ATLANTA – The Golden State Valkyries have won games before when they shot below 35%. They’ve won games where Gabby Williams wasn’t efficient or their starters were outscored by the bench.
But against the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA Finals, their offense has just looked more stagnant and it’s burned them more. With 17 turnovers that turned into 22 Atlanta points in the Game 3 97-71 loss, the Valkyries’ offense not only struggled to shoot but couldn’t move the ball, either.
While they are focused on the 97 points surrendered – which were the most the Valkyries have given up in regulation all season – on the other end of the floor, something has to give, too.
“We tried to make the adjustment in terms of taking care of the ball. I mean, 17 turnovers is just way too many,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. “We have to be a little bit more, I’d say, composed in moments of when we look to attack. It’s like looking at that next layer… Sometimes some of our players have to put a lot on their shoulders. They want to do it for the team. Where it’s like, let’s just continue to keep trusting and moving it. And so there’s been a fine line right now that we’re kind of we’re trying to do it a little bit too much for myself or whatever. But it’s not a selfish thing. It’s like a ‘I want to do what’s right for the team. I want to help the team.’”
Golden State’s offense keeps getting stuck trying to isolate Atlanta defenders off the dribble, and it’s not working. Three of their starters, Veronica Burton, Kiah Stokes and Kayla Thornton, combined for 5 points.
According to Syngery, the Valkyries took 10 isolation shots in Game 3 and averaged 0.3 points per possession. Atlanta took eight and averaged a point per possession.
“We can adjust,” said guard Tiffany Hayes. “But we have to do it now. And we have to stay together to do it.”
Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women’s Sports Daily
We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women’s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women’s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!
Hayes and Cecilia Zandalasini had a burst in the third quarter and they even tied the game at 48, but the offense couldn’t keep pace with an Atlanta offense that was moving much, much faster.
“Sometimes shots don’t fall,” said Williams, who has shot 16-for-55 in the Finals. “We don’t want to make it about offense. They score 97, we have no chance. We have to just go back to our defense, and that will get our offense going.”
One bright spot was Janelle Salaun, who scored 13 points in 12 minutes after being silent the entire postseason.
“It was really good,” Nakase said of Salaun. “Her spacing, just being ready to catch and shoot. That’s Ja, the killer. It’s the confidence. It’s the floor spacer that’s really good. But also, I liked her fight, too, on the defensive end. I thought she was in good spots. I thought she was boarding. I thought she was being really physical. She was a nice little spark for us for sure. And now I just want to make sure I’m putting any of those right units together.”
The rotation was a little bit off on Wednesday night, with Salaun going a long time between minutes despite being the hot hand and Aminata Gueye clearly struggling on Angel Reese and a -19 in 11 minutes showing from Kaitlyn Chen.
But any signs of competent scoring from the Valkyries starters would have negated some of that, too. The Valkyries are yet to shoot above 35% in this series, and while that was good enough to take Game 1, clearly Atlanta can move through the Valkyries’ defense well enough that Golden State needs some more scoring, too.
“I think this game, they wanted it more than us, and that’s not who we are,” Hayes said. “That’s not who we’ve been, and that’s not how we got here. So I think we got to get a little bit more of that.”
