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Kate Martin's playing time has been all over the place early in the Golden State Valkyries' inaugural season. Sometimes she'll play upwards of 20 minutes. Other times, she'll only see limited stretches on the court. Martin even caught a DNP in the Valkyries' second game versus the New York Liberty. That's just the reality of being on a team built through an expansion draft. The Valkyries legitimately have 12 players who have a claim to the rotation.
But against the Minnesota Lynx, Martin played like the DNP never even happened. She exploded for a career-high 14 points, all in the second quarter. Martin gave the Valkyries a much-needed boost with the bench unit to keep pace with the championship-level Lynx, led by MVP favorite Napheesa Collier. The Valkyries ended up losing 86-75, but Martin provided a much-needed offensive spark that bodes well for the team moving forward.
In her post-game press conference, Martin reflected on her offensive masterclass in the second quarter.
“I don't count missing shots as struggles, it's just that I didn't make it,” Martin said in response to a question about her early-season offensive struggles. “I made some shots tonight. Kudos to my teammates for getting me the ball and finding me. Leaning on my teammates is all I really do, and I just try to control what I can control.”
Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase, who was also one of Martin's coaches back on the Las Vegas Aces, was proud of Martin's performance off the bench.
“Great spark off the bench. That is the Kate that we know and we love,” Nakase said. “She is adamant with her work ethic. She's super consistent. She practices like it's the last possession and every possession. So credit to Kate, and obviously her teammates kind of like finding her in the right time. So, very, very happy. 14 points, that's huge.”
A sign of Martin's development moving forward?
Martin's big second quarter demonstrated where she can be the most potent in the Valkyries' offense.
Martin went 4-of-5 in the second quarter and a fiery 97.2% true shooting percentage, which included two 3-pointers and an And-1 layup in transition. She caused problems for the Lynx defense by getting into the paint and drawing fouls. And when she wasn't attacking the teeth of the Minnesota defense, Martin was running the fastbreak with the help of backcourt partner Julie Vanloo, who was setting her up throughout her offensive burst.
“Julie is a tremendous basketball player. She just brings high energy off the bench. She's always looking to push the ball and we can really feed off of that,” Martin said in the same press conference. “When Julie comes in we know we're going to be running pretty fast. She's done a great job of controlling the pace there, pushing it, and finding the open people.”
Vanloo got the ball to Martin in old-school point guard fashion. Whether it was on the break or feeding Martin and her hot hand in the halfcourt, Vanloo demonstrated how deadly both guards can be on the fastbreak. Martin wasn't hunting her shot all by herself. She was playing within the fast-paced flow of the game in that second quarter. That flow disappeared across the Valkyries' offense in the third quarter, which is why Martin didn't score in the second half.
That's the next step for Martin and the Valkyries moving forward. Golden State needs to find ways to string their offense together throughout the course of an entire game. And Martin's well aware of that.
“It's just about putting together a full four quarters,” Martin said. She talked about how close the team was versus the Lynx and Liberty, if not for a few bad offensive stretches. “I think if we get caught up in the wins or losses, then that would be a disservice to everything that we've been working on and how much we've grown.”
