Game 1 of the WNBA Finals was an absolute grind, with the Golden State Valkyries emerging victorious 68-64 over the Atlanta Dream in San Francisco on October 17, 2026. If you came to Chase Center expecting offense, you were sorely mistaken, because this was a defensive battle for the ages.
This Was A Defensive Nightmare, And We Loved It
This series was billed as a clash of defensive titans, and boy, did it deliver. The Valkyries led the entire 15-team league in defensive rating this year. The Dream weren’t far behind, sitting third. We’re talking about two teams that accounted for six of the ten All-Defense selections across the league! So yeah, a defensive slugfest was on the menu, and we got it in spades. A combined 32.4% from the field? That’s not just defense, that’s a straight-up brick wall, making every bucket feel like gold. If you’re a true hoops nerd who lives for stops and contested shots, this game was your heaven.
Atlanta’s Early Momentum Met Golden State’s Fury
But hold up, let’s talk about that Dream momentum coming into this series. Atlanta rolled into the Finals on a TEN-game winning streak. Five regular season, five postseason, and seven of those wins were by double digits. They were, without a doubt, the hottest team in the WNBA, even with all the hype around the Valkyries sweeping the defending-champion Las Vegas Aces. Allisha Gray wasted no time, scoring on the very first possession. Atlanta jumped out to an 11-5 lead after just four minutes, making it abundantly clear to everyone at the Chase Center that this wasn’t going to be an easy game, let alone an easy series, for the home team.
But the Valkyries? They didn’t blink. They locked down hard, started figuring things out on offense, and Chase Center, or “Ballhalla” as they call it, absolutely erupted when Kaitlyn Chen banked in a three. That shot capped a monstrous 9-0 run, giving the Valks their first lead of the game at 14-11. Their defense was exactly as advertised during that stretch, forcing Atlanta into six straight missed shots. It was a game of runs and powerful responses, and you just know that Angel Reese, who finished seventh in MVP voting this year, while taking
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Originally reported by Golden State of Mind.
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