Despite losing Game 1 of their semifinal series to the Golden State Valkyries, Las Vegas Aces’ head coach Becky Hammon was able to find the silver lining. The Aces walked into Chase Center knowing exactly what the Golden State Valkyries could throw at them, and still couldn’t stop it. But for Hammon, the ugly 71-60 loss came with a surprisingly encouraging takeaway for the rest of the series.
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Becky Hammon, addressing reporters in the postgame conference, did not mince words about her team’s performance, delivering a brutally honest statement that quickly went viral. However, she also highlighted that despite the disheartening loss, there was still a way for her team to claw back. The postgame conference was livestreamed on the Aces’ YouTube channel.
“Good news is we played like a** and only lost by 10, so dissect that however you want,” she said.
The Aces had their worst game of the season. The team logged just 60 points in the game on 21-for-62 shooting, their lowest-scoring total of the 2026 season. Even four-time MVP A’ja Wilson was slowed down; despite scoring 24 points, nearly half the team’s scoring, she was not efficient. Though she started the game making four of her five shots, she went 4-for-16 the rest of the game, missing both her three-point attempts.
However, that wasn’t the biggest issue. Golden State’s strength in the game was their rebounding, completely dominating Las Vegas on the glass by outrebounding them 52-25. Three of the team’s five starters finished with double-digit rebounds: Gabby Williams and Kayla Thornton had 11 boards each, while Kiah Stokes finished with 14.
Stokes, who didn’t score any points but blocked four shots, earned heavy praise from Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase, who called her the “MVP of the game” in the postgame conference.
“Her disruption, her matching up with A’ja, it’s a really tough task,” she said. “She did an amazing job, just continue to keep her off rhythm as much as we can. … Kiah was vicious on the boards, her ability I thought today was emptying that tank. That’s the Kiah Stokes we know. For sure, she made the difference today.”
Stokes is intimately familiar with Wilson and Co., having been a part of their championship-winning squads in 2022, 2023, and 2025. Stokes and Thornton also combined for 12 of the team’s 17 offensive rebounds, 15 more than the Aces, which they converted into 20 second-chance points.
Williams led the scoring effort for the Valkyries, finishing the game with 25 points on 9-for-18 shooting. According to ESPN, she also held the Aces to 29% shooting as the primary defender.
Becky Hammon bemoaned her team’s poor play in her postgame conference, adding that trying harder on the boards was something that had been highlighted going into the series.
“I thought that was one of our more atrocious games of the season,” she said.
“All we talked about for the last 48 hours is rebounding and blocking them out, and we didn’t do it. Period. I could end this whole thing right now; don’t ask me about the game. It’s rebounding. That was it,” she added.
The Valkyries held the highest defensive rating in the league throughout the regular season, at 99.1, and their rebounding against the Aces proved why. The Aces’ struggles didn’t end there. They also saw Jewell Loyd, who recently stepped into the starting lineup, exit the game early in the third quarter due to a leg injury and did not return to the court. Becky Hammon was unable to provide an update on her condition following the contest.
The team is already missing NaLyssa Smith due to a season-ending injury in August, and starter Stephanie Talbot, who was ruled out right before their first-round Game 3 matchup against the Indiana Fever due to a leg injury.
Now, the Aces will prepare for Game 2 at Chase Center on October 7. Though the Aces were completely embarrassed by the Golden State Valkyries, beaten on the boards and held to their season low, the defending champions still have a chance to bounce back.
After all, like Becky Hammon said, they only lost by 10, and now they have to prove that was the worst-case scenario, not a preview for the rest of the series.