Dream beat Valkyries 97-71 for their first home Finals win and a 2-1 series lead
The Atlanta Dream beat the Golden State Valkyries 97-71 in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals on Wednesday at State Farm Arena and lead the series 2-1. The game was tied 49-49 with 7:45 left in the third quarter, and Atlanta outscored Golden State 22-8 the rest of the quarter.
Golden State never led. It was the Dream's first home win in a WNBA Finals game, after losing all three of their earlier home Finals games, and the third quarter once again decided the game.
The third quarter, a third time
Our Game 3 preview pointed out that Golden State had scored 9 points and taken no free throws in the third quarter of Games 1 and 2. On Wednesday the Valkyries scored 17 in the third and went 3 of 4 at the line, their first third-quarter free throws of the series. They still lost the quarter 25-17, because Atlanta made 10 of its 14 shots in it.
Cecilia Zandalasini made four threes in 2:51 of game time across halftime, the last a 24-foot step-back that tied it 48-48 at 8:52 of the third. Zandalasini's free throw made it 49-49 at 7:45.
Rhyne Howard answered with a reverse layup. Angel Reese made two free throws, Isobel Borlase scored on a driving layup off a Reese pass, and Reese's running layup at 5:25 made it 57-49 and forced a Golden State timeout.
A Tiffany Hayes driving layup cut it to 59-55 at 3:41. Atlanta then scored 12 of the last 14 points of the quarter. DeWanna Bonner hit a 24-foot three off a Howard pass at 3:03 and an 11-footer at 2:07, Borlase added a running layup, and Jordin Canada and Naz Hillmon scored inside in the final minute for a 71-57 lead after three.
| Game | Result | 3rd quarter | Other three quarters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | Valkyries 68-64 | Dream 17-9 | Valkyries 59-47 |
| Game 2 | Dream 79-65 | Dream 21-9 | Dream 58-56 |
| Game 3 | Dream 97-71 | Dream 25-17 | Dream 72-54 |
| Series | Dream 240-204 | Dream 63-35 | Dream 177-169 |
Atlanta has outscored Golden State by 36 points in the series, and 28 of them came in third quarters. Before Wednesday the Valkyries led the other three quarters combined, 115-105. Game 3 flipped that too.
How the first half went
Atlanta scored the first 6 points, and Golden State's first field goal, an Aminata Gueye basket, came at 4:38 of the first quarter. Golden State scored 7 straight points, 5 of them by Hayes, to make it 9-8, but Hillmon hit threes at 2:18 and 1:42, and Atlanta led 23-15 after one.
Reese and Howard hit back-to-back threes at 6:32 and 6:12 of the second quarter, and Canada's layup at 5:35 made it 35-23. Janelle Salaun kept Golden State close with three threes in the quarter. She finished with 13 points in 12 minutes. Zandalasini's three with 16.8 seconds left made it 46-40 at halftime.
The fourth quarter
Hillmon's layup off a Reese pass opened the fourth, and Howard's two free throws at 6:47 made it 80-60, Atlanta's first 20-point lead. Gabby Williams set up a Kiah Stokes layup and hit a 24-footer to make it 80-65.
After an Atlanta timeout, Borlase's floater, a Canada layup and a Bonner layup off a Borlase pass made it 86-65 at 4:33. The bench finished it: Sika Kone hit a three, Madina Okot converted a three-point play, and Kone's floater with 2.3 seconds left set the final margin at 26.
The numbers that decided it
- Two-point shots. Golden State made 12 of 30 threes but only 12 of 39 twos. Atlanta made 25 of 47 twos.
- Shooting. Atlanta shot 34 of 69 (49.3%). Neither team had shot better than 34.4% in the first two games.
- Turnovers. Golden State turned it over 17 times and Atlanta 10. Atlanta had 9 steals, 5 of them by Howard.
- Ball movement. Atlanta had 26 assists on 34 baskets. Canada had 8 and Allisha Gray 6.
Reese had 21 points and 12 rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting, including 2 of 2 from three, with 3 steals. Howard scored 16 with 5 steals, 4 assists and no turnovers. Hillmon scored 15 on 3-of-5 three-point shooting, and Borlase had 12 points and was +21, the best mark on either team.
Williams led Golden State with 15 points and 8 assists but shot 5 of 18. Hayes scored 14, and Stokes had 11 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Where it ranks
From the Full Court Buckets Finals database, which lists every WNBA Finals game since 2002 with a link to its official game record:
- Atlanta's first home Finals win. The Dream had lost Game 3 at home in 2010, 2011 and 2013, each time trailing the series 0-2.
- The Dream's biggest Finals win and highest Finals score. Their only other Finals win was Monday's 14-point Game 2. Their previous Finals high was 95 points, in a 2011 loss at Minnesota. Their two worst Finals losses were by 25, in Games 1 and 2 in 2013.
- A rare Finals margin. A 26-point margin is the seventh largest in a Finals game since 2002, and the largest since the Las Vegas Aces beat the New York Liberty 104-76 in Game 2 in 2023.
- No lead changes. Game 3 had none and was tied twice. Game 1 had 7 lead changes and Game 2 had 14.
Reese has 65 points and 40 rebounds through three Finals games. Howard has 12 steals, and Hillmon is +38, the best mark in the series.
What's next
My preview pick, Atlanta to win Game 3, was right. The lean, the under 153.5, missed: the teams combined for 168 points.
Game 4 is Saturday, Oct. 24, at 10 a.m. PT at State Farm Arena (WNBA release), on NBC and Peacock. The Finals are best of seven, so Atlanta is two wins from the first championship in franchise history. One lopsided game is a small sample, and Golden State won Game 1 by doing what it did not do Wednesday: winning the quarters outside the third.
Full Court Buckets gathers and verifies its own game data. Turnover totals include team turnovers.
TV: NBC ยท Stream: Peacock
Play-by-play: Full Court Buckets game page.
How this story was made: Ryan Moalemi picked the story and the angle. Full Court Buckets gathers its own game data and verifies it against official box scores. AI tools drafted it from that data and the sources linked above so it could post the same night, then Ryan reviewed and edited it before publishing. How we make Full Court Buckets
Full Court Buckets · WNBA News. Analysis. Commentary.