They’re the two greatest words in sports:
Game 7.
Saturday’s all-or-nothing moment provides the WNBA a chance to produce an epic finale to the 30th season.
The Atlanta Dream, on the brink of elimination, arrived at State Farm Arena bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for Thursday’s Game 6 matinee to force the series back to the Bay for the first Game 7 in league history.
This series has no doubt been competitive. Three of the games have been decided by nine or fewer points.
Take the Dream’s 26-point blowout in Game 3 out of the equation, and the margin of victory for the other five games is 8.6 points.
But just because they’ve been close, that doesn’t automatically mean the games have been aesthetically pleasing.
The competitiveness of the series hasn’t always translated to entertaining games.
Stressful? Sure.
Memorable? Maybe not so much.
There’s no way around it; this series hasn’t been pretty. The erratic shooting and physical play have diminished the offensive fireworks. It’s been the grind expected between the league’s two best defenses.
If you’re Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase, who loves defense, this is your dream series (no pun intended).
But for a casual basketball fan, maybe this series isn’t for you.
The winning team has scored 68 or fewer points in three of the six games.
In this series, the Dream are shooting 37.2 percent from the field and 28.5 percent from deep, and the Valkyries have shot 34.5 percent from the field and 27.2 percent from 3-point range.
It’s not been a series defined by high-quality shotmaking but rather by intense defense.
The Valkyries and Dream are making each other’s lives hell.
The extreme ball pressure has stifled ball movement. The missed shots and turnovers made possessions a slog at times.
The physicality and officiating have been a constant topic of conversation. Atlanta coach Karl Smesko and his players chimed in after a tough Game 5 that put them on the brink of elimination, saying the physicality on Angel Reese was “ridiculous.”
One of the biggest storylines this week was the scheduling snafu for Game 6, which caused the Valkyries and Dream to play over the lunch hour for East Coasters and at breakfast for those on the West Coast.
Then, after all the talk about the possibility of a championship celebration being cut short because of the Hawks game later that night at State Farm Arena, the game was all but decided by the first quarter, or half a cup of coffee.
The series is tied 3-3. The stakes are enormous.
Regardless of what happens Saturday, a first-time champion will be crowned.
But Game 7 also presents an opportunity to change the narrative. These are the pressure-cooker moments where legends are born.
Which star will step up and put on a performance fans will blab about for generations?
Or will the blocked shots and steals be the lasting highlights from this series?
