WNBA Finals 2026: Gabby Williams lights up the challenge, the female basketball takes the scene

A game can change when it already seems to have taken a direction. A recovery, a shot, the lucidity to stay there while everything around accelerates. The WNBA Finals 2026, the finals of the American professional women's basketball championship, started just with a challenge that remained open until the last few minutes.

The Golden State Valkyries won 1 against the Atlanta Dream 68–64, with 26 points by Gabby Williams. The correct result of the first challenge is this: the previous 86–84 reported in the article was wrong.

Race 2: Atlanta equalizes the accounts

In the second match, played on 19 October in the United States and on the night of 20 in Italy, Atlanta won 79–65. The series is now on the "1–1": neither team has yet won the title. After two challenges in San Francisco, we pass to Atlanta.

Race 3: Atlanta takes command

In the third match, played on 21 October in the United States and on the night of 22 in Italy, Atlanta beat Golden State 97–71 and now leads the series 2–1. Angel Reese finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds; for Valkyries, Gabby Williams scored 15 points. These are data from the official WNBA report.

Game 4: Golden State levels the series

Golden State won Game 4 in Atlanta 67–62, levelling the Finals at 2–2. Gabby Williams scored 17 points, while Kiah Stokes finished with 16 rebounds and three blocks. The title has not been decided: the series returns to California for Game 5.

Golden State and Atlanta: the first time to be won

This final already has a peculiarity: any team wins, will win the first WNBA title in their history. Golden State reached the final act in its second season, after the debut of 2025. Atlanta returned to the final for the first time since 2013. Two different routes, the same goal still to be reached.

It's a good reason to get close to the series even without knowing rankings, statistics and rivalry. The question from which to start is simple: who will be able to transform this opportunity in their first championship?

Gabby Williams and Angel Reese: two names to know

Gabby Williams left the mark in the first game, taking responsibility even in the final possessions. On the other side there is Angel Reese, awarded as best defender of the season 2026. Williams was second in the race to that recognition.

Finding one against the other in the final adds a reason to observe what happens even far from the basket: the movements, the closures, the disputed balloons. And Atlanta has other protagonists to discover, starting with Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard.

To orient yourself just choose a player and follow her for some action: how do you look for space? Who's it to? What does the opponent do when the ball has it? That's where a game starts telling itself.

Game 5: Golden State moves within one win of the title

On the night of 27 October in Italy, Golden State won Game 5 64–55 and now leads the series 3–2. Kiah Stokes finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks; Veronica Burton added 13 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Rhyne Howard scored 20 points for Atlanta. The title has not yet been decided.

Game 6: Atlanta forces a decider

Atlanta won Game 6 80–69, tying the series at 3–3. Allisha Gray scored 23 points and Rhyne Howard 21; Gabby Williams led Golden State with 26. The championship remains undecided and will be settled in the final game.

How do the WNBA Finals work?

All seven games have now been played. Golden State won Game 7 68–63, took the series 4–3 and claimed the first WNBA championship in franchise history, in its second season.

Gabby Williams scored 30 points in the deciding game and was named Finals MVP. The result and award are confirmed in the WNBA’s official 1 November recap.

Where to start if you don't follow basketball

From the official website WNBA: results, summaries and videos allow you to enter the series without having to recover a whole season. Then give yourself a few minutes of the game. Look at a defense that resists, a passage that frees a partner, a player that starts again after a mistake.

Maybe you'll come out out of curiosity. And at the next basket you'll already find yourself rooting.