SAN FRANCISCO ― Game 5 of the WNBA Finals was ugly, gritty and physical. With a championship on the line, the defensive intensity did not let up, and the basketball was so incredibly ugly to show for it.
"We don't have time to waste anymore. This (expletive) is now or never. We wanna be able to go back home feeling good, going into Game 6," Angel Reese said pregame.
At times, there were were big shots at Chase Center, but they were hard to come by. If any player from the Atlanta Dream or Golden State Valkyries dared to get close to the basket, the defensive walls from either team came closing in with lightning speed, putting multiple bodes in the paint instantlly.
Angel Reese, who was 2-7 at halftime, was playing through contact and trying her
hardest to make a bucket or get to the line. Gabby Williams, who has been so good in the Finals, was 1-8 at halftime, was also playing through sweltering defense and thin driving lanes.
At halftime, the score was 25-22, Golden State, with Natalie Nakase's team shooting 30%. Karl Smesko's team was just as bad, shooting 23.5%. For the first time in WNBA history, both teams scored 25 points of fewer in the first half. If fans wanted a pound-for-pound series, they got it and all the ugly that came with it.
“I mean, we got to hit bodies. We got to want it more. They're coming away with a lot of 50-50 balls, and then we want to get mad about the fouls, but it's always off of the boards. We got to clean that up," Valkyries guard Veronica Burton said at halftime.
By the mid-way point of the third, just as Golden State was creating space, leading by as much as eight points, the Dream cut into it with some gritty jumpers and getting into the paint. The teams went back and fourth for much of the third quarter, not really allowing either team to breathe.
Behind the strength of Burton, Kiah Stokes and Zandalasini, the Valkyries led by six points headed into the fourth, just a 46-40 lead. Stokes had 10 points and so did Zandalasini, which Golden State seemed to unlock a successful formula for in Game 4. Stokes stayed in the lineup, but Zanadalasini went to the bench, providing an extra punch that Golden State used to pray on Atlanta's switching and defensive mismatches.
Stokes cashed a 3-ball to extend the lead to 10 with roughly seven minutes left in the final frame, which took the rook off "Ballhalla." The 6-foot-3 center used every bit of her length and confidence to make the shot, which she hadn't kocked down in Game 4. I
n Game 5, Stokes banked in three of them as she shot 83% from the floor and 75% from the floor. By all accounts, Stokes, who also had seven rebounds and three blocked shots, might not get the credit she deserves for her game. It isn't loud, but she's quietly been Golden State's Finals MVP and if anyone wanted to vote her for Finals MVP, they might not have much resistance.
It became clear, if it already wasn't, the Valkyries go as Stokes goes. What Stokes started in the second half, Golden State finished.
It capatalized on Atlanta simply standing around on defense, making them pay as time ticked away in regulatrion. The shots came from Zandalasini, Tiffany Hayes and company. Golden State forced Atlanta to 15 turnovers, returning the favor from Games 2 and 3, just as the Dream had done to the Valkyries. The lead ballooned to 14 just a few minutes before the final buzzer, and Atlanta had nothing left to show for it.
Golden State turned the pressure up on Atlanta and didn't let up.
Behind Stokes' leadership, the Valkyries shut off Reese, the Dream's main energy valve, for the second straight game. Golden State couldn't keep Reese off the glass. She had 15 rebounds. However, the Valkyries held her to just seven points.
Golden State snatched Game, 64-55. The Dream's 55 points tied the lowest scoring total in the Smesko era, dating back to last year when Atlanta scored 55 against Dallas during a regular-season matchup.
Now, the Dream will be playing for their WNBA Finals lives on Thursday afternoon, while most people are still at work. The Valkyries will be looking to make WNBA history before dinner is on the table.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Golden State Valkyries on brink of first championship in pound-for-pound series
