Valkyries won all season long with their swarming defense, hold down Dream to win WNBA Finals Game 1

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Kiah Stokes swatted shots and crashed the boards on both ends, pulling down seven rebounds while also blocking four shots.

Kaila Charles came off the bench and contributed 10 rebounds, made two steals and also blocked a shot.

Laeticia Amihere offered important intel on her former Atlanta team and took on the load against Angel Reese.

That swarming, all-hands-on-deck Golden State defense shined in crunch time to hold down Reese, Allisha Gray and the physical Dream, and the Valkyries now have a 1-0 lead in the WNBA Finals because of it after the 68-64 win Saturday .

Each timeout, Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase made sure everyone was in agreement and on the same page with the plan to slow down Atlanta's star players.

“It kind of just fits into who we are, that’s been our identity, we rely on it,” Nakase said. “We know it's effort, we know it's the details. And I thought tonight our staff did a great job when to switch the coverage, how to finish the coverage. We did a great job just studying their plays.”

Atlanta was just 2 for 19 in an eight-point fourth quarter, Allisha Gray was scoreless over the final 10 minutes and Reese scored all of her 14 points in the first half.

“I don’t think they really did anything,” Reese said. “Maybe that was just on me I wasn’t aggressive enough with the ball and trying to get the ball and get to my spot. I’m definitely going to do a better job of that next game.”

It's a quick turnaround to Game 2 in the best-of-seven series Monday night back on the Valkyries' home floor with that rocking “Ballhalla” home crowd screaming and crashing thunder sticks at every chance.

Gray missed all seven of her shots in the fourth quarter as she returned from a finger injury, including a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with 9 seconds left as Atlanta’s long-range attempts clanked out or fell short in the most crucial of moments.

The Dream wound up 4 for 25 from deep and 32.8% from the floor overall.

“A big emphasis on boxing out and rebounding,” Stokes said.

Atlanta committed 12 turnovers that led to 17 points for the Valkyries — Reese had four turnovers, and Rhyne Howard and Jordin Canada three apiece.

Howard went 3 for 14 from the floor and 2 of 9 on 3s for 12 points.

“Golden State's a great defense but I've got a lot of confidence that we're going to see some really big games from Rhyne and others and that we'll take care of what we need to take care of,” Atlanta coach Karl Smesko said.

Even Veronica Burton had a pair of blocks as the Valkyries finished with 10.

Amihere, who played for the Dream in 2023 and '24, offered plenty of insight and shared the defensive load against Reese.

“I thought LA did a fantastic job with that matchup. LA had great energy,” Nakase said. “She was kind of our insight with this game plan so you could tell there was a lot of confidence in her matchup. Of course she's going to say it's team defense. It was everyone being on the same string, calling her number and getting back in transition I thought LA did a phenomenal job and protecting the rim."

All along, Nakase has called this a “Strength in Numbers” group with Golden State — a similar mantra of the Warriors during their NBA championship runs — and so many different players made an impact in the series opener.

“Kiah and Kai made game-winning plays,” Williams said. “Kiah got a big O-board after I missed the layup she went up and got the O-board, got the lid off the basket. Same with Kai. Kai made a huge defensive stop in transition, got a wide-open layup. When our shots aren't falling those are the kind of plays that are going to win these kinds of games.”

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