The Golden State Valkyries hung on in the fourth quarter to secure a 67-62 win in Game 4 of the 2026 WNBA Finals and even the series at 2-2. The action will now shift back to the Bay Area for a pivotal Game 5 on Monday night.
The Valkyries switched up their starting lineup for this game, inserting Kaila Charles and Tiffany Hayes for Kayla Thornton and Cecilia Zandalasini in an effort to generate more offense. And Hayes did come up huge with 13 points, all in the second half.
But it was their defense that stole the show. The Valkyries held the Dream to 62 points on 18 of 54 (33.3%) shooting and forced 18 turnovers, which they turned into 16 points on the other end. Most notably, Angel Reese, who dominated Games 2 and 3, managed just eight points on 2 of 12 shooting and had three times as many turnovers (six) as made baskets.
Gabby Williams led the Valkyries in the scoring department with 17 points, but shot just 7 of 21 from the field. Likewise, Veronica Burton added 13 points on 4 of 17 shooting. Burton did have a few massive buckets in the fourth quarter to ensure the Valkyries held on to their lead, though, including a turnaround over Jordin Canada with 35 seconds left.
Kiah Stokes only scored four points, but she grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked three shots to become the first player in WNBA Finals history to record 3-plus blocks in four consecutive games. She now has 14 blocks in the series, which is a Finals record.
Here are some winners and losers from Game 4:
Winner: Natalie Nakase
It takes real guts to switch things up as dramatically as Nakase did in Game 4, but her lineup decisions were spot on and a major factor in the Valkyries' win.
Prior to the game, Nakase changed the starting lineup, replacing Thornton and Zandalasini with Charles and Hayes. The move gave the Valkyries more energy and dynamism from the opening tip, though it certainly did not completely fix their offensive issues.
The more important move Nakase made was tightening up the rotation. Strength in numbers has been the Valkyries' mantra all season, and they've leaned into that approach in this series. Nakase used a nine- and 10-player rotation in the first three games, and every player on the active roster aside from rookie guard Justė Jocytė has played meaningful minutes.
That flipped in Game 4. Nakase shortened the rotation to seven players and barely took her best players off the floor. Again, the offense was still a big issue, but playing Burton and Williams nearly the entire game, and Kiah Stokes for 30+ minutes, was a major factor in the Valkyries' dominant defensive performance.
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Veronica Burton | 38:08 | Most this season |
Gabby Williams | 37:26 | 2nd-most this season |
Kiah Stokes | 30:53 | 5th-most this season |
It's hard to see the rotation expanding the rest of the way. It's the Finals, after all. Keep your best players on the floor.
Loser: Angel Reese
Reese had a historic 30-point, 16-rebound performance in Game 2, followed that up with 21 points and 12 rebounds in Game 3 to join A'ja Wilson as the only players in Finals history with back-to-back 20/10 games, and had been the best player in the series by a wide margin heading into Saturday.
That trend ended in Game 4. Reese looked out of sorts right from the opening tip and never found a rhythm against an extremely active and physical Valkyries defense, led on the interior by Stokes. She finished with eight points, nine rebounds, three assists and three blocks, but shot 2 of 12 from the field with six turnovers.
In the middle of the fourth quarter, with the Dream down by nine, Reese burrowed inside and missed a shot right under the rim, then grabbed the rebound and inexplicably missed the putback against zero pressure. That sequence summed up Reese's frustrating afternoon.
The Dream have relied heavily on Reese's scoring boom in the playoffs, and without it they were out of answers.
Winner: Kiah Stokes
Stokes played 22 minutes per game in the regular season and rarely scores -- she didn't even take a shot in Game 2 of this series -- so she often flies under the radar, but that should not be the case. Her work on the defensive end and the glass has been phenomenal all season, and was again on Saturday as she made Finals history.
In fitting fashion, Stokes scored four points on 2 of 5 from the field, but she grabbed 16 rebounds, blocked three shots and helped hold Reese to eight points on 2 of 12 shooting.
Stokes is now the first player in Finals history to block three or more shots in four consecutive games, and her 14 blocks are the most by a player in a single Finals ever. With at least two more games to play, Stokes will fly past the previous record for blocks in a Finals, and it may be a while before anyone catches her.
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Kiah Stokes | 2026 | 14 |
Sylvia Fowles | 2017 | 12 |
Breanna Stewart | 2024 | 11 |
Sylvia Fowles | 2016 | 11 |
Loser: Dream
This was the biggest game in the Dream's nearly 20-year history.
After a 26-point win in Game 3 to go up 2-1 in the series, it seemed they had solved the Valkyries. They had all the momentum and were at home with a chance to take a commanding 3-1 lead that would have put them one win away from the first title in franchise history and guaranteed a chance to clinch at home in Game 6.
And then they fell behind by 16 in the first half, shot 18 of 54 (33.3%) from the field, including 4 of 23 (17.4% from 3-point range), turned the ball over 18 times and scored a season-low 62 points.
All of a sudden, the series has completely flipped. It's 2-2 heading back to the Bay Area, and the Dream will have to win at least one more game in Ballhalla -- where the Valkyries are 22-6 between the regular season and playoffs -- to win the championship.
Winner: Tiffany Hayes
The 37-year-old Hayes hasn't started a playoff game since 2023, the year she announced her short-lived retirement, and hasn't played in the Finals since 2013. But ahead of Game 4, Nakase called on her to help save the Valkyries' season.
Even at this stage of her career, Hayes is still one of the quickest players in the league, and one of the few on the Valkyries who can reliably generate her own shot, especially against this long and athletic Dream defense. And so, facing a 2-1 deficit that she could not let grow to 3-1, Nakase moved Hayes into the starting lineup.
The move did not work initially. In her first stint, Hayes went 0 of 3 with a turnover and two fouls. She played less than a minute in the second quarter, and by halftime, she was still scoreless. But Nakase stuck with her, and her faith was eventually rewarded. After the Dream had cut the deficit to six late in the third quarter, Hayes responded with her first bucket of the game.
Hayes kept coming up with timely buckets the rest of the way to keep the Valkyries in front. Her back-to-back scores in the middle of the fourth to push the Valkyries' lead back up to double digits were particularly important, and she finished with 13 points and five rebounds on 5 of 10 from the field.
