The WNBA was faced with the following issue: After the first four games of the WNBA Finals, played at the raucous 18,064-seat Chase Center in San Francisco and then at equally raucous 17,044-seat State Farm Arena in Atlanta, the Golden State Valkyries and the Atlanta Dream are tied at two games apiece. The teams will play a Game 5 in San Francisco on Monday night, and a now-necessary Game 6 on Thursday in Atlanta, where the Dream’s primary venue, Gateway Center Arena, seats just 3,500.
You'll recall that this was the exact issue the league and the Dream had to scramble to resolve before the Finals started. Games 3 and 4 were originally scheduled for nights when State Farm Arena was already booked for a Sombr concert and the Atlanta Hawks' home opener. The WNBA ultimately changed the Finals schedule to ensure that the Dream could host Games 3 and 4 in the larger venue. They've now hosted all their home games there this postseason.
But at the time, the Dream and WNBA didn't settle on a plan for what would happen if the series went six games. The Hawks, the building's primary tenant, are again scheduled to host a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the same night as Game 6 on Thursday. With only one travel day scheduled between Game 6 and Saturday's Game 7, there wasn't as much room to futz around with the schedule this time. After the Valkyries guaranteed a sixth game with Saturday's win, ESPN's Alexa Philippou and Ramona Shelburne reported that the league was considering a number of solutions, none of them ideal. One, in fact, seemed totally ridiculous: playing Game 6 as a Thursday matinee.
Well, that's what we're getting now. The league announced Monday afternoon that this proposed solution is the winner. The Dream and Valkyries will play a possible championship-clinching game at State Farm Arena this Thursday, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. Be sure to have your lunch arranged before tipoff.
I don't hold the WNBA in high regard at all on the advance-planning front, and yet this is a shocking outcome even to me. Shelburne said Sunday that the matinee was among "the two leading options of the not so great options," but the other leading option—moving Game 6 to Friday and Game 7 to next Tuesday—seems far preferable to this terrible choice.
The 12:30 p.m. time would seem to inconvenience every interested party:
- Dream fans, who are less likely to attend a game in the middle of the workday, calling into question the value of even playing this game at a 17,000-seat arena
- Valkyries fans, for whom the game now begins at 9:30 a.m.
- NBC and USA Network, who will likely see lower ratings
The ESPN article said the NBA explored moving the Cavs-Hawks game scheduled for Thursday night—postponing it or even playing it in Cleveland. But these options created another set of logistical issues for the Cavs and Hawks, who both play away games on Saturday.
"Moving Hawks-Cavs to Friday also created terrible back-to-backs for both teams," Shelburne wrote on Monday. "Had these requests been made a few weeks ago … or even a week ago, sounds like more could’ve been done." Here, the Cavs and Hawks are like people with those "A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part" posters. Annoying, maybe, but not wrong!
On NBA Today this afternoon, Shelburne said that any championship celebration after Game 6 might need to be moved to a practice court to allow for enough time for the arena changeover. Before Game 4 this past Saturday, also a "doubleheader" with the Dream game in the afternoon and the Hawks' home opener against the Houston Rockets in the evening, the media was advised that "because of the arena turnover to facilitate the Rockets-Hawks game at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, all media must clear State Farm Arena no later than 4:30 p.m." The last press conference of the day ended around 4:10 p.m.
Whichever team goes up 3-2 on Monday night should probably just dog it on Thursday afternoon to ensure that there is a Game 7. I still don't see why we can't just sim this Cavs-Hawks game. Here: Evan Mobley finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, and the Hawks rallied from down 23 in the third quarter to win, 122-112. Problem solved.
