NFL
By: Ashmere Prasad
What a wild 36 hours for Golden State.
On Friday night, the Valkyries overcame a 16-point deficit in an elimination game against the Dallas Wings, and they advanced to the semifinals for the first time in their two seasons. Head coach Natalie Nakase hit the floor from exhaustion with a minute and a half to go when Golden State finally trailed by one point. Gabby Williams hit four points in clutch time to lead the Valkyries to victory.
But that’s behind them now. Sunday afternoon starts a new series matchup against the 4x MVP, 3x champion A’ja Wilson and a championship-caliber Aces team.
The Valkyries started Sunday’s matchup with a completely different energy. From the jump, the starting five had their hands in the air and grabbed every board possible. Kiah Stokes had nine of her 14 rebounds in the first half and was the game’s MVP, per Nakase. Golden State finished with 52 rebounds to the Aces’ 25, and 20 points from second-chance points.
“You take away even half of their second-chance points, it’s a different ball game,” Chelsea Gray bluntly stated postgame. The Valkyries outrebounded the Aces 25-12 in the first half. That’s the lowest the Aces have been outrebounded in a half. They haven’t been outrebounded by 13+ in the playoffs since 2021 (ESPN).
“All we talked about for the last 48 hours was rebounding and boxing them out, and we did not do it. Period.” Becky Hammon said.
Bench Unit Standouts
Aminata Gueye joined the Valkyries on September 20th on a rest-of-season contract and played 12 minutes in Sunday’s victory. Her paint attack and chemistry with Kaitlyn Chen gave Stokes a much-needed break. Gueye is valuable for her size and familiarity playing with Williams during the FIBA tournament.
“Coach Nat was asking me about her, and I was like, throw her in. That girl is ready.” Williams said postgame. “She just knows how to hoop. She’s physical, she works really, really hard, and that’s exactly what our identity is, so that’s why I think she fits in so well.”
Adding Gueye to the roster before the playoff push is so Valkyries-coded. The front office is managing so many moving parts on the backend that a late-season addition like this isn’t surprising. They knew they needed someone with size if they wanted to push deeper in the playoffs. When Gueye hit the floor, it felt like a surprise Pokémon card Nakase was holding onto; her and Kaitlyn Chen’s chemistry kept Golden State ahead.
Veronica Burton substituted out in the second half after a missed layup and a turnover. Burton was the sole reason the Valkyries beat Dallas in game 3, so it was only right if she felt fatigued. Chen entered the floor and did her thing as the floor general. She drove to the hoop, put up tough shots, and beat her defenders on the switch.
Nakase said the main priority for this series is checking in with players about fatigue. If someone wants to switch out after a few minutes, she needs to know. Golden State’s bench is the league’s highest-scoring, and against an injured Aces team, they can use those extra bodies to their advantage.
The Valkyries are favorites to win game 1 at home. Game 2 will have a different layer of intensity paired with a hint of desperation – no team wants to go down 0-2 in a five-game series matchup. Expect the Aces to come out fiery and far more aggressive, crashing the boards and guarding the perimeter. The game plan for both teams: Box out and get rebounds. Golden State executed and held the 4x MVP to only four rebounds.
“I thought that was one of our more atrocious games of the season,” Becky Hammon candidly stated. “Don’t ask me about the game. It was rebounding. That’s it.”
