It was always going to be a historic year for the Golden State Valkyries. Playing their first-ever WNBA season under the tutelage of Natalie Nakase, the Valkyries have surprised people throughout the season and officially booked a playoff spot with a September 4 victory over the Dallas Wings.
The Valkyries have relied on Kayla Thornton's consistent offensive brilliance and have a defense-first approach. Veronica Burton has largely been their defensive anchor, with the likes of Tiffany Hayes, Janelle Salaun, and Cecilia Zandalasin all averaging double digits in scoring.
The Valkyries under Nakase may have several superstars, but they do not have an obvious star player. Instead, they have relied on a team-based identity, which has borne immediate results for the head coach. Golden State suffered a three-game skid around the middle of August, losing to the Atlanta Dream and the Phoenix Mercury twice.
That put a slight question mark over their postseason participation. However, since then, the Valkyries have responded with a five-game winning streak, and the latest victory in the run officially granted them a postseason spot.
Now, they have three more games to go in the regular season, and considering two of them are against table-toppers, the Minnesota Lynx, fans will be glad playoff qualification is already in the bag. The Valkyries, however, will still be looking up and have a clear run at the New York Liberty (24-17) for the fifth seed.
Can State Valkyries still snatch home advantage for first round?
The Valkyries’ recent run of form has separated them from the postseason race for the bottom half of the table. Instead, they have now booked their spot and are currently perched at 23-18, just a game away from the Liberty.
The Liberty, just like Nakase’s team, is looking to end the regular season on a high. They are three games behind the Phoenix Mercury (27-14) with three games remaining in the regular season. Hence, the Mercury only need to win one more to ensure the Liberty do not overtake them.
This means that barring an abysmal end to the season for Phoenix, the Liberty and the Valkyries will end up fighting for the fifth seed till the end. Further, the defending champions have a much easier run of fixtures.
They take on the Seattle Storm, the Washington Mystics and the Chicago Sky to round off the regular season. Apart from the two matchups against Lynx, the Valkyries will also take on the Storm on Tuesday, September 9.
Hence, the equation becomes simple. The Valkyries, with their 23-18 record, need to finish the season strongly in order to catch up to or overtake the Liberty at 24-17. However, considering they have to take on the best team in the WNBA regular season twice, the Liberty clearly have an outlined advantage considering their one-game lead.
Further, Nakase may as well be willing to rest players in what is remaining of the regular season considering postseason is now guaranteed. At the same time, both the Indiana Fever (21-20) and the Seattle Storm (22-20) can theoretically catch up to them.
Therefore, the Valkyries will need to ensure they win at least one more to guarantee themselves the sixth seed. For now, considering it is their debut season, just being in the playoff conversation is bound to be seen as a huge achievement by fans.
“It's special. We set this up as a goal. A couple of weeks ago, we decided to say, ‘Hey, this is going to be our goal, we want to make the playoffs,” Nakase had said after her team’s win over Dallas, per Sports Illustrated.
No matter what comes ahead, the head coach will be well aware that the season will be remembered as a huge success. From here, the aim would be to actually compete in the postseason and build from there.
However, make no mistake. Considering the ambition her team has shown this season already, the Valkyries seem truly capable of springing up surprises in the playoffs as well.
