When Paige Bueckers dropped her 44-point performance, it was yet another look at a game play we have known all along– Paige Bueckers is no easy player to guard. As one of the GMs called it in the preseason– “She’s big and tall and long enough to survive defensively.” Across 30 games, she had ensured no evening ended in a single-digit performance. Maybe it was the ‘no one knows to guard mid-rangers’ code that she had cracked. But Valkyries, they came with a formula.

Nobody really expected Golden State to be where they are right now. An expansion team, riding with the international players– it was expected to float around the bottom of the table as history has had it.  However, owing to their defensive prowess (third in the league in points allowed), they are on track to make the playoffs. Their last game was one of the biggest evidence of how strong their defense is when they held Paige Bueckers, who was coming off a recent historic performance (44 points on at least 80% shooting), to just 9 points. 

After the Valkyries’ win against the Dallas Wings, head coach Natalie Nakase spoke to the media and gave a glimpse of how her team’s defense busted the league-wide myth about Paige Bueckers. She said, “We knew it was going to be a team effort, so we matched her up with Kai (Kaila Charles), but at the end of the day too, like it was a team defense. Just credit to out whole team being locked in. Because she is not an easy coverage. Like she demands a lot of attention. So again, credit to our team, specially to defend without fouling is huge.”

Coming off the recent historic performance, she was expected to continue her rich vein of form and help Wings rise up from the bottom of the table. However, strangled by Valks’ team defense, Paige could only manage to make 3 off her 12 shots and finished the night with just 9 points. In the process, Dallas lost its 29th game in a season that has seen multiple individual record-breaking moments from Paige Bueckers.

Kaila Charles, interestingly, spent the first half of the season as Paige Buckers’ teammate on the Dallas Wings. After being waived to accommodate Li Yueru, she signed with the Golden State on a 7-day contract. Two more of those and Coach Nakase turned it to a rest-of-the-season. And last night, the team leaned heavily on her defense to snatch the win 90-81. Putting up 16 points and 6 rebounds, Charles’ perimeter defense kept Bueckers at bay, snapping her double-digit streak. 

“Her ability to come in and affect everything, not just offensively, defensively, but also just who she is as a person, is a major testament,” Veronica Burton had expressed. Golden State has been a great defensive unit throughout the season, and with their season on the line, they were only expected to increase the intensity. 

Golden State Valkyries Moves Up in the Table as Playoff Race Heats Up

With just a handful of games left in the 2025 WNBA regular season, the race for final playoff spots is heating up. After the surprising season the Golden State Valkyries have had, they are now on the cusp of a rare feat: making the WNBA playoffs in their debut season. Though they have spent the entire season hovering around a .500 record, an underwhelming season from teams like the Indiana Fever and the Los Angeles Sparks has kept them in the hunt. 

With the Indiana Fever’s loss against the Minnesota Lynx, the Golden State Valkyries have officially jumped them in the standings and are now at the 7th spot. What’s even better, Golden State has already wrapped up the season series against the Fever. That means, in case both are tied for their regular season record, the Valkyries will finish ahead. However, the road ahead for Valkyries will not be easy.

In their remaining seven games, the Valks have to face Minnesota Lynx (twice), Indiana Fever, defending champions New York Liberty, and Seattle Storm. All these teams are either above Golden State or fighting for the same spots. They still have to face Paige Bueckers’ Dallas Wings again, who, of course, would be out for payback after a poor game last night. 

With the final stretch of the games coming around, nothing is guaranteed. Will the Golden State Valkyries make history? Will their season finish agonizingly close to a playoff spot? No one can say. But one thing is certain: this final stretch of the season is going to be must-see TV.