Breaking news: the Golden State Valkyries play great defense.
Well, that’s actually not new, but they did take it to another level in Monday’s 80-66 win against Minnesota, their first win ever against the Lynx franchise that has tormented them even before last year’s playoff series.
Golden State held the Lynx to 66 points, the fewest they had scored in a game since May 24 of last year against the Mystics.
Olivia Miles, Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride, who combined for 58 points in their win at Chase Center last week, were held to just 29 combined points on a combined 7-for-33 shooting from the field.
After consecutive losses to Minnesota and Chicago last week, some of the Valkyries’ worst flaws were exposed: an inconsistent offense, poor shooting nights burning them and an inability to stop opposing bigs.
Head coach Natalie Nakase, though, kept saying the Valkyries had it in them. They just had to show a four-quarter effort.
Monday’s game was the first time in a while that she’s acknowledged they actually did that, and that came even with a slow offensive start. That’s because the Valkyries finally played a tight defense for 40 minutes, even against the scariest offensive squad in the WNBA.
To hold down Collier, Nakase cited center Kiah Stokes as the true stopper.
“Kiah Stokes just did a phenomenal job,” Nakase said. “I know she’s had a lot of reps in terms of guarding her, but Kiah’s length– she moves her feet really well, so she doesn’t give up, usually, any angles. And then, more importantly, defending without fouling. Then she did an amazing job boarding. Credit to Kia, just being a one-man protection down there for us, because (Collier is) an incredible scorer; she can score at all three levels.”
Stokes led the effort, but the Valkyries did a good job on Monday of taking up space from the paint to the elbows with a low defense that cut off Minnesota’s attempts to rush the rim. With a dynamic zone defense, Golden State left the Lynx trapped at the perimeter, unable to generate off of Miles’ usual elite pick-and-roll game.
Because of that, they were able to generate turnovers. The Lynx committed 18 of them, and 12 of them came directly from Valkyries steals, which they converted into 21 points. They didn’t have to contend against the tight Lynx defense when most of the offense was on the fast break.
“We made adjustments from the previous games against them,” Zandalasini said. “We were really locked in. Everybody was on the same page. The effort was there.”
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Golden State is not an elite offensive squad. Its 82.5 points per contest are 14th in the 15-team league, but its defense is often good enough to get away with that.
Nakase often says that the Valkyries’ scoring starts with a difficult defense. Monday’s win against Minnesota, filled with adjustments, showed why that’s true.
“They’re the No. 1 team, so if you want to beat them, you have to have attention to detail,” Zandalasini said. “The effort needs to be there, the energy, because as soon as you make a mistake, they make you pay. That’s for sure, especially at home. So I think we were really locked in on that and very focused on our things today.”
The Valkyries have seven games left this season, all against non-playoff teams aside from Thursday’s contest in New York, giving them a good chance to hold onto second place in the standings.
In that case, they wouldn’t see the Lynx at all until the WNBA Finals, if they were to get there. And finally, they have a reason to believe they can adjust to what their once one-sided rivals can throw at them.
“It’s just nice that we are executing all four quarters,” Nakase said of holding the Lynx to their lowest point total of the season. “They’re No. 1 for a reason. What I liked is there was no dip tonight. A lot of times, we dip, but we kept punching, and we stayed with the mentality of emptying the tank.”
