Valkyries star Gabby Williams takes over in WNBA Finals Game 1 win, shows why 'she's one of the best players in the world'

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ballhalla crowd left no doubt as to their appreciation. If anyone in the building wondered, they didn't have a second of peace and quiet to give it a first thought, let alone a second.

The more pertinent inquiry would have been whether Chase Center could withstand any more noise once the clock expired on the second-year franchise's first WNBA Finals victory in history . But then Gabby Williams appeared on the big screen, a microphone in front of her moving mouth the only evidence she was speaking. The crowd drowned out the audio, crescendoing into MVP chants as her "I'm just excited to be here" broke through.

The eight-year veteran spent her career overlooked by the masses despite winning back-to-back championships at UConn in 2015 and 2016, and in her own words, underappreciated by the WNBA franchises she played for previously. A day after telling reporters the media has "never respected me," she will be the talk of it, whether she cares about the praise or not. In a series defined by team defense over established individual stars , Game 1 indicated the name to pop at the end will be Gabby.

That's what 26 points — accounting for nearly 40% of the team's offense in a WNBA Finals debut for both team and individual — will do. Williams hit a game-high 3 3-pointers, went 7 of 8 from the free-throw line, and chipped in 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal to pull the Valkyries to a 1-0 lead over the Atlanta Dream.

It was the Dream's first loss of the postseason and first since Aug. 28, snapping the record 10-game winning streak. They remain winless in what is their fourth WNBA Finals appearance. Game 2 is Monday at Chase Center.

Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase called Williams "one of our closers," an apt descriptor on a team so solidly rooted in defensive team identity that a bucket-getter couldn't stand alone as the singular one. Over the past month, dating back even to the FIBA World Cup, there is a certain name atop the call sheet with increasingly frantic underlines.

"Gabby is one of the best players in the world," Nakase said. "Like, hands down. She's showing that when we need some buckets, she's willing to go out there and get to her spots and take over. I think she's showing it at the perfect time right now, and that's what we need."

The first 7:42 of her Finals career were forgettable. She missed four shot attempts, three from the perimeter, and the Valks fell behind, 22-14. They defensively gave up 11 on an efficient 5 of 6 to Dream engine Angel Reese.

Williams came alive in the second quarter with 16 points, going 6 of 9 and 3 of 5 from the perimeter. Golden State outscored the Dream, 28-17, in the frame with a scorching 68.8% clip from the field. The Dream were 30.8%, with Reese held scoreless on 3 attempts. The halftime lead was a slim 42-39, the exact type of single-possession affair expected.

Another quiet third quarter ceded the lead back to the Dream, 56-51. Williams went 1 of 6 as the only starter to score in the third while the Valks, whose offense is their question mark, shot 16% (4 of 25) from the field.

Williams, as loudly pronounced by Kiah Stokes in the post-game press conference, is a nerd. While Nakase is poring over coverages and schemes and asking players in the late-game huddle if they're in agreement with the plan, Williams is running numbers. How many points are we down? How many possessions to tie the game? What do we need? When do we go?

"It's the best way to kind of take the pressure off things, too, is just to break them down possession by possession," Williams said.

It's how one of the Valkyries' trainers knows she's about to take over, as she's done routinely throughout Golden State's historic run. The answer, less than one minute into the fourth, when Williams subbed out, was seven points. At least three possessions. A few stops. Pressuring the rim. Soon.

She subbed back in at 5:46, the Valks trailing by three points following a steal and score by Kaila Charles on one end and a block of Rhyne Howard on the other. The Valks offense might have fully dried up if not for a tip-in by Stokes off Williams' driving layup that "got the lid off the basket," Williams said.

"Those are the kinds of things that when our shots aren't falling, those are the kinds of plays that are going to win these kinds of games," Williams said.

The day prior, Williams rapped her knuckles on the wooden table at the thought. Yet, that has never been where the Valkyries stake their success. Defense, she said, is where one can take more control. It's what their late-game confidence stems from. It's why Williams isn't the only closer.

In the final 1:19, the Valkyries pulled down five defensive rebounds and flipped a 64-63 deficit into a 68-64 victory. Despite limping and being in physical discomfort after Jordin Canada backed into her knee at 1:45, Williams' crashing the glass started it. Her two free throws from a foul by Angel Reese gave the Valkyries their first lead since 2:58 of the third quarter, when the Valks briefly led by one point. There was not a singular two-minute stretch in which the Valkyries led in Game 1.

"We had the game right where we wanted it because it just came down to getting stops," Williams said. "That's been our bread and butter all season. That's why we harp on it so much because we've built great defensive habits for these moments."

Charles and Stokes each pulled down defensive boards, boxing out league rebounding leader Reese and reaping the benefits of interior fouls. Stokes hit one and Williams added two more for the final cushion, finishing off an eight-point, 6 of 6 fourth quarter. No other Valkyries player finished in double-digits, but in standard fashion, seven scored. Everyone limited the Dream's offense (a season-low 64 points) and flipped their own script, forcing Atlanta into 12 turnovers while scoring 17 off of them.

Nakase will ask more of her players over the next 48 hours heading into Game 2 before the series quickly shifts to Atlanta. (Game 3 is on Wednesday, with merely one travel day separating the games.) Just because they thrive in single-possession victories they can steal late doesn't mean every one in a long series of tweaks will go their way.

"When a game is this close, even a couple of breakdowns can make a difference," her counterpart, Atlanta head coach Karl Smesko, said.

The Valkyries' home-court advantage is one of deep, unbridled appreciation. Earlier this week, Nakase called for a more hostile game plan. Ballhalla became Boohalla, drowning them over the Dream introductions and substitutions.

They, too, were excited to be there. They're wearing the same chip on their shoulder as their team of former bench players crashing the party too early. Nakase urged them to up their level in Game 2, the way she will ask her players to do the same. The series isn't won in an opener. There's more runway for Williams to finish off the job.