NFL
By: Ashmere Prasad
September 4 – San Francisco
The Valkyries made history tonight in their 84-80 win over the Dallas Wings. They are the first expansion team in the WNBA to make it to the playoffs in their inaugural season – but not without a fight.
Head coach Natalie Nakase said in her pregame press conference tonight was another, “Must win game. We’re still not in there, we still don’t have an X by our names.” Golden State has made their intentions clear from the start: take it one game at a time, and focus on getting into the playoffs.
The expectations for the newest expansion team were low – they were projected to win eight games their entire season according to the Las Vegas odds. They won eight games a month into the season and continued to take each matchup one game at a time.
“It’s better to start as an underdog and prove it to everyone.” Janelle Salaün said. “I think a lot of people didn’t believe in us, and it fired us up. It’s something that we’re used to and we did this as a group.”
Fourth Quarter Fight
The Valkyries have continuously said this team trusts each other. They continue to fight for each other and this win required an entire team effort in the final five minutes. Carla Leite gave the team the energetic spark they needed to close out, Veronica Burton provided the leadership, and Salaün continued to hit clutch threes.
Golden State led by two with 22.3 seconds remaining. Burton drove past her defender, first overall pick Paige Bueckers, drove through the defense, and drew a foul after scoring. As the ball went in fans jumped to their feet, chanting a combination of MVP and GSV in celebration. Ballhalla was loud, possibly the loudest it has ever been. The clock ran out, streamers fell from the ceiling and Salaün yelled, “Let’s GO!” in her postgame interview. The fans roared again and celebrated alongside their history-making team.
From the beginning of the season head coach Natalie Nakase has explained how they’ve hand selected this team. A team made up of players ranging from veteran experience, to rookie, and everywhere in between. This team has been confident in themselves from the start. Temi Fágbénlé coined the phrase, ‘a team of six-women’ which stuck, and perfectly describes Golden State.
When Nakase was asked about her emotions from the win she shared another piece of her locked-in mentality.
“I’m bittersweet in terms of, I’m supposed to do this,” Nakase said. “That’s my mental, that’s me kind of saying, it’s a must win. I told the girls, we intentionally picked you guys for this reason. To do things for the first. That was what Tip (Tiffany Hayes) said when we celebrated in the locker room. She goes, ‘we’re the first.’ And I said, well, I intentionally chose you guys as well.”
Post Season in San Jose
The Valkyries PR announced they will play their first round playoff games at SAP Center in San Jose due to scheduling conflicts at Chase Center.
The playoff opponent for Golden State has yet to be determined as 19 games remain in the season. Golden State sits in the sixth seed, one game behind the New York Liberty, and the Seattle Storm are a game-and-a-half behind the Valkyries at seventh.
Saturday afternoon the Valkyries take on the number one seed, Minnesota Lynx for their final matchup of the five-game homestand. Golden State has won five straight, their longest streak this season. Minnesota is coming off a major loss to the Las Vegas Aces, who are currently on a 13-game win streak and are second in the standings.
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