Oct 17, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese (5) between plays against the Golden State Valkyries during the fourth quarter of game one of the 2026 WNBA Finals at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Elaine Blum Sun, October 18, 2026 at 12:09 PM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Atlanta Dream have proven they can win big road games. They eliminated the New York Liberty in the semifinals at Barclays Center. But stealing a game at Ballhalla in the finals is a different beast altogether. The Dream are the lower seed, so they will have to win a game on the road to win the title.
The Dream put themselves in a great position to steal Game 1 on the Golden State Valkyries' home court. They held the Valkyries to 32% shooting from the field and 21.3% from deep. They forced ten turnovers, and Gabby Williams was the only Valkyries player to score more than nine points. Limiting all of Veronica Burton, Kayla Thornton, Cecilia Zandalasini, Janelle Salan, and Tiffany Hayes as scorers usually gives teams a solid chance to beat the Valkyries.
Nevertheless, Atlanta lost the game by four points, letting its opportunity to get that necessary road win early slip away with an eight-point fourth quarter and too many missed shots. Rhyne Howard, Naz Hillmon, and Allisha Gray all missed 3-pointers in the last minute of the game. In fact, the Dream didn't score at all after Howard made two free throws with 3:12 left in the game.
Oct 17, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese (5) controls the ball against the Golden State Valkyries during the third quarter of game one of the 2026 WNBA Finals at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Valkyries know how to win ugly games. They thrive in games that become gritty defensive grinds, and that creates an incredibly small margin of error for their opponents. The Dream had their opportunity to win one of those low-scoring games at Ballhalla and squandered it. There is no guarantee that they will get another shot like this.
After this 68-64 loss, the Dream must now win either Game 2, Game 5, or Game 7 in Ballhalla. If they cannot get a road win soon, they might be in trouble. The Valkyries' top players got more rest during the regular season-no one averaged even 30 minutes per game, while Rhyne Howard, Jordin Canada, Allisha Gray, and Angel Reese all averaged between 31 and 34.2 minutes per game-and Natalie Nakase goes deeper into her bench.
Karl Smesko played DeWanna Bonner for 13 minutes and Isobel Borlase for 12. The Valkyries, meanwhile, got 30 minutes out of Kaila Charles off the bench, 24 from Hayes, 14 from Laeticia Amihere, and 10 from Kaitlyn Chen. The longer the series drags on, the more of a depth and rest advantage the Valkyries will have, and that will only make it more difficult to beat them on their home court.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/womens-fastbreak as Wasted Game 1 Opportunity Could Haunt Dream for the Remainder of the WNBA Finals .
Source: Sports
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