The Golden State Valkyries can win the WNBA championship Thursday morning, Pacific time. Game 6 of the Finals against the Atlanta Dream starts at 9:30 a.m. Pacific in Atlanta's State Farm Arena, with Golden State leading the series 3-2 after a 64-55 win Monday at Chase Center.
USA Network has the broadcast, with streaming on Peacock. The league had first slotted the game for an 8 p.m.
ET start at Gateway Center Arena, the Dream's 3,500-seat home, but the WNBA shifted it to the larger downtown arena, which holds about 17,000, and to an afternoon Eastern start so the NBA's Atlanta Hawks could keep their evening game there against Cleveland, according to the league and the Associated Press.
A series decided by defense
In Golden State's three wins, Atlanta scored 64, 62 and 55 points, an average of about 60. In the Dream's two wins, they scored 79 and 97.
Monday's game fit the pattern. The two teams combined for the lowest-scoring first half in Finals history, and Golden State took a 25-22 lead into halftime, the AP reported. Golden State forced 17 turnovers, committed nine and turned the difference into a 21-6 edge in points off turnovers, according to the team's postgame notes.
Atlanta has made 10 of 49 3-point attempts over the last two games.
The Valkyries also have 37 blocked shots in the series, which the team lists as a Finals record. Center Kiah Stokes has had at least three blocks in six consecutive playoff games.
Angel Reese, who had two big games for Atlanta at Chase Center to open the series, was held to seven points Monday, two of them after halftime, while adding 15 rebounds and five assists.
The lineup that turned it
Coach Natalie Nakase started veteran guard Tiffany Hayes and forward Kaila Charles for the first time in the series in Game 4 in Atlanta, and the Valkyries have won both games since. Hayes, who spent 10 seasons with the Dream before retiring and returning two years ago, scored 12 points Monday and has reached double figures in four consecutive games.
Four Golden State players reached double figures in Game 5, offsetting a 3-for-14 night from leading scorer Gabby Williams.
The trip back to State Farm Arena is not unfamiliar. Games 3 and 4 were also moved there, and the teams split them.
Atlanta won Game 3 by 26 points; Golden State answered with a 67-62 win in Game 4 to even the series, and that game was also an early-afternoon start, played hours before the Hawks' home opener in the same building, the AP reported.