So much was made of the early start time for Thursday's Game 6 of the WNBA Finals, but Valkyries forward Gabby Williams wasn't going to even consider blaming it for Golden State's loss.
The Dream forced a Game 7 in front of a soldout crowd at Atlanta's State Farm Arena despite the 12:30 p.m. local tipoff. The less-than-ideal tip time came after the WNBA and NBA were unable to work around schedules. And though a Friday-Tuesday turnaround for Games 6 and 7 was reportedly considered, the WNBA ultimately settled on the early afternoon Thursday tipoff.
When the Valkyries met with the media following the loss, Williams was asked if she thought the 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time game impacted the team.
She wasn't about to make excuses.
“They played at the same
time as us, right? So it’s not an excuse.” Gabby Williams says the early tipoff isn’t an excuse for the Valkyries slow start pic.twitter.com/5h0mLvdmlR
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) October 29, 2026
Williams said:
“They played at the same time as us, right? So it’s not an excuse. We have to be better."
Williams scored a game-high 26 points, but Golden State found itself down by 20 as early as the first quarter. There was a noticeable difference in energy from the Valkyries early on before they briefly cut the game to single digits in the fourth quarter.
The two teams will meet back at the Chase Center on Saturday night for the decisive Game 7. The tipoff time won't be a problem this time around: 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Gabby Williams had the perfect response to questions about WNBA Finals Game 6 start time
