National Sports

Valkyries take WNBA Finals opener, Game 2 tonight

SAN FRANCISCO -- Late in games, Gabby Williams starts counting. She constantly computes math in her head, all while handling the pressure of being the one to regularly take big shots for the Golden State Valkyries.

Better Williams than coach Natalie Nakase, that’s for sure.

“What’s her obsession with math?” Nakase inquired when told about Williams’ process.

“I don’t do math. I do more like coverages and schemes and seeing people’s energy and more connectivity with our group. That’s all Gabby. I’m not that smart. I’m not doing math out there. I didn’t do math since the UCLA days.”

Whatever it is that Williams does, it’s working well during her first playoff run with the Valkyries after coming to the Bay Area for just this: a chance at a championship. Golden State leads the Atlanta Dream 1-0 in their best-of-seven WNBA Finals.

Even members of Golden State’s athletic training staff have noticed Williams making her mental notes down the stretch.

The veteran guard scored 26 points in a 68-64 Game 1 win Saturday, missing her initial four shots before scoring 16 of her 26 points in the second quarter. She was the only Valkyries player in double figures as Golden State shot 32.1% and 7 of 33 from 3-point range.

“Yeah, same thing, doing math,” Williams explained of her mindset. “One of our trainers, she was like, ‘In the fourth quarter, you always do this thing and I know you’re going to start taking over, you look at the clock.’ And I’m like: ‘Yeah, I’m counting. I’m counting possessions, I’m counting points, what do we need now, what’s the most timely time to go.’

“I think it’s just like the best way to kind of take the pressure off things, too, is just to break them down possession by possession.”

The Dream had been outstanding down the stretch during their first two series, both sweeps, to reach the franchise’s fourth finals. Yet Atlanta is still yet to win a finals game.

Coach Karl Smesko can’t wait for his team to find a way to bounce back tonight. Atlanta shot 2 for 19 in the fourth quarter.

“I just think we need to maintain how we want to play for a whole four quarters. We had a couple dry spells where we just weren’t working together as well as you need to against this defense. They are not just going to give you easy shots,” he said. “So we are going to need to work together to create these advantages.”