Golden State Valkyries forward Gabby Williams says her team's epic return in Game 7 of the WNBA Finals, which earned them their first WNBA title Saturday night against the Atlanta Dream, was always in the cards.
"We were down six [points], but we had the game kind of right where we wanted it," Williams, who was named 2026 WNBA Finals MVP, said in a "Good Morning America" interview Monday. "We're a defensive-minded team, so the fact that we kept them under 40, we were like, 'OK, we got this.'"
Williams netted an impressive 28 points in the game's second half -- the most points in one half of any WNBA postseason game, according to league records -- and led the Valkyries to their 68-63 win against the Dream inside Chase Center, nicknamed "Ballhalla."
The 30-year-old said she didn't do it alone, though, and said it was a true team effort throughout the Valkyries' epic run, both in the postseason and throughout the No. 2 seed's regular season, only their second-ever in the league.
"Our staff did a great job of picking great people to create a good culture here. That's something that attracted me to this team. They just kept using the word 'culture,' and that goes way far," Williams said. "I've been on the super teams, I've been on the team with the stars, and have fallen much shorter than we did this year. So, I think, just a good group of people can take you a long way."
Williams also gave head coach Natalie Nakase credit for the Valkyries' amazing success so far.
"Coach Nat is the most competitive person I've ever met in my entire life. But she is competitive in everything that she does, you know, even how she treats people, even how she shows up every day, and we all feed off of that," Williams said. "I think she's a leader by example. She cares so, so deeply on a human level for each person, and you just want to go through a wall for her."