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There are plenty of reasons why the Golden State Valkyries' suffered an 80-71 loss to the Dallas Wings, who were 1-11 before this game. Wings' rookie sensation Paige Bueckers continued her hot streak with 2o points and four steals, along with Arike Ogunbowale's 19 points and six assists. Additionally, the Valkyries were down four critical rotation players due to their EuroBasket obligations, three of whom are starters. The loss could even be explained away by the fact that it just might not have been the Valkyries' night on the road.
But the Valkyries aren't making excuses for the loss in a very winnable game. In her post-game press conference, Golden State's Monique Billings was hard on herself and her teammates.
“[Dallas] outworked us. They out-hustled us; they wanted it more. I don't think we brought our best game, our consistent game that we have been playing, and that's something that we'll tighten up.” Billings said. She was the Valkyries' driving force on offense all game long. Billings finished with a season-high 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, along with eight rebounds.
The forward later responded to a follow-up about whether the game was tougher for the Valkyries because of the lineup and rotation changes necessitated by the absence of players at EuroBasket.
“I think those are excuses. We have people on our team right now who have been in camp with us– we know the standard,” Billings said. “We have great vets who bring that standard every day. So no, I don't think that's something that we need to make as an excuse.”
In the same press conference, Kayla Thornton echoed Billings' sentiment when asked about what the team needs to adjust moving forward.
“Just controlling our energy, controlling the effort that we put out there. That was the big key for tonight. There's no way teams should out-rebound us, knowing what our identity is. That's what we should be doing every night to other teams,” Thornton said. “This is a game to reflect back on and kind of wake up. I think we were a little high; we were kind of too high. Now we've got to come back to Earth a little bit, and just get back to work.”
Natalie Nakase's take on the Valkyries' sixth loss this season
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The Valkyries entered the game with a good chance to extend their three-game winning streak against a Wings team on a seven-game losing streak. But as Thornton said, this game taught Golden State that no team in the WNBA is an easy win. While the dynamic duo of Bueckers and Ogunbowale carried the offensive load, the rest of the Wings hammered Golden State on the boards. Dallas finished with 51 rebounds, 13 of which came on the offensive boards. Wings converted those 13 offensive rebounds into 20 second-chance points.
The effort on the boards especially doomed Golden State late in the game. Down 76-70 with 1:21 left in the game, the Valkyries gave up a steal on a rebound, followed by two offensive boards. Dallas didn't even convert a bucket on those possessions; the rebounds ended up draining the clock down to 31.0 seconds. So, despite missing frontcourt starters Janelle Salaün and Temi Fagbenle, losing the rebounding battle was an issue of effort and energy, according to Thornton and Billings.
But head coach Natalie Nakase had a slightly different opinion. In her post-game press conference, she stated that she was “disappointed” in her group's effort. However, she also took a little bit of responsibility for her players' low-energy outing.
“To me, I saw a bit of heavy legs [and] fatigue. And so, how can I manage that better between games? Maybe [a super short practice, maybe my practice was too long?” Nakase said.” I have to figure out what works best for players who love to work out. They love to practice, so I think we've got to come to an agreement on: how much do I give them that work, when I can say, ‘Hey, that's enough. Let's stay focused on the game.'”
For as hard of a loss as it looked for the Valkyries, the players are taking it harder. But Nakase was confident her team would bounce back for the quick turnaround versus Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever in 48 hours.
“I tell our players, just be super vulnerable with me. I'm an open book cause their heads were kind of down,” Nakase said. “I'm like, ‘Put your heads up, this is just basketball, y'all. This is just basketball!' I love that they take ownership of being disappointed and being upset, but I'm like, ‘Hey, look, we got another game in less than 48 hours! We learn from it. We know we didn't fight, we know the effort wasn't there. So get our recovery, look at some film, and then be ready for Indiana.”
