Tiffany Hayes is so much more than a spark off the bench for Golden State. She is the heartbeat of this team. After scoring just three points in 11 minutes in Game 1, Hayes found her footing against her former team. Hayes’ 21 points in 16 minutes, including a perfect 8-for-8 from the line was more late-season magic from Hayes.
It’s safe to say that the Valkyries are up 2-0 in this semifinals series, one game away from the WNBA Finals in just their second season of existence because of their 37-year-old veteran, who has been reborn in San Francisco.
Since the start of August, Hayes – the fourth oldest player in the WNBA and the second-oldest in these playoffs behind only Atlanta’s DeWanna Bonner – has ramped up her offensive production, averaging 12.4 points a game, including her playoff performances.
“Tip is incredible,” Valkyries guard Veronica Burton said. “Honestly, I’m just a huge fan…You have someone like her just being an example. It makes all of us want to play as hard as we possibly can. It increases our passion.
“It’s a gift to be her teammate.”
On the NBC broadcast, Sue Bird said there are times when Hayes is “unguardable.”
Hayes scored seven points in her first two minutes on the floor Wednesday night, exactly what Aces coach Becky Hammon didn’t want to happen.
“She’s a momentum player,” Hammon said. “You can’t let her see the ball go in the hoop that easily. She was very efficient. 21 points in 16 minutes. That’s too much damage. She hurt us.”
After the game, Nakase recalled her first conversation with Hayes when she was recruiting her to sign as a free agent with the Valkyries early in 2025. It would be a fateful move for the new franchise.
“I asked her if she was willing to take a leap of faith with me,” Nakase said. “It’s going to be my first year (as a head coach). ‘Do you want to do this together?’ And she said yes.”
“What was really cool was the first week that she was here, she saw a billboard of herself, I think it was off the freeway and she sent it to me. And she said, ‘I’ve never had this, this type of acknowledgment, love and support from my community.’ And she sent it to her mom and her mom was crying. But taking this leap of faith with me and now look, she’s thriving again because of the love and care we have in our culture.”
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Here are some more takeaways from Wednesday night’s game, heading into Friday’s Game 3 in Las Vegas.
Foul Up Three: The Valkyries’ multiple decisions to foul the Aces in the closing moments of the game while holding a 3-point lead paid off. After Burton’s 3-pointer put Golden State up 79-76 with 43 seconds to go, Nakase opted to foul Las Vegas in the act of shooting three times in the final seconds, keeping the Aces from hitting a game-tying 3-pointer.
“We wanted to be in a little bit more control, so now we foul,” Nakase said. “We trust our free-throw shooters.”
Burton’s Big Shot: Burton didn’t have her most impactful evening on the stat sheet, but the 3-pointer she hit with 43 seconds left on the clock – her only field goal of the game – to give the Valkyries a 79-76 lead and stave off the Aces’ comeback attempt was about as big as they get.
“Massive,” said Aces coach Becky Hammon.
“I held my breath the whole time the ball was in the air,” Hayes said. “She was trying to find her way in the game a little bit, and it’s just that composure to keep her head in the game and hit that big shot.”
The Battle of the Boards: After out-rebounding the Aces by 26 in Game 1, Las Vegas knew that couldn’t happen again, and the final rebounding margin was a respectable 29-25 in the Valkyries’ favor. With Brianna Turner struggling to find rebounding position (one rebound in 11 minutes), it was Kalani Brown’s performance off the bench – nine points and eight rebounds that balanced the rebounding ledger in the second half for Las Vegas.
Foul trouble inside: Both Kiah Stokes and Aminata Gueye found themselves in foul trouble – with five fouls each trying to contain A’ja Wilson and Brown. Wilson would end up with a game-high 24 points, but Stokes made her presence felt in the final seconds, with a block of a Chelsea Gray follow to seal the win for the Valkyries.
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Examining the Depths: Without Jewell Loyd or NaLyssa Smith in the lineup, the Aces were short-handed in terms of bench support. Meanwhile, the Valkyries came out with their usual reinforcements. Golden State won the bench-scoring battle 34-14 thanks to Hayes’ 21 points. Vegas got their bench total of 14 points from Brown (9 points) and Dana Evans (5 points).
History lesson: No WNBA team has ever come back from a 0–2 deficit to win a best-of-five postseason series.
The closest was the 2018 Phoenix Mercury, who became the first team to force a decisive Game 5 after falling behind 0–2 against the Seattle Storm. Seattle won Game 5, 94–84, taking the series 3–2.
