The Atlanta Dream had no designs on ending their season on a Thursday afternoon.

The 2026 WNBA Finals is heading to a winner-take-all Game 7 after the Dream held off the Golden State Valkyries 80-69.

Atlanta stars Angel Reese, Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard all filled out the stat sheet. It was a different story for Golden State as it didn't have the defensive effort to compensate for Veronica Burton putting in a poor game and Gabby Williams being sluggish to start.

Reese is up to 78 rebounds in the series, which is the most ever in a single WNBA Finals.

The Dream stormed out of the gates in a way nobody expected.

In Game 5, Atlanta didn't have 32 points until the 4:05 mark of the third quarter. On Thursday, that's how many Karl Smesko's squad had after just one quarter of action.

The Dream's offense cooled off from there, but they built a big enough buffer to where this wasn't much of a contest. Their lead swelled to as many as 25 points before Golden State started chipping away at the deficit in the third quarter.

The Valkyries got the gap down to 13 points with a little under seven minutes remaining in the game, but a pair of long-range jumpers from Gray and Reese brought their momentum to a halt.

Three-point shooting was a big differentiator for the two teams. The Dream were 13-of-30 from beyond the arc compared to 7-of-27 for the Valkyries.

The series will shift to Ballhalla for Game 7 on Saturday. Chase Center has become one of the most intimidating road atmospheres in the WNBA, but the Dream won't be overawed after claiming Game 2 on the road.

On one hand, the Valkyries should be encouraged by the fact they can't play much worse in the Finals decider. There's going to be some positive regression.

On the other hand, it's perhaps more worrying that Golden State has scored fewer than 70 points in all but one of the first six games. They're putting a lot of pressure on their defense, which means it only takes one bad quarter to put them in serious trouble.

Inside the other locker room, Atlanta's performance after the first quarter will be a concern. The Dream and Valkyries were evenly matched after the opening 10 minutes. Golden State

Especially on the road, Atlanta can't afford to take its foot off the gas like it did in Game 6 if it gains the advantage early on.