Gabby Williams Scored 28 in One Half to Win Finals MVP

Gabby Williams decided Game 7 in one half. The Golden State guard scored 30 points on 10-of-23 shooting, hitting four of her eight three-pointers, and 28 of those points came after halftime — a WNBA Finals record for a single half. Golden State beat Atlanta 68-63, and Williams walked away with the Finals MVP trophy.

"I wasn't gonna lose on Halloween," she said afterward. It didn't look like bravado. It looked like a scouting report on herself.

The full line was bigger than the scoring. Williams added four blocks and two steals, becoming the first player ever to post 30 points, four blocks and two steals in a Finals game. Across the series she averaged 19.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists, and she set postseason records with 217 total points and 23 total steals. Her 30 in Game 7 also tied Penny Taylor's record for points in a winner-take-all Finals game.

None of this was the plan on paper. Williams signed with Golden State in April 2026 on a multi-year deal and averaged a team-high 14.4 points in the regular season, making the All-Star team. Solid, valuable, respected — and then October turned her into the best player in the league's biggest series.

Her road here ran through UConn, a fourth overall pick by Chicago in 2018, years overseas and a reputation as one of the game's great connectors. The player who does everything usually watches someone else take the final's biggest shots. Williams took them herself, for two straight weeks.

Atlanta threw its best at her and it held up for a half. Jordin Canada scored 18 for the Dream and Allisha Gray added 16, and Angel Reese pulled down 12 rebounds — but the Dream needed someone to match Williams after halftime and nobody could. Her 28 second-half points outscored entire rotations, and every time Atlanta cut the lead, the ball found its way back to her.

The Sparks, Nevada native and UConn product was drafted fourth overall by Chicago in 2018 and built her career as a connecting piece — the defender, the second ballhandler, the player who guarded the other team's best scorer. Finals MVP wasn't the role she was cast in. It's the one she took.

She isn't disappearing into the offseason, either. In June she signed a multiyear contract with Unrivaled that starts in 2027, so the winter league gets the reigning Finals MVP while the WNBA waits for Golden State's title defense. The Valkyries won a championship in their second season. Williams' second half is the reason anyone will remember exactly how.