LAS VEGAS — A’ja Wilson had 21 points. Chelsea Gray had 17. And Jackie Young had 18, including the layup to send Game 3 into overtime.
None of them would ever be considered expendable. Yet it was Kayla Thornton who scored 18 points for the Valkyries, who had been left unprotected in the expansion draft. Tiffany Hayes, who left this Aces team after one season in 2024 and joined the Valkyries as their first free agent signing, added 11 points off the bench. And Gabby Williams, who had felt she was underappreciated by her former teams until the Valkyries leaned on her as a true star, scored more points in overtime (eight) than the Aces did as a team (six).
That was the group that won a decisive Game 3 to complete a sweep of the defending champions and send the Valkyries to the WNBA Finals in just their second season ever.
“It says a lot about who we are,” Veronica Burton, another player the Valkyries got because she was left unprotected in the expansion draft, said of the 17-0 run. “In the big moments, we’re able to come together. String together stops, that’s what we talked about. We had to get it done on the defensive end.”
The heart of the Valkyries, though? The person leading the effort to the Finals was not on the court in the final moments of Game 3. But she put together the closing lineup and made the decisions that led a team of castoffs over the defending champions.
Natalie Nakase uses a lot of phrases and mottos for her team. “Empty the tank.” “Play all four quarters.” But the one that got them to the Finals is, “Strength in numbers.”
“I told them I was proud of our whole team, all 14 players, because I saw another level of fight tonight,” Nakase said. “That’s what I was really proud of. I think that overtime proved ‘Strength in numbers’ — we really left it all out there on the floor.”
Nakase was candid and emotional when discussing what it meant to beat the Aces and Becky Hammon, the organization and coach that gave her a chance in the WNBA before she took over as Golden State’s inaugural head coach.
“I actually tried to walk through the tunnel with my head down,” she said, “because there’s so many people here I consider family.”
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Nakase’s journey to the Finals hasn’t been easy, either. In Game 3 against Dallas just a week ago, she nearly fainted in the final minute of the game. Since then, she has talked about prioritizing her rest, hydration and nutrition as she continuously empties the tank for her team.
She took a full day off in the two-day break between Game 1 and Game 2 during the semifinals, something she rarely does. But she knew she needed to rest. She had simply emptied the tank, the same thing she had been harping on for her team all season.
“Nat is special because she’s a coach that will make you want to run through a brick wall for her,” Wilson said.
Early season narratives around the Valkyries focused on their lack of star power or odd rotations, as the team sometimes would close games with the eighth or ninth player in the rotation. In the regular season, that could work; outworking every other team could as well. It’s a 44-game grind.
But in the playoffs, when the stakes were higher, could it actually make a difference? The Valkyries, it turns out, feel that it’s made all the difference.
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“Our depth has allowed us to stay healthy and fresh,” Williams said. “Especially compared to how I felt at the end of last season, I feel much better. I only played 28 minutes today.”
The Valkyries know their approach of using a deeper bench means playing more players than any other playoff team even considered. Las Vegas was shorthanded but also generally has a short rotation. Atlanta played just seven players in its Game 3 win against New York.
The Valkyries have unmatched depth and that was enough to beat the defending champions. It was the vision Nakase has had for the franchise all along.
“It is our superpower,” Nakase said. “We empty the tank.”
