How Aminata Gueye and Tiffany Hayes Led the Game 7 Payback Against Angel Reese

Golden State forward Aminata Gueye and teammate Tiffany Hayes immediately ignited the response to Angel Reese's taunt, posting photos and mimicking her celebration right after the Game 7 buzzer.

The Valkyries' championship parade on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, in San Francisco was the public stage for a personal payback that started three weeks earlier.

It traced back to Game 3 of the WNBA Finals.

Atlanta had just beaten Golden State 68-63 to take a 2-1 series lead.

Reese finished that night with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

During the game, she directed her signature 'too small' hand gesture toward the Valkyries' bench.

The taunt was aimed specifically at Gueye, who had guarded Reese for much of the series.

At that moment, the Dream appeared to have the momentum to push closer to a championship.

But the series turned dramatically.

Reese never scored more than 15 points in any of the final four games.

Golden State won all four, closing out the Finals in Game 7 with a 68-63 victory.

The response from Gueye and Hayes came almost immediately after the decisive win.

Gueye posted a photo on Instagram showing Reese mid-taunt from Game 3.

The image served as a direct reminder of the moment that fueled the Valkyries' comeback.

Hayes, meanwhile, made the same 'too small' gesture on an Instagram live broadcast.

Both players made clear that Reese's celebration had not been forgotten.

The championship parade on Wednesday turned that personal payback into a public spectacle.

Thousands of fans in lavender lined the Embarcadero to welcome the champions.

Valkyries staff members were spotted wearing T-shirts featuring Reese's face edited into the famous crying Michael Jordan meme.

The shirts also included her trademark 'too small' hand gesture.

Former Golden State Warriors player Festus Ezeli was seen aboard one of the team's buses holding up one of those shirts.

Fans also noticed another cheeky reference to the Dream star.

A pink pacifier with a paper tag reading 'if found return to: ATL' was being handed out during the parade.

The tag also featured the altered Jordan meme.

A fan who shared the photo online claimed the pacifiers were actually being distributed during the festivities.

The jibes did not stop with Reese.

Center Kiah Stokes stepped off the ferry in a shirt copying ESPN's title-odds chart from late July.

That chart had listed the Fever, Aces, Lynx, Liberty and Dream as the top five picks.

Golden State was ranked sixth.

ESPN Insights replied on X, 'Sorry we were a little late to the party.'

The doubts behind that chart were understandable at the time.

The Valkyries were 10-7 at the midpoint of the season.

They were 3-6 against playoff teams.

They also finished the regular season without a single All-WNBA player, a first for any champion in league history.

Then they went 13-4 after the chart came out.

They finished the regular season 32-12 as the No. 2 seed.

As of November 4, ESPN's updated chart gave them a 100 percent chance of winning the Finals.

Stokes, who won her fourth championship, also set a Finals record with 19 blocks.

The Valkyries won the title in only their second season as a franchise.

The WNBA Finals is a best-of-seven series.

Game 3 is often considered a pivotal moment because the winner takes a 2-1 lead.

Reese's 'too small' taunt is a common gesture in basketball, used to signal that a defender is too small to stop the offensive player.

It became her signature celebration during her college career at LSU and carried into the WNBA.

The gesture had been used against opponents before, but this time it was aimed at a player who would help eliminate Reese from the Finals.

Gueye had guarded Reese for much of the series, making the taunt a personal challenge.

The Valkyries' parade shirts and pacifiers turned that personal moment into a team-wide victory lap.

Social media reaction was immediate and divided.

Some fans argued that the Valkyries had every right to respond after winning the championship.

Others said the team took the mockery too far by involving staff and distributing props at a public parade.

The debate echoed similar controversies in sports when championship teams taunt defeated opponents.

The Valkyries' decision to make Reese's gesture a central theme of their celebration was unusual in scale.

Most championship parades focus on the team's own achievements rather than mocking a specific opponent.

But the personal history between Gueye, Hayes, and Reese made this celebration different.

The three players had been matched up throughout the series.

Reese's Game 3 performance had been her best of the Finals.

After that game, the series shifted entirely.

Golden State's defense held Reese to single-digit scoring in two of the final four games.

The Valkyries' coaching staff adjusted their game plan to limit her touches.

Gueye's defensive effort was a key factor in that adjustment.

Hayes provided scoring and leadership off the bench.

The championship was the first in Valkyries history.

The franchise joined the WNBA as an expansion team in 2024.

They reached the Finals in their second season, a rapid ascent in a competitive league.

The WNBA has 12 teams as of the 2026 season.

The league's playoff format seeds the top eight teams.

The Valkyries entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed.

They defeated the No. 7 seed in the first round, the No. 3 seed in the semifinals, and the No. 4 seed Atlanta Dream in the Finals.

Reese was the Dream's leading scorer and rebounder during the regular season.

She averaged 18.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.

Her Game 3 performance was emblematic of her ability to dominate inside.

But the Valkyries' length and physicality wore her down over the series.

Gueye's postgame Instagram post was viewed as a direct response to Reese's taunt.

Hayes' live stream gesture was captured and shared widely on social media.

The parade shirts and pacifiers were designed and produced after the Game 7 victory.

That meant the team had planned the trolling in advance.

The shirts were not spontaneous; they were manufactured and distributed at a public event.

The pacifiers, with the tag 'if found return to: ATL,' referenced Reese's team, the Atlanta Dream.

ATL is the common abbreviation for Atlanta.

The tag also featured the crying Jordan meme, which has been used for years in sports fandom to mock losing players or teams.