The Golden State Valkyries played the final game of their inaugural regular season on Thursday night, and it was a costly one. The Valkyries lost 72-53 to the Minnesota Lynx, which dropped them to the eighth and final spot in the playoff standings. Golden State held the sixth seed when last weekend began, but ended the season with three straight losses — including two to the Lynx.
With the loss, the Valkyries will now face the Lynx in the first round of the playoffs, rather than the Atlanta Dream
or Las Vegas Aces, their potential opponents had they won and moved up to the sixth seed. That’s pretty critical: the Lynx were the best team in the WNBA by a wide margin this year, finishing with a 34-10 record that was four wins better than the next best team, and +9.4 point differential, a staggering margin given that WNBA games are only 40 minutes long. Perhaps even more importantly, Minnesota won all four of their games against Golden State this year, so the best-of-three series will be an extremely difficult challenge for the Valks.
As for the game itself, the Valkyries got off to a poor start. They couldn’t find the bucket early, even though they were racking up offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive. Golden State went three-and-a-half minutes in the quarter without scoring, as they were stuck with just six points until the 3:09 mark … and then didn’t score again until the second quarter. Their defense was strong, but the Lynx found holes in it late, and led 17-8 after the first frame.
The cold offense continued in the second quarter, as Golden State started to turn the ball over. They were also done in by Minnesota’s decision to chase a victory. While the Lynx have had the first seed locked up for a long time — and have rested their key players in recent games — they went all-out against the Valkyries, likely hoping to win and secure that 1-8 matchup. As such, MVP candidate Napheesa Collier — who rested in the team’s last game — played, and at the half had 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Collier and the Lynx quickly pushed the lead to double digits, where it sat for most of the quarter, and Minnesota led 34-22 at the break, with the Valkyries putting forth a highly-forgettable offensive performance … and one that featured no made threes.
Finally, in the third quarter, the Valkyries found rhythm and came storming back in the game. They turned a 14-point deficit into a five-point game with five minutes left in the third, and had officially made it a game again. Minnesota pushed the lead back to 10, but then, with 2:02 remaining in the third quarter, Iliana Rupert drained a three-pointer … Golden State’s first made trey, despite 17 attempts. Rupert made another one on the next possession, and suddenly it was a four-point game, and the Valkyries had all the momentum.
But the Lynx are a savvy veteran squad, and didn’t blink. They pitched a shutout for the final minute-and-a-half of the quarter, and took a 47-41 lead into the fourth quarter, and then put things in overdrive. The Lynx opened the fourth quarter on a 12-0 run, and just like that, a game that had gotten so close was officially out of hand. The Valkyries were never able to get back into it after that, and lost 72-53.
Golden State ended the game shooting just 19-for-66 from the field (28.8%), and a mere 3-for-27 (11.1%) from deep. They didn’t have a single player reach double digits. Thy Lynx, meanwhile, were paced by 19 points on 8-for-10 shooting from Collier, who became just the second player in league history to have a 50-40-90 season (the other being Elena Delle Donne). Natisha Hiedeman, who was at the heart of the fourth-quarter performance, came off the bench to score 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting.
And so the Valkyries end their first regular season with a 23-21 record. It may have ended with disappointment, but it was a wildly successful debut campaign.
Now come the playoffs, and the Valks certainly have an obstacle in front of them as they’ll have to try to beat Minnesota for the first and second time. Game 1 will be Sunday (time TBD) in Minnesota.
