A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The next game of the WNBA Finals is being played at a time that makes it difficult for fans to watch. The Golden State Valkyries and the Atlanta Dream play tomorrow at 12:30 Eastern. That's 9:30 in the morning on the West Coast. To figure out why, we've called up Doug Feinberg. He's the national women's basketball writer for The Associated Press. Doug, why so early?
DOUG FEINBERG: Well, A, they kind of had a conundrum. I mean, there's no real time that would have worked for them to get the arena they wanted at State Farm and - because there is a Hawks versus Cavs game that night. You know, 12:30, matinee basketball. You got two hoops. You got 94 feet of a court. Throw it up, see what happens.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, the game's the same. Just the time is going to be difficult, I think, for fans. What's been the reaction by fans in both cities?
FEINBERG: I mean, listen, you're a Golden State Valkyries fan. It's 9:30 in the morning. You're probably getting your day started. You're on your way to work, if not there already. It's not great, but die-hard fans find a way to watch a game with streaming and other options. There's ways to do it. Is it ideal? No. But if you want to watch, you can do it. And the game sold out. The fact that the Atlanta Dream fans are showing up at 12:30...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
FEINBERG: ...For the Game 6 of the finals tomorrow. That's a testament to them to how dedicated they are to their team.
MARTÍNEZ: The Dream owners put out a letter saying that they raised concerns about scheduling two months ago but were not heeded. But I'm wondering, Doug, what could the WNBA have done if they'd had, say, heeded these things two months ago?
FEINBERG: You know, A, I mean, the more time you have to figure something out, there's a better chance you find a solution that works for everybody. I guess they could have potentially moved or tried to move the Cavs game against the Hawks to a different date or maybe flipped it to Cleveland if you had two months to figure that out, as opposed to maybe 48, 72 hours. But it does mean it was a solution that could have been done, even if you had two months, five months, whatever it may be.
The NBA schedule came out late this year because everyone's waiting for LeBron James to decide where he wanted to go. So usually that schedule comes out a lot earlier. Again, that might have given them more time to see that there's going to be an issue if Atlanta made the finals, which they did. So, yes, more time could probably solve this problem sooner, but we are where we are.
MARTÍNEZ: And next year, I don't think it would be an issue for the Atlanta Dream, right? They move to the larger arena next year full time.
FEINBERG: Yeah. I mean, State Farm is going to be their home arena for the next few years, and you sort of block out dates sooner. Their normal home, the Gateway Center Arena, only seats 3,500. That's where they played most of their games this past season in the past five years. So if you're a tenant in that building, there's a better chance you can lock off dates ahead of time, saying, hey, we could be in the finals. We need to lock out these dates when the finals actually are.
MARTÍNEZ: So there's an actual game happening. Doug, at some point, that's supposed to be off-the-court stuff. How's the series been going?
FEINBERG: You know, it's been competitive. The old phrase defense wins championships has not been more apropos than this series right here, when if you score 65 points, you will have a good chance to win the game, which is crazy to think about in the sort of the era of offense, defense is going to be decides who wins this title.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. The Atlanta Dream, though, had a 2 games to 1 lead, and unless they rally for a home victory here, I mean, they could - I mean, they could lose this thing.
FEINBERG: Yeah. I mean, they're down right now 3 to 2. They have a chance to, on their home court, tie it up again. They have to go back out to Golden State if they do do that, play Halloween night, and find another way to win in Ballhala, one of the most exciting atmospheres in women's basketball right now.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, that's Doug Feinberg, national women's basketball writer for The Associated Press. Doug, thank you very much.
FEINBERG: Thanks, A. Appreciate the time.
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