Good morning! Remember, life is a best-of-seven. Inside:
🏆 Valkyries-Dream primer
🌧️ A “not ideal” postponement
♥️ Some kids are alright
Transformations: An unexpected WNBA Finals gets underway
Two years ago, the Golden State Valkyries were not playing basketball, and the Atlanta Dream were wrapping up the 2024 season with a record 10 games under .500. They’ve never won the title. But this afternoon, the two franchises will tip off the WNBA Finals in San Francisco.
First, linkage:
Eight reasons to be excited
A detailed matchup breakdown
The big questions at hand
The Valkyries are a rapid expansion success story. Brian Hamilton did the deep reporting dive on how this franchise went from zero to 100 in such a short time. There’s a sports business story here, for sure: The WNBA was amid an explosion in fan interest and player compensation, and Warriors boss Joe Lacob and his ownership group stepped up with financial might and a strong organization. The team connected with its Bay Area fanbase. Together they’ve built “Ballhalla,” both a mindset and a great atmosphere for home games. Then there is the basketball story, which we’ll talk about below. Team defense and savvy player evaluation (as with leading scorer Gabby Williams) have been vital to their rise. They swept Las Vegas (and five-time MVP A’ja Wilson) in the semifinals.
The Dream were bad for a long time but flipped a switch last year. They hired a new coach, Karl Smesko. They started shooting and making a lot more 3s and put together one of the best offenses in the league, led by guards Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard. They doubled their win total from 15 to 30. Then, before this year, they swung a deal to get Angel Reese out of Chicago, making an already-strong rebounding team even more dominant on the offensive glass, while helping a strong defense. Reese’s career has transformed in a new organization. The Dream swept both the Mystics and Liberty to punch their finals ticket in the first playoff games Reese has played in.
Quick subplots worth following:
Gray, Atlanta’s leading scorer, has been dealing with a left hand injury. It sounds like she expects to play, but monitor this situation.
Golden State won all three regular-season meetings and kept the Dream to a paltry 75 points per game. But that was all before DeWanna Bonner joined Atlanta.
It’ll be fun. Now, three questions with women’s hoops writer Sabreena Merchant.
Sabreena, hello! I think a lot of people are familiar with how the Valkyries have quickly built a brand and fanbase. I have very casual fan friends who talk about Ballhalla. But on the court, what do you think enabled them to rise here so quickly?
💬 Last year’s run to the playoffs as an expansion team was already surprising, but the Valkyries upped the ante now. Coach Natalie Nakase has built a defense-first culture in Golden State where everyone buys in, because even bench players have large roles in the team’s success. The Valkyries maximize the possession game, and they’ve ridden a phenomenal home-court advantage all the way to the finals.
Can you identify a matchup that could swing this series either way?
💬 Kiah Stokes vs. Angel Reese. Stokes was able to slow down her former teammate Wilson in the semifinal round, especially on the glass. But Reese is a different challenge on the boards, and Atlanta will need as many field-goal attempts as possible to break through Golden State’s league-leading defense.
Your series pick, please!
💬 Valks in seven. (Read more picks right here.)
More to come here, and you can get more from Sabreena in your inbox by signing up for the No Offseason newsletter. We’ll keep moving.
News to Know
Rainout scrambles ALCS
We could now get four straight days of ALCS after last night’s Rays-Guardians Game 4 was eventually postponed — which had seemed a likely outcome given it rained all day and the warning track looked like something out of a military boot camp. Bummer for the fans who made the trek and got soaked for nothing (though their tickets are now good for Sunday’s Game 5). Great news for the resting Brewers, who will welcome any and all ALCS inconveniences before the World Series starts Friday. Game 4, take two, is 8 p.m. ET on TBS/truTV.
More News
A 24-team CFP Playoff seems just about cemented, with ESPN reaching an agreement worth $345 million per year to air the added games. The CFP presidential oversight board still needs to sign off — full details here.
The NBA and betting partners won’t allow certain prop bets this season, per memos sent out by the league. Details here.
Blazers owner Tom Dundon said his “priority” is keeping the team in Portland, though sources say he has privately floated the prospect of relocation.
The Spanish team Aday Mara played for before his college career is challenging his eligibility to play for Oklahoma City.
Packers running back Josh Jacobs will be eligible to play in Week 7 even as the league’s investigation continues into a battery case involving Jacobs and his girlfriend.
Three Zambia international players who traveled to face Uganda will miss several weeks of the NWSL season because of the CDC’s Ebola travel restrictions.
In QB news: Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald backed Sam Darnold as his starter, Ravens star Lamar Jackson is ruled out again, and the Eagles signed Joe Milton amid concerns about Jalen Hurts’ blood clot.
Rising Spanish tennis star Rafael Jódar apologized for swearing at a ball boy.
Real Madrid are demanding that La Liga’s president resign after he compared the club’s management approach to that of Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
Watch Guide
📺 CFB: No. 4 Ohio State at No. 5 Indiana
12 p.m. ET on Fox
The full college football slate is here. Indiana puts a 22-game (!) winning streak on the line. I think Ohio State will pull it out despite an Indiana trench advantage when OSU tries to run the ball. It helps to have Jeremiah Smith, perhaps the best college wideout ever.
📺 WNBA: Dream at Valkyries
3:30 p.m. ET on NBC
Atlanta’s task today and Monday is simple: Get one win on the road.
📺 CFB: No. 2 Notre Dame at No. 8 BYU
7:30 p.m. ET on ABC
Nine unbeatens left, and two of them meet up here in Provo. It’s Notre Dame’s first true test in a while.
Pulse Picks
“A Little League coach pulled aside a player on the opposing team during the handshake line” sounds like the beginning of another youth sports horror story. But this viral moment is so much better than that.
Try: The chilly, dark environment of your fridge can preserve yogurt and poultry, of course. But I asked my fellow Wirecutter journalists about the slightly unconventional things worth keeping in the fridge to help them last longer — like super glue, teeth-whitening strips and more. — Maki Yazawa
Watch: We saw “Digger” as a bit. “Ha ha, we’re the only ones in the theater for the movie losing nine figures. Get it?” But, uhh, it’s really great. If I type one more word about it, I’ll type a thousand. — Jason Kirk
Also watch: I went to an advance screening of “You Can See Everything,” the new Elizabeth Holmes documentary from filmmakers Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, which arrives in theaters this weekend and could be a form-breaking moment for the genre. A transfixing, mind-bending examination of truth and reality, it’s best approached with as few spoilers as possible, and I would not be surprised if this becomes the first documentary feature ever nominated for best picture at next year’s Oscars. — Lukas Weese
Listen: Shout-out cassette tapes, vinyl records and CDs, which you can still own, as opposed to “accessing” (via subscription or licensing). Further, as far as I’m aware, they are incapable of having AI chatbots installed on them, with or without your permission. This week’s estate sale purchase: “Graceland” by Paul Simon on cassette. Sounds great. — Levi Weaver
Eat: I am once again imploring you to try making sheet-pan quesadillas. As long as you remember to preheat the oven, there is no quicker, easier way to make multiple perfectly crisp quesadillas. — Torrey Hart
Gift: I’ve already started my Christmas shopping, and one gift is a customized coffee table book. Some recs to do the same! — Lauren Merola
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The death of Division II Southern Nazarene safety Tyler Ulrich days after an in-game injury last weekend. Story here.
📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at [email protected], and check out our other newsletters.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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