Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase won two WNBA championships as an assistant under Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon. On Friday in Las Vegas, she can eliminate her former team and mentor while sending the Valkyries to their first WNBA Finals.
The Valkyries (32-12) have proven to be the league’s most complete team throughout the postseason, a fact made more impressive given it’s only the team’s second year. After setting the league record for most wins by a first-year expansion franchise (23) before an early playoff exit last season, the Valkyries increased their regular-season win total by nine games and defeated the Dallas Wings in three games, then took the first two at home against Las Vegas.
Despite the Valkyries leading by 17 at one point in their Game 2 victory, the Aces rallied to take a 76-74 lead on a bucket by A’ja Wilson with 1:36 remaining. Gabby Williams promptly responded with a game-tying mid-range jumper, then dished to Veronica Burton on the next possession for a 3-pointer that put Golden State up for good and sent “Ballhalla” into hysterics with the 83-81 win.
“We have multiple closers,” Nakase said. “That goes back to our strength in numbers. If we don’t have this person scoring this many points, it’s so valuable when you have multiple people that can score on any given night. And then also, just the ability for our closing group that it doesn’t matter who scores. As long as we’re finding each other, we’re thinking about quality shots. Gabby found (Burton) wide open and she nailed it. So, again, just our composure and our confidence down the stretch.”
For the Aces (31-13), a potential sweep would represent an unfamiliar postseason disappointment. The only previous playoff sweep a Wilson-led Las Vegas team suffered came against the Seattle Storm in the 2020 WNBA Finals.
Wilson, who officially received her fifth league MVP award at a press conference on Thursday, hasn’t shown her usual dominance in the first two games of the series. She has scored 24 points in each game but has shot just 17-of-37 (45.9%) from the field, with 11 combined rebounds. Jackie Young has had an even tougher time this series, scoring just 11 points in Game 1 and 14 in Game 2 on 6-for-22 shooting (27.3%).
Hammon knows her superstars understand the stakes of Friday’s game. She also believes her team has what it takes to flip the script and turn the series around without saying too much.
“I can’t convince them that this is not a must-win, because if we lose, we go home and we stay home,” Hammon said. “The goal is to get one quarter at a time and you’ve got to string it together. We know we’re capable of stringing three in a row. We believe we’re capable of that. So that will be the mindset. No reverse psychology, no nothing. Just go out and get it done.”
–Field Level Media
