canada landed on late in Game 1 after Williams shot a free throw, for her performance. But Williams was seen postgame with ice on her knee and was out of rhythm for much of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she said when asked if her knee was OK. \u201cSometimes shots don\u2019t fall. We don\u2019t want to make it about offense. They score 97, we have no chance. We have to just go back to our defense, and that will get our offense going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Valkyries have sung the refrain of defense intensity powering offensive efficiency all season, and they aren\u2019t stopping now. But without dramatic improvement on both sides of the ball, Atlanta could be celebrating a championship when the series returns to Ballhalla on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a lot of us being undisciplined, being really loose with the ball,\u201d said veteran guard Tiffany Hayes, one of the four Valkyries with previous Finals experience. \u201cIt\u2019s very uncharacteristic of us. We got to get back to who we are. If they bring some pressure, we have to stay together. We have to not get flustered, just give the ball up. We need to make some adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our special Valkyries newsletter<\/a> for game analysis, scores, and everything you want to know about the team from Ballhalla.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Are the WNBA Finals a wrap? It\u2019s the question hanging over the Golden State Valkyries after the Atlanta…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[402,3805,2356,4804,10831,2558,10836,5284,10838,99,434],"class_list":["post-890848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-basketball","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-peninsula","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-county","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}