ARLINGTON, TX – For as complicated as basketball can be 99.9% of the time, sometimes it is as simple as this quote from the late great Bill Russell.
“What these young bloods have to understand is this game has always been and always will be about buckets,” Russell told Kyrie Irving in an Uncle Drew commercial almost a decade and a half ago. And the Golden State Valkyries and the basketball world got the clearest example of that adage as Arike Ogunbowale got buckets.
Whether it was the Dallas Wings guard going one-on-one and getting to the rim, the moon-balling triples over the arms of the Valkyries' most staunch defenders, her straight-up calling bank on a heave from the wing as the shot clock expired, and maybe her most impressive of the night, a moon-ball triple over the outstretched, heavy contest of Gabby Williams to tie the game at 93-93, Ogunbowale was an unstoppable force of nature, in a flow unreachable by most mortals.
She finished with 45 points on 12-of-23 shooting, a single-game scoring playoff record, rocketing the Wings past the Valkyries 108-100 in an overtime shootout to force a winner-takes-all Game 3 back in San Francisco on Friday night.
But just because the Valkyries got a front-row seat to one of the all-time heaters in WNBA history doesn't mean they were happy about it. Why would they be, besides the fact they are now in a do-or-die Game 3 with their season on the line? Because as a team defined by their defense, a team that takes the utmost pride in mucking games up and torturing opponents with their seemingly never-ending onslaught of defenders, surrendering 108 points was unacceptable in their eyes.
“That's not us,” Gabby Williams said after the loss, who finished with a career-high and franchise-record 36 points, when asked if there were any positive takeaways from their strong offensive performance in spite of the loss. “We're not here to trade baskets with people; we're a defensive team. We need to get stops.”
Williams lamented the fact that Golden State gave Ogunbowale 18 free-throw attempts with their errant fouls and was also harsh about the Valkyries' energy compared to Game 1, when Golden State ran rampant on the Wings 104-84.
“Our energy is different. I didn't recognize us tonight; I don’t think any of us did,” Williams said. “There are so many things you (can’t) control, the calls or whatever, they hit some tough shots at the end, those things we can't control. (But if) we can control what we do, and it doesn't even come down to those things.”
The fouling-up 3 debacle and the other critical crunch-time plays
The things that did end up costing the Valkyries the opportunity to close out the series and advance to the final four weren't exactly catastrophic. But added together over the course of a game where the margins got thinner and thinner, the shortcomings became the decider.
Among the grander debacles was Golden State not fouling up 93-90 before Ogunbowale's game-tying triple, which coach Natalie Nakase said was the direction she decided to take.
“I didn't want to foul. We do a good job making sure we're contesting and then finishing with a rebound. Usually, we're solid, especially in regulation,” Nakase said, before explaining what she saw from her perspective go awry. “But I saw a little bit of hesitation. And so that's why I was like, are we not clear with our delivery in our timeouts? If that's the case, I don't want any hesitation, and to make sure we contest. We don't want to give up a three. We gave up a three, but we also know (Ogunbowale) lunges forward, so we just have to be careful. Credit to Arike; she made a tough shot.”
The foul-up-three debate is in the eye of the beholder, but the result is what dictates the criticism. What's probably more up for clear-cut criticism was how the Valkyries handled their own offensive possession the following play and everything thereafter.
With the chance to walk it off, Tiffany Hayes threw an ill-advised pass to Williams, cutting to the paint with multiple defenders around her, with Veronica Burton wide open on the near corner, which ended up as an offensive foul on the Valkyries that Nakase had to challenge to change the call to a jump ball, effectively negating Golden State's chance to win in regulation. Then in overtime, the Valkyries picked up silly fouls 94 feet from the basket that: 1. Fouled out Kaila Charles and lost one of their staunchest perimeter defenders, and 2. Put the Wings in the bonus.
Article Continues BelowAnd in some ways, the Valkyries got lucky calls that didn't bounce the wrong way. Hayes and Ogunbowale got into a scuffle that the former initiated during Williams' game-tying triple. It ended up being a flagrant foul on both sides, as Ogunbowale engaged Hayes by grabbing her throat, but it's the kind of emotional play that can't happen in that moment.
But maybe the final nail in the coffin, again a small nail by itself but a big one when stacked together, was when Ogunbowale found herself with Kiah Stokes switched onto her. Stokes is a great defender, maybe an All-Defensive Team-level defender after this season, but a center switched onto the perimeter against a guard who is as close to breathing fire as you can be in a basketball game is a recipe for disaster. And Ogunbowale punished the mismatch the Valkyries presented her, nailing a stepback 3-pointer that would be the final dagger.
Bouncing back for Game 3
But for all the twists and turns and what-ifs and paths not taken, it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of a Game 3 winner-take-all. And the Valkyries have to flush out any of the ills or pains born from this kind of narrow loss.
“This is playoff basketball,” Kayla Thornton said after the game when asked how the Valkyries turn the page to Friday. “Shout out to Dallas; they played well tonight. Like Gabby said, we have to go back to the film and see what we need to work on before the next game.”
As for the message Nakase imparted to the team in the locker room right after the game, it was straightforward and practical.
“Go get some recovery,” Nakase said she told the Valkyries. “We got one at home, and we got to bring our best. That was not our best. I think it's a lack of- I don't know. We have to recover. But we've got to get on a flight right away, getting back home, and then just making sure we're on the same page to when we go look at film. Tomorrow's got to be clear minds, clear focus, clear game plan, and be ready to go for our game at home.”
And from what Nakase described, the locker room isn't fractured by a loss like this. The Valkyries' coach was asked a follow-up regarding who the voices were in the locker room that spoke up after the loss, and she said the whole team was vocal.
“Everyone. Everyone who was in, who was behind, said, ‘We got this.' It was very supportive. But again, I think they need clear, clear, clear direction with whatever they're not hearing coming out of the timeouts. That's (on) me.”
The Valkyries will look to keep their season alive on Friday at Chase Center.