SAN FRANCISCO – By all accounts and eyewitnesses, the Golden State Valkyries were dead to rights.
Time of death? The 6:02 mark in the third quarter. The cause? An Arike Ogunbowale spin-and-scoop layup right past the teeth of the Golden State defense, putting the Dallas Wings up by 16 points. Contributing factors? Certainly the 13-of-42 shooting night at that point. Potentially, the pressure and stakes of a do-or-die Game 3, along with the anxiety and nervousness of their die-hard Ballhalla crowd. And maybe, just maybe, the fact that they don't have a traditional go-to A1 shot creator.
But someone must not have told Veronica Burton that she and the Valkyries were dead. Because as eulogies were being written and death certificates were being signed, the Golden State floor general was still fighting, with every ounce of will and determination, starting by putting her body on the line.
“We're down around (15), and she dove for a ball,” assistant coach Kasib Powell said after the game, recounting the turning point in the Valkyries' comeback 77-73 victory over the Wings. “The possession ended up being ours, and then she kind of just starts slapping the floor. And it was almost like a desperation. Like, come on, y'all! Like, we need y'all right now! And it was just inspirational. To see her still be fighting the way she was– she doesn't care who she goes against, how tall they are, how quick they are. So just to see her fight, it definitely (gave) us inspiration to continue to fight.”
That was just one of many plays Burton made to remind the Valkyries they still had a heartbeat. Whether it was ripping the ball away from the Dallas bigs on the offensive boards, stringing together stop after stop on Ogunbowale and Bueckers, or racing to the rim past the outstretched arms of the Wings' defenders, the game bent to Burton's will as she collected 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on the night.
And on perhaps her most important play of the game, shaking Paige Bueckers for a step-back 3-pointer on the immediate possession after Ogunbowale put the Wings up 16, Burton's fight not only snapped the Ballhalla crowd out of their grief and despair, but also settled the nerves of her teammates, according to Williams.
“V hit a really big three,” Williams said of Burton's 3-pointer over Bueckers, which snapped a 20-0 run by the Wings. “And once we all saw that go in, we could kind of go like: okay, we saw one go in, now it's our time to get going.”
And it didn't take long for Williams to get going after witnessing Burton find the bottom of the net. With a head full of steam, commanding the fast break, Burton found Williams wide-open in the corner, and the Valkyries' All-Star forward drained her first triple of the night to cut the deficit to 10 points.
From then on, the hoop became an ocean. Williams rattled off 15 more points the rest of the game, including what would be the game-winning pull-up jumper to give Golden State a 73-72 lead with 1:18 left in the fourth quarter.
The belief of the Golden State Valkyries
It wasn't just Burton who willed Golden State to the WNBA Semifinals.
In the first half, when the Valkyries' energy was low and the fans were still trickling in after getting stuck in the 6 pm rush hour, Tiffany Hayes came in and gave Golden State instant offense by getting to the rim and hitting her 3-pointers. And alongside Burton and Williams in the third quarter, Kaila Charles stepped up, hounding the Wings' stars and crashing the offensive boards to give the Valkyries extra possessions.
Article Continues BelowBut it was more than just the stuff that happened between the two baskets. From the third quarter on, the Golden State bench rarely sat down. You could see Kaitlyn Chen jumping up and down every time someone in violet made something happen. You could hear the Ballhalla crowd abandon all sense of worry and just start screaming and cheering as loud as humanly possible.
And you could feel, all the way up from press row, that all these little things, whether it was players high-fiving each other a certain way or Natalie Nakase shouting at her players in the huddle, were snowballing together and out of the Wings' control.
In Ogunbowale's words after the game: “They just seemed like they wanted it more.”
“Loose balls, rebounds, even that challenge that got overturned by them, (Williams) hustled to get that ball, and we didn't,” Ogunbowale said. “They went the extra inch, and that's without them knowing.”
It's the kind of willpower that's only possible when a team believes in each other, in their abilities, and in their culture. Teams aren't supposed to comeback from a 16-point deficit in the playoffs. Teams aren't supposed to be this successful without a truly great on-ball, elite shotmaker. And teams aren't supposed to be doing what the Valkyries are doing: a semifinals appearance in just their second season in the WNBA.
“I never quite got that belief in the W from a staff or from teammates,' Williams said, reflecting on what it's like to play for Golden State. “So the fact that like I believe in Tip, she believes in me. I believe in Kai, she believes in Kiah, she believes in V. It's down the line. We all really trust each other with whatever decision.”
And at the heart of all that belief is Burton. She was the Valkyrie that guided them to the playoffs last season in her Most Improved Player of the Year award run. She is the Valkyrie that Nakase trusts to guide the other four players on the floor. And while she may not have the pure shotmaking ability of a Caitlin Clark or the imposing physicality and athleticism of an A'ja Wilson, she has the one thing all great players need– heart. And Burton's heart may just be the biggest of them all.
“She's one of the best two-way guards for a reason,” assistant coach Landon Tatum told ClutchPoints after the game. “Because she doesn't always have to rely on her offense to get things going. It can just be the hustle plays.”
