Even with early Game 6 tipoff on Thursday, Valkyries are confident fans will find a way to watch

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Shaunice Christmas-Miller and her wife, Kendall, have the flexibility in their jobs to work from home Thursday and watch Game 6 of the WNBA Finals despite the early tipoff on the West Coast.

That doesn’t mean either is happy with the Golden State-Atlanta game starting at 9:30 a.m. PDT at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, several hours ahead of the Cavaliers-Hawks NBA game Thursday night. With the potential championship-clinching contest not being played in primetime, they know many other fans won’t be able to skip work and watch a potentially historic day in women’s basketball.

Shaunice Christmas-Miller, who works in human resources, wishes everybody involved had considered the various options further in advance to avoid such last-minute scrambling.

“They should have thought ahead for the whole seven-game series,” she said. “The women deserve primetime slots.”

Several of the WNBA Finals games have drawn record ratings, showing how much interest there is in the league, this series and its athletes. The Valkyries have sold out every game since they began as an expansion franchise last year.

“They would never make the men’s NBA final happen at 9:30 in the morning,” said Kendall Christmas-Miller, an accounting manager for a medical tech company. “I’m glad that they found accommodations but there’s still more work to be done when it comes to prioritizing women’s sports, especially when they’re performing at this level and getting the viewership.”

Warriors coach Steve Kerr plans to tune in over breakfast.

“We’ll have a day off that day, so, yeah, I’ll be watching,” he said.

He will hardly be alone, according to Shaunice and Kendall. The couple from San Jose has attended every home playoff game this season at Chase Center — nicknamed “Ballhalla” for the raucous atmosphere created by Valkyries fans — and they believe the fan base will still show up Thursday.

“Absolutely, they will definitely find a way,” Shaunice said.

Other fans are frustrated, too

“MOVE THE HAWKS GAME WOMEN = PRIME TIME” read one sign at the arena Monday night, when the Valkyries moved within a victory of a championship by beating the Dream 64-55.

Others expressed their feelings on social media.

Rapper Flavor Flav posted Tuesday: “Thursday is a paid holiday. Because Flavor Flav said so.” Included in his post was a photo of a note directed to bosses everywhere as a permission slip of sorts requesting excused absences for employees, signed by Flavor Flav with dual titles beneath his name — “The World’s Greatest Hype Man” and “Official Supporter of Women’s Sports.”

Ole Miss women’s coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin sounded off.

“I’d rather play anywhere else than have a 12:30 tip for a WNBA FINALS game man! Not a good look! For fans and for the players,” she posted on social media. “Just my 2cents that no one asked for.”

Kendall Christmas-Miller said while the decision to start the game early is disappointing, “women’s sports fans are resilient and we’re going to keep pushing and keep finding a way to show up.”

Valkyries focus on what they can control

Golden State coach Natalie Nakase and her players have focused all along on what they can control, and this certainly isn’t one of those things.

But there were some clever postgame offerings:

“Call in sick, I recommend it,” point guard Veronica Burton cracked.

“Yeah, right? Y’all know how to fake a cough, didn’t we all do that?” teammate Kiah Stokes added.

Guard Kaila Charles has no doubt the Valkyries will adjust for the early tipoff.

“I think it’s a good thing that we’re able to play in a bigger arena so that they can have more people come and support women’s basketball,” Charles said.

Golden State hosting early morning watch party

Valkyries co-owner Peter Guber walked into Chase Center on Monday unconcerned about the franchise’s devoted home crowd coming together when it matters most, despite the morning challenges such as commuter traffic to get into San Francisco for a watch party.

Supporters have been invited to gather outside at Chase Center’s Thrive City viewing area beneath the big screen, which is 74 feet wide and 42 feet high.

“Whatever they do, they come where the action is and this is the action,” Guber said, insisting Golden State’s faithful fans will all be “up and ready to go.”

Nakase has made public pleas to the fan base before, and she did so again.

“The beauty of Ballhalla, they’ll sacrifice,” she said. “They’re going to sacrifice. They’re going to open that app, they’re going to open their phone, they’re going to watch. I have no doubt that everyone who has been supporting us through this whole way — maybe we picked up fans within the Finals — everybody’s going to watch. … That’s what we do on Golden State, we sacrifice for the betterment of our team.

“So our fans, I ain’t worried about it, our fans are going to show up, show out, we play for them because they show up, show out. They don’t ever miss a beat.”

And on Thursday, even over their morning coffee.

“We’ve got the best fans in the league,” Burton said, “so I’m sure they’ll be supporting us, whatever time.”

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AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.

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