UCLA coach has strong reaction to WNBA’s bizarre Game 6 start time

The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries will play Game 6 of the WNBA Finals on Thursday, with tip-off at 12:30 p.m. ET at State Farm Arena in Georgia.

The game was moved up to the 12:30 start to allow the Dream to host it at State Farm Arena, and the Hawks play that same evening in the same arena. However, the afternoon start time in a potential WNBA Finals closeout game had many scratching their heads at what was a puzzling decision.

UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close also shared her thoughts on the league moving the game up to an earlier start.

“I hope that as the incredible work of the WNBA continues to soar, that the ownership groups and the planning in advance will match that soar,” Close said, via Yahoo Sports. “I think it got exposed that it didn’t match this time. Obviously, there wasn’t strategic planning in advance.”

The start times for Games 3 and 4 were already adjusted to a concert and a Hawks game, so this is the third time a Dream home game has been shifted.

One of the other choices was for the game to be held at the Gateway Center, which holds just 3,500 fans, although the league also considered moving the game to Friday and shifting a potential Game 7 to Sunday.

It was also reported on Wednesday that the Dream brought up this issue months ago, but the league didn’t address it at the time.