Date, Time, and Location: Saturday, October 31st, 5:00pm, Chase Center
Broadcast Information: USA/CNBC (full national), Peacock (streaming)
The Golden State Valkyries host the Atlanta Dream in deciding Game 7 of the WNBA Finals. Both teams are looking for their first championship and will be looking for the edge after a number of twists and turns in the series to get to the tie at this point. Atlanta has momentum from winning on Thursday, but the Valkyries will be hoping that returning home will get them the final boost from the fans that they need to prevail in the end. CNBC is back as the simulcast partner to USA for this broadcast while Peacock will have streaming once again.
The Valkyries
As has been the case throughout the series, the Valkyries will continue to have some important decisions to make after their big lineup move flipped the series around early. The big change in the last game saw Laeticia Amihere play significant minutes as the backup center after not seeing time in previous games. She was effective enough that she got even more time in the second half and it seems reasonable that she would get a chance again instead of only playing smallball in those minutes. Making drastic changes might be too much at this stage after a good performance at home on Monday, but if the game situation calls for it, the team has shown that different personnel groupings can change the personality on the court. The main concern will be just how little the defense was able to do early in the last game, making it too hard for the offense to fight back.
The Opposition
Atlanta stuck with the same seven players in the last game even as the lead grew and should be expected to do the same again unless they are forced to do something else. Te-Hina Paopao is listed as questionable on the initial injury report again after being ruled out before the game on Thursday. The Dream were able to build a lead in the first quarter with a scorching performance from beyond the arc and getting that early advantage would be helpful for their style after not getting it in Monday’s game. They played well on defense for most of the game, but the Valkyries did start to make some noise on offense in the second half.
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