​ATLANTA – Early in the fourth game of the WNBA Finals, a foul call didn’t go in the Golden State Valkyries’ favor. Their head coach wasn’t thrilled about it. Penalizing a bump in this series seemed absurd. So Natalie Nakase complained to the officials. As one does. Then she did a thing no coach really does, and it was hilarious, and it said it all about the taut, petty spectacle we’re in for now.She balled up her fists. She held them below her eyes. She flexed her wrists.She called someone a crybaby.Nakase’s target was unclear, at least from a seat up on the concourse level. It could’ve been the Atlanta player who drew the foul. It could’ve been Dream coach Karl Smesko, who didn’t fail to notice, or another staffer. It could’ve been someone chirping near the home team’s bench. It could’ve been anyone. But it was definitely someone.Oh, they’re getting on each other’s nerves now. It’s the good stuff. Shooting daggers and spitting venom. Playground insults as fair play. None of it is an accident. This is the best outcome for any postseason series that grinds along, at least for the audience, and it’s a fascinating, if inevitable, turn given how these finals are going.A 67-62 imposition by Golden State on Saturday — and it was that, just as much as it was an according-to-Hoyle win — locked the series at 2-2. The Valkyries reclaimed a sense of themselves, saving the season. The Dream muttered about failing to be who they were in the previous two games. Now they both have to figure out who they’ll be in a totally unfamiliar spot.Three games left, tops. Neither group has chased a title this deep, together. They’re still learning what to do and how to act, collectively, under the circumstances. The winner will be the group that best imitates having been here before, starting Monday back at the Chase Center.This is not pretty on purpose. Both the Dream and the Valkyries understand who they are and who they want to be. In the previous decade of WNBA Finals, only one game saw both teams fail to score 70 points. It’s now happened twice in this series alone. They’ve taken turns bullying each other out of place. Our 2026 championship is a case of identity theft: The side with more purposeful orneriness tilts the scales.Presenting Gabby Williams as an example. The Valkyries star stood outside the locker room before Game 3, blowing on her hands thanks to the overactive air conditioning inside State Farm Arena, and said she kept the team’s temperature down after a disappointing Game 2 home loss. Can’t get that one back, she said. Shake it off. Move on. “Logical,” is how she described her approach.By the end of that night, Williams was molten. She tore into those same teammates in a post-loss huddle. She continued in the locker room. She decided she’d been “too loose” as a leader and properly clamped down. “I wanted to show my team something different,” Williams said the next day, “because we need som