The WNBA Finals changed to a seven-game format last season, but last year’s Finals ended in a four-game sweep. This season, the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries have constantly swapped momentum and are taking this thing to the last possible date of the season Saturday night.
Neither team has won a title before — the Valkyries are in just their second season of existence, and the Dream have made it to the finals three previous times since forming in 2008.
The finals have been messy but entertaining. The Dream’s wins have all been by double digits, and the Valkyries have eked out single-digit wins. The Valkyries have yet to shoot 40 percent, something the Dream managed to do only twice in this series. Will the trends continue?
The winner will be decided by the end of Halloween night. Our experts have been there every step of the 2026 finals and are ready to make their Game 7 predictions:
Valkyries 68, Dream 63
Playing at home should solve the first-quarter energy problem for the Valkyries. They won’t be doomed by tentativeness this time. But they’ve also allowed Rhyne Howard and now Allisha Gray to regain confidence as scorers as this series wore on.
That, combined with the Dream already posting a road win at Chase Center, all but guarantees Atlanta will be in this game the whole way. But it’s just ugly enough for Golden State to make good on owner Joe Lacob’s championship guarantee. — Brian Hamilton
Valkyries 72, Dream 69
This is tough. When Atlanta is playing well, it’s a landslide. And the Dream boasts so many gamers. Game 7s are about great players, and Atlanta has them.
The Dream’s secret ingredient is making 3s. In Atlanta’s three finals wins, it totaled 29 3-pointers, never fewer than seven in a single game. In its three losses: 14 3s, topping out at six. Stretch that out over the playoffs. Atlanta is 7-0 when making at least seven 3s, and 1-3 when it doesn’t. What’s working in the Dream’s favor is the rhythm Howard has found, and Gray might still be on fire after Game 6.
But the road is tougher. The Dream have shot 17-for-76 from 3 on Golden State’s home court in the finals, a meager 22.4 percent. The Valkyries have held visitors to 28.1 percent from 3 in these playoffs. On top of that, Game 7s are traditionally brutal on shooting. Golden State is comfortable when shots don’t fall, considering they often don’t for the Valkyries. Atlanta needs shots to fall. In a close game, nail-biter, it’s hard not to go with the home team, and the Valkyries have thrived in heart-stoppers. — Marcus Thompson II
Valkyries 69, Dream 61
I took the Valkyries in seven to start this series, and I’m going down with the ship. Home teams are 11-2 in winner-take-all games in the WNBA Finals, and this game is taking place in Ballhalla. Golden State has won the close contests, while Atlanta has won with bigger margins, and Game 7s are often knock-down, drag-out affairs, which should favor the Valkyries. — Sabreena Merchant
Valkyries 69, Dream 65
My original prediction was the Dream in seven. I know I should probably feel more confident in that prediction considering their
Game 6 performance, but I actually feel the opposite.
Despite digging themselves into a deep hole, the Valkyries rallied to close the gap to eight points in the fourth quarter. They outscored the Dream in the second half 43-34. The Valkyries seemed steady in their assessment of their Game 6 performance, acknowledging they just didn’t come with the right energy in the first quarter.
The crowd at Ballhalla will certainly play a role and give the Valkyries an edge. They lost just five games at home during the regular season and just one during the postseason, Game 2 against the Dream. I don’t expect Kiah Stokes to drop another goose egg or for the Dream to have the same level of efficiency from deep.
Game 7 will be another knockdown, drag-out fight, and neither team will eclipse 70 points. Those are the kinds of games the Valkyries want, which is why I’m picking Golden State. — Annie Costabile
Dream 74, Valkyries 68
This was my original pick, and I’m sticking with it. One theme has emerged through the past six games: If the Dream can get into the 70s, they’ll win. If the Valkyries can hold Atlanta under that, then it’s Game, Golden State.
I don’t necessarily see the shooting translating 100 percent from State Farm to Ballhalla, but seeing the ball go through the hoop at that rate in Game 6 should give the Dream a necessary offensive boost (and, hey, if they hit 13 triples again, I’ll feel even better about this pick).
Gray and Howard are coming off their best games of the postseason, and if Angel Reese can use the boos that rain down on her in Chase Center as fuel (spoiler: I think she will), then Atlanta is going to be hoisting its first championship trophy by Saturday night. — Chantel Jennings
Dream 75, Valkyries 65
The Dream will have to deal with the raucous crowd in Balhalla, but they won there before in this series and were competitive the other two times. More importantly, they have been the better team by a pretty solid margin over the first six games, with a plus-33 scoring margin; all three victories have been no-doubt-about-it domination.
The Dream are unlikely to rain fire from 3 the way they did in the first quarter on Thursday, but they did space the floor more effectively in Game 6 and create problems at the rim with Reese and others even when they weren’t bombing away, and that part seems more likely to carry over to Saturday.
The other factor here: The Valkyries just can’t score enough. I love their scrappiness and feistiness, but they haven’t cleared the modest total of 71 points once all series. They won’t on Saturday either. — John Hollinger
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Atlanta Dream, Golden State Valkyries, WNBA
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