WNBA Finals Basketball

The WNBA has moved Game 6 of the finals between the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries to a 12:30 p.m. tipoff Thursday at the home area of the Atlanta Hawks so that the NBA can keep its previously scheduled primetime contest that day. The WNBA worked with the NBA to move the game to State Farm Arena. That is where Games 3 and 4 of the championship series were played. The only way the leagues could make it work was to play the early afternoon game. The Hawks have a home game that night against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the tip of that game was moved back an hour.

Kiah Stokes had 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots, Veronica Burton added 13 points and eight rebounds, and the Golden State Valkyries moved within one win of a championship in their second season, beating the Atlanta Dream 64-55 in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals. Angel Reese finished with seven points, 15 rebounds and five assists — a big difference from her two standout performances in the first two games of the series at Chase Center. Reese shook her head when whistled for the second of her three offensive fouls with 7:43 to play. Fans screamed and clapped thunder sticks following the final buzzer as Stokes spoke from the floor to chants of “MVP!”