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After suffering a 90-81 loss to the Atlanta Dream, the Golden State Valkyries took a lot of personal responsibility for their collapse late in the fourth quarter. Kayla Thornton cited their season-high 21 turnovers. Monique Billings emphasized their lack of consistency. Natalie Nakase reflected on her shortcomings as a head coach, pointing to how she's managing the new rotation with the EuroBasket players back.
But Nakase also emphasized the officiating in this game, specifically the discrepancy in free throws. In a post-game interview, Nakase told KPIX's Matt Lively that while the Dream outplayed them, it was hard to overcome losing the free-throw battle.
“[Atlanta] just played more physical than us. Obviously, that was their adjustment at halftime,” Nakase said. “But just being candid and honest, 24 free throws to [our] nine– it's hard to win a game on the road when you know there’s home cooking.”
In the same interview, she told Lively she tried talking to the officials about the foul inconsistency, but stated that they weren't giving her “direct answers.” To Nakase's point, the Valkyries collected 22 personal fouls to Atlanta's 15. And specifically in the fourth quarter, the Dream had nine free throw attempts to the Valkyries' two.
Later, at her post-game press conference, Nakase doubled down on how the referees officiated the game.
“If they get 15 more free [throws], that's why they're called free, and we lost the game by nine? I'm telling the refs that this is a hard game for us,” Nakase emphasized. “I get it. Home cooking. But to me, Vee [Burton], Mo [Billings], Tip [Hayes], they were going up just as aggressive as their players. I'm going to keep fighting for my players, but 24 to nine? That's too much for me.”
I spoke with Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase postgame and she was frustrated by the foul discrepancy. She wasn't happy in Minnesota, either.
We also talked about the turnovers and the gameplan for the EuroBasket returners moving forward. pic.twitter.com/AWHo6swlYm
— Matt Lively (@mattblively) July 8, 2025
The Valkyries were overcome by the Dream in the fourth
But while the free-throw discrepancy played a small factor in the Valkyries' second loss in a row, other issues sank them in the fourth quarter. Leading 75-72 with 6:16 left in the game, the Valkyries allowed Atlanta to go on an 18-6 run the rest of the way.
Golden State, once again, could not find a way to score in the clutch. For the second game in a row, the Valkyries scored less than 15 points in the fourth quarter. Against the Minnesota Lynx, they got squeezed by the No.1 defense in the league. But versus the Dream, the Valkyries turned the ball over: eight fourth-quarter turnovers, with seven coming in the final five minutes.
After the game, Thornton pointed to the turnover issue and also talked about needing to lean into their defensive identity to solve their problems on offense.
“We're not gonna win any game with 21 TOs. That's the No. 1 thing,” Thornton said. “We just got to find our rhythm. We’re a defensive team. I think we have to find ourselves on that first because that translates over to our offense.”
With two more road games left this week, it's a problem the Valkyries have to solve on the fly. But for Nakase, her confidence in her team to bounce back hasn't wavered. She emphasized once again that they are built to handle the pain of losing.
“I told them, look, we're going to have to be able to fight through this. I trust you guys out there, so let's continue to build,” Nakase recounted. “From the beginning of the season, short-term pain for long-term results. This is painful, but we can be better. We know the areas we can fix, like the turnovers, and let's be better.”
