SAN FRANCISCO – Tiffany Hayes shouldn't be doing this right now. The lightning-fast layups past A'ja Wilson, the off-the-dribble triples over unsuspecting defenders, the ball-hawking steals that she snatches faster than the play-by-play announcer can say her name– a 37-year-old guard who's contemplated retirement on more than one occasion should not be this electric, nor this galvanizing. Then again, neither should the Golden State Valkyries, the team no one but themselves picked to win it all, who are now one game away from the WNBA Finals after fending off the Las Vegas Aces 83-81 in Game 2 of the Semifinals.
And thus it is as fitting as it is poetic that the Valkyries' emotional leader, the Valkyries' passion and fire, the Valkyrie who chose to join the franchise in its earliest days, is having this much fun in the moment of her making.
“I'mma hold some stuff, but I'm gonna say it was amazing. It felt amazing,” Hayes said, a smile creeping up on her face at the post-game podium after finishing with a team-high 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting off the bench.
“To be able to go out there and get a win with the team that I'm with now. I know I played with (the Aces). Much respect to them, but at the end of the day, I'm here. I love, I love being here. I love being around my teammates and my coaches, and it just felt really good to know how much work that we put in all season, and to be able to get these two wins at home.”
That feeling Hayes is experiencing? It is as palpable as it is visible.
Toward the end of the third quarter, after dicing and slicing her way through the teeth of Aces' defense to finish through the outstretched arms of Kalani Brown for a crowd-popping and-1 layup, the look on Hayes' face was unforgettable. A mix between a mean-mugging of Brown in the wreckage she left behind and a grin on the verge of a smile just dying to break through the rule of cool that is required with converting an and-1 of that nature.
And as Hayes' teammates rushed to celebrate her with chest bumps and howls of joy, and as the Ballhalla home crowd echoed all around her, the smile beat out the mean mug, and all Hayes could do was shake her head and bask in the love.
The home Tiffany Hayes built
The moment Hayes is having just shouldn't be happening. Basketball, for all its exciting and fascinating facets, rarely allows its athletes to end their careers gracefully. The wear-and-tear is brutal. The hours, practices, and flights are grueling. Hayes is no stranger to that grind; after multiple knee surgeries, a nose/facial injury, and 15 years of professional basketball, she knows more than anyone how draining and soul-crushing basketball can be.
And yet here she is, defying Father Time and defying the idea that you have to go quietly into that good night. And not just in how she's playing, but also insofar as how she's doing it in a place where she can finally call home.
“I remember us having a conversation (with Hayes) about coming here and saying, ‘Are you willing to take the leap of faith with me? It's going to be my first year. Do you want to do this together,'” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase recounted when asked how it feels watching Hayes, a player she coached in Las Vegas, having this much fun in this big of a moment.
“She said, ‘Yeah.' And what was really cool was that week when she was here, she had a billboard of herself. I think it was off the freeway, and she sent it to me. And she's like, I've never had this. I've never had this type of acknowledgment, love, and support from the community. And she sent it to her mom, and her mom was crying because her mom is super, super close to her. She's her basketball coach more than me. But it was just cool to see her grow into this role, but again, taking the leap of faith with me. And now look, she's thriving again because of the love and care that we have in our culture.”
But for as much as Hayes and her game are beneficiaries of the Valkyries' strength-in-numbers culture, Golden State owes a lot of its ideology to the foundation Hayes set.
Article Continues Below“The energy that she shows up with every single day to practice,” Veronica Burton said, seated next to Hayes, when asked what the veteran guard means to her.
“You have someone like her just being the example. It makes all of us want to play as hard as we possibly can. It increases our passion. She's one of the most passionate people. So when you have a teammate like that, that you know is just going to have your back no matter what, I think it just brings a level of joy to the game that we wouldn't be us without her. It is a gift to be her teammate and to watch her work, and it's really incredible to see what she's doing.”
As Burton finished her reflection, Hayes extended a hand to shake Burton's, nodding her head as she said, “I like that, I like that,” to the laughter of her, Burton, and the rest of the media in the room. In that small moment, a snapshot of who Hayes is. Cool and collected but passionate and loyal, all of which inspire the same in her team.
Leaps of faith shouldn't work out. Hence the leap. But for someone like Hayes to stick the landing through sheer willpower and perseverance, it's only right. Because Hayes is living out the hoop dreams we all want to see but never get to watch. The hoop dreams that have become so mythologized, we believe they shouldn't be possible. And while the Valkyries still have a lot of basketball left to play, it doesn't hurt anyone to say that Hayes, for at least this moment, has dared to make us believe.
“Job's not done,” Hayes said, letting the championship DNA take over again before letting herself enjoy the moment she's carved out for herself, tooth and nail. “We gon' have a hard-fought series still going into Aces territory, but right now? Feels amazing.”