SAN FRANCISCO – Ideologically, the Golden State Valkyries-Dallas Wings playoff series was always going to be a clash of singular stardom versus strength-in-numbers depth. The rising brilliance of Paige Bueckers versus the defensive tandem of Gabby Williams and Veronica Burton, with their legion of unrelenting Valkyries right behind them. And for a moment in the first quarter, as Bueckers went band-for-band with the Valkyries offense, stringing together tough shot after tough shot with Williams draped all over her, it felt like maybe, just maybe, one of the WNBA's brightest young stars could overthrow Golden State all by herself.
Then the Valkyries' avalanche hit. And as they've done all season long, they took a sledgehammer to the notion that they need one single star to save them.
First, a pick-six steal and layup from Tiffany Hayes off the bench, who then followed it up with back-to-back triples to open the second quarter, Ballhalla feeding off her electricity. Not long after, Hayes pushed the pace in transition and found Kayla Thornton wide-open in the corner for another 3-pointer to force Dallas to call a timeout. Boom. Now it's on. And as Thornton popped off, fist-pumping the air to the roar of the crowd and chest-bumping teammates as they rushed onto the court to meet her, a collective feeling fell over the entirety of Chase Center: Here we go.
“Momentum,” Thornton said after the win, telling ClutchPoints about what was going through her mind in that moment. “Just to keep shooting it, knowing that I could shoot, and my teammates believe in me. But that kind of just stems from our defense… we just wanted to come out aggressive. They have great scorers, so we just wanted to make sure we did what we could to kind of slow them down.”
From there, the Valkyries would ignite a season-high 37-11 second quarter on the Wings, shooting 13-of-18 from the field and draining seven 3-pointers in the process. It didn't matter who was launching the ball. Whether it was Cecilia Zandalasini lasering moon-ball after moon-ball, Williams blazing her way to the cup, or Burton leaving defenders in the wreckage of their own ankles, every Valkyrie found the bottom of the net.
“Strength in numbers,” coach Natalie Nakase surmised. “That was the reason why I think we've been able to get to this point and be healthy and execute with that type of energy.”
And just like that, Golden State took Game 1 104-80 in this best-of-three first-round series, notching their first playoff win in their young history. Zandalasini led the way with 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting, Hayes added in 21 points off the bench, and Williams rounded out the Valkyries' scoring with 20 points and a game-high +27 plus/minus.
Moving on to Game 2
Beyond the Valkyries' second-quarter onslaught, the takeaway from Game 1 was how Golden State defended Bueckers. To open the game, Williams picked the Wings guard up 94-feet, trailing her wherever she went with or without the ball. And while Bueckers finished with 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting, she noted that all of her makes were hotly contested on difficult looks.
“She's obviously an excellent player, one of the best in our league, and so I just wanted to make everything difficult,” Williams said, explaining her and the Valkyries strategy for slowing down Bueckers. “She hit almost all of her shots today, but as long as I can make them hard, tough shots where she has to really work for them. Then she gets tired. That's just kind of the goal. Just knowing she's kind of going to get them, but how can I kind of wear her down.”
And as the Valkyries have emphasized all season long, the defense is what fueled the offense, and their defense on Bueckers and the rest of the Wings generating live-ball turnovers gave Golden State the flow and rhythm they needed to make their high-volume 3-point offense click. However, both Williams and Nakase noted that the Valkyries' offensive spacing principles were on point as well, noting how their “patience” allowed them to stay ahead of the Dallas rotations with their ball movement.
But regardless of the positives of the victory and the subsequent the historic significance, the Valkyries are already on to Game 2.
“They're already like in recovery mode right now,” Nakase said when asked about the closeout game in Dallas on Wednesday, who still wasn't completely satisfied with the Valkyries' defense. “We have to really expect a you know a Dallas swing team that's going to be hungry. They want to obviously win at home too. So, next game mentality, nothing carries over from this game. We're already on to the next. We got the coaches already looking at the film, how we're going to break it down. They threw in some new sets. So yeah, we're locked in. Gotta be ready to go.”
There will be some enjoyment and some celebration, but ultimately, the job's not finished.
“You enjoy it for a second, but these games go by quick, so you can't really celebrate until it's all said and done,” Thornton said. “We just gotta take this one, and now we gotta go to Dallas. That's not gonna be much easier. We gotta take care of business at the end of the day.”