Kaitlyn Chen dropped a three-pointer in the dying minutes of the game as the Valkyries won their first playoff game ever, defeating the Dallas Wings 104-80. The GS Valkyries made that home advantage count as they sailed to an early series victory. However, head coach Natalie Nakase wasn’t pleased with the level of play from her team, focusing especially on their defense.
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“So, our energy kind of dipped in terms of, like, our defense. I felt like we kind of just weren’t meeting them high enough and I felt like they just got to the paint really easily. So it was part of, like the third; we talked about it, I was going to watch the film tomorrow,” Nakase said in the post-game interview.
“But how we started, I thought we started out really good, we talked about the empty-the-tank mentality, and I think for like about two and a half quarters, I thought we really emptied the tank. So, very proud of the attention to detail; I thought we executed the game plan… we’re getting there, we’re moving in the right direction.”
Natalie Nakase’s comments come even after the Valkyries held the Wings to only 47% from the field and 30% from the three-point line. Golden State holds the league’s most formidable defense, with a league-leading defensive rating of 99.1. They have allowed an average of only 75.1 points to be scored against them throughout the regular season.
The Wings have faced the Valkyries’ stifling defense thrice in the regular season, losing each time, as Gabby Williams and team held them to an average of 75.3 points across the three games, 14.1 points below their regular-season average of 89.4. And this playoff game was no different.
The Dallas Wings were thoroughly outmatched and outscored in the game. The Valkyries set the pace early on in the game, taking a massive 58-31 lead by the end of the second quarter. Other than Bueckers, Dallas struggled to get on the board. While Bueckers did score 17 points in the first half, her teammates combined could not muster up more than 14.
The Wings ended up making only 12 of their 31 shots from the field in the first half, and the Valkyries capitalized on it. Valkyries’ overseas talent was on display as Cecilia Zandalasini dropped 17 points in the first half, and Gabby Williams added another 13. Tiffany Hayes added 15 more points to close the second quarter.
Natalie Nakase has some qualms about her team’s defense even after such a performance, showcasing the incredibly high standards she holds her team to. And she must if they intend to go for the championship this year, after losing out in the first round of the playoffs last season.
Their score against the Dallas Wings marked the highest points total in the Valkyries’ franchise history. This was also the first time in WNBA postseason history that six players scored multiple threes on a single team, per ESPN’s Kendra Andrews.
If Golden State wins their next game, they will enjoy home-court advantage even in the conference semifinals. This would be massive for Natalie Nakase and her team, as she said, per an X post by Madisyn Cunningham of Winsidr.
“Ballhalla is part of us. They’re our sixth man,” Nakase said before the Wings game. “They roar when they’re supposed to roar, they’re hostile when they’re supposed to be hostile – almost to a point where we know we’re not going to be able to hear. That’s why we have signals.
“But playing here is literally my dream come true, to have this type of energy. That’s how we play: We fight, we punch, we’re physical. So they’re a part of us, and they help us with our energy.”
The Wings will now need to channel the form they showed just before the playoffs, when they won seven of their last eight games, to keep themselves alive in this series. Coach Jose Fernandez needs to find a way to support Bueckers, who finished the game with 21 points, six rebounds, and two assists.
Cecilia Zandalasini finished with a game-high 22 points, with Tiffany Hayes and Gabby Williams finishing with 21 and 20 points, respectively. The Dallas Wings will now host the GS Valkyries at the College Park Center on Wednesday, hoping to equalize the series scores and push forward towards a possible Game 3.