Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston spent the basketball portion of Post Moves ' 54th episode on the last two games of the WNBA Finals, starting with Atlanta's Game 6 win and ending with Golden State's 68-63 victory in Game 7.
The Golden State Valkyries closed out the series Oct. 31 at Chase Center in front of a crowd of 18,000. It was the first Game 7 in Finals history, and the Valkyries won the title in their second season.
Gabby Williams scored 30 points, 28 of them after halftime. The 28 points were the most by any player in one half of a WNBA postseason game, according to league records. Williams was named Finals MVP.
Boston said players on both sides were diving for every loose ball by the end.
"It was literally, I got chills watching it," Boston said. "I was like this, the energy, you could just feel the energy from the arena. Like you can just see every possession. Everyone is just like, they're going at it. Like it doesn't matter. Ball on the floor."
"Everyone's diving like three jump balls back to back to back," Boston continued. "Like it does not matter. Everyone is going for it."
Golden State held Atlanta to 33% shooting in Game 7. The Dream made 20% of their 3-point attempts.
Game 6 tipped at 12:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 29 at State Farm Arena. The league moved it from 8 p.m. because the Atlanta Hawks hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers in the building that night.
Atlanta drew a sellout crowd of 17,099 and led by as many as 25. Allisha Gray scored 23 points and went 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Rhyne Howard added 21 points, and Angel Reese had 15 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists.
A closeout game, in Parker's view, is the hardest game a team will play.
"Offensively, if I were to say ceiling, Atlanta's offensive ceiling to me was way higher than the Valkyries," Parker said. "The Valkyries needed the score to be in the 60, 65 to 73. 73 was my like under, right? Where the Valkyries win if the score is under 73. Atlanta has the potential to be able to outscore. They can rack up anything."
Golden State won Game 4 67-62 and Game 5 64-55 before the 68-63 clincher. The 25-22 halftime score in Game 5 was the lowest-scoring first half in Finals history.
Kiah Stokes made three 3-pointers in that Game 5 win. The Valkyries center finished the series with 19 blocks, a Finals record, and won her fourth WNBA title.
"I think of someone like Alana Beard for us," Parker explained. "She was not a shooter. She didn't pretend to be a shooter. But she hit them timely mid-range jump shots. And we as a team knew she was capable of making them."
"And so I think it's also a championship team continues to pour and to believe in each other, and not to completely reinvent yourself in the playoffs," Parker added. "When Gabby Williams was struggling, everyone was like, oh, well, they need to go away from her. They did what they did."
Williams had two points at halftime of Game 7. She scored 15 in the third quarter and 13 in the fourth.
Parker watched the finish on the couch with her family and caught herself focusing on the team that lost.
"I just know that it takes so much to get to this point," Parker said. "And you feel like this after the playoffs, right? Like it takes so much to get to that point. You can't even imagine getting back the day after you lose. The energy and effort and the letdown, even when you win, like there's a championship letdown when you win."
"Losing, I'm like, I feel terrible for the Dream," Parker continued. "Just because you get to a game seven, you get to a possession here and a possession there game, and you lose."
Reese and Jordin Canada called the Dream "delayed, not denied" after Game 7. Reese scored eight points in the clincher.
Tiffany Hayes, in her 14th season, won her first championship. Williams averaged 19.6 points in the series. She said the Valkyries' "group full of love" changed the trajectory of her career .
The Valkyries went 32-12 in the regular season and 9-4 in the playoffs. They beat the Dallas Wings 2-1 in the first round and swept the Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals.
Atlanta swept the Washington Mystics and New York Liberty to reach its first Finals since 2013.
