SAN FRANCISCO – The Golden State Valkyries played like a team that had five days off in their 99-62 blowout win over the Washington Mystics. Down multiple players to injury, including Tiffany Hayes, who was ruled out with an illness before the game, the Valkyries blitzed the Mystics on both ends of the court.
Golden State shot 55.0% from the field and held Washington to only 24.0% on 3-point attempts.
In barely over two quarters of play, Veronica Burton finished with 15 points, five rebounds, and five assists, guiding Golden State to a 29-point lead at halftime. Carla Leite got the crowd on its feet in her return from a right ankle injury. The French rookie finished with a 19 points and six assists.
It was a big win for the Valkyries' playoff chase in their first game of a rare back-to-back that went about as perfectly as a basketball game can go for one team. Here are three takeaways from Golden State's dominant win.
Rest goes (and will go) a long way for Golden State
With the amount of mileage on Burton, thanks to a combination of starting every single game this season and the recent emphasis on using her as a focal point of the offense, her playing only two minutes in the second half, on the front end of a back-to-back, is a huge relief for Golden State.
But even before this blowout win, the Valkyries were working on five days of rest, two of which the team gave everyone time off. In her postgame press conference, Nakase emphasized how much the time off helped fuel the team to another must-win.
“When there's a time [when] you can recover both mentally and physically, then you can execute game plans. But when they're so tired, that's when it becomes a little bit of a struggle,” Nakase explained.
“You saw us connected. We were communicating on a high level defensively. And I thought every point guard from Vee to Carla to Kaityln did a hell of a job organizing [us] because [Washington] shifted to zone and they shifted back to man.”
The blowout is a great way to start this stretch of five games in eight days. It keeps the hard miles of a contested WNBA game off the players and buys their injured players more time to recover.
A glimpse into the future?
This game demonstrated, maybe, the clearest picture of what the Valkyries will look like beyond this season with their veterans out due to injury.
Aside from Temi Fagbenle, every Valkyrie who saw the floor was under the age of 27. Nakase relied on rookies Leite and Janelle Salaün to shoulder the brunt of the offense, which worked out well for Golden State. The French duo finished with 19 and 20 points, respectively, a flash of the offensive engines each of them can develop into down the line.
Next to them, Burton, Golden State's 25-year-old MIP candidate, sleepwalked into great stats across the board. The Mystics had zero answers for a player who is clearly ascending into some interesting star territory. Not to mention the contributions of Laeticia Amihere, Iliana Rupert, and Kaila Charles, all of whom are just entering their prime.
This isn't to say the Valkyries are better off without their veterans, by any means. Hayes, Cecilia Zandalasini, Monique Billings, and Kayla Thornton have been critical to the success of Golden State this season. From their leadership and their on-court veteran know-how to the fact that they literally put the team in a position to make the playoffs.
But on a night where Golden State didn't have them to lean on, versus a team fighting for its playoff hopes, the young core showed a glimpse of how good the Valkyries can be beyond this season.
Valkyries' magic number to clinch playoff spot
As with every Valkyries game for the last two weeks and moving forward, the win has important implications for the team's playoff chances. For starters, the win over Washington eliminated them from the playoff race, leaving only seven teams left to vie for the six seeds up for grabs.
Additionally, with the win over the Mystics, the Valkyries' magic number fell to four. If the Valkyries win four of their remaining six games, they will clinch a spot in the WNBA Playoffs. But they can get help with that magic number should the teams around and below lose down the stretch.
The Valkyries' playoff chances revolve specifically around the Los Angeles Sparks, Seattle Storm, and Indiana Fever. The Valkyries sit in the eighth seed, 2.5 games ahead of the Sparks and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over them. Should Los Angeles falter down the stretch, Golden State will at least secure the final seed.
With the Storm and Fever, the Valkyries have games against each of them to get closer to clinching and potentially pass them in the standings. Golden State has the head-to-head tiebreaker secured over Indiana, so there is potential to leapfrog them.
For Seattle, it gets trickier. The Valkyries lead the series 2-1, so a win over them on the road would secure the head-to-head tiebreaker. However, should Golden State lose, the tiebreaker goes to the team with the better record against teams .500 or better. In that case, the Valkyries fare worse than the Storm.
All that to say, not much changes for Nakase and company. Every game's a must-win for the rest of the season.
