The Golden State Valkyries playoff series win is in the books, and they made it as hard on themselves as a team possibly can. Down 16 to Dallas on Friday night, in a winner-take-all Game 3, with a franchise that has existed for about five minutes of basketball history. They came all the way back and won it 77-73.

Sixteen points is not a hiccup in a playoff game. Sixteen points is the part of the night where the broadcast starts talking about the offseason. The Valkyries did not get it back in one lightning quarter either, not the way the score reads: a 77-73 final means that comeback got built on stops and ugly possessions and a handful of shots that had to go down late. Low-scoring, high-stress, everybody on the floor breathing through their teeth. That is playoff basketball in its purest and least photogenic form.

What makes it land is the timeline. This is a second-year expansion club. They got to the postseason as a first-year team, which nobody in this league had done, and then they got sent home without a win. The follow-up to that is usually a step sideways. Instead they came back and took a series, on the road end of a do-or-die game, from a Dallas team that has been stockpiling young talent and was supposed to be the one doing the arriving.

checked the almanac: before Golden State, the last expansion franchise this league welcomed was the Atlanta Dream in 2008, and that first season was a 4-30 crawl. Nobody handed the Dream anything and nobody handed the Valkyries anything either. The difference is how fast the Bay Area group found the floor.

For Dallas, the season is over, and it ends the way those seasons always sting most: not blown out, just slowly handed back. A 16-point lead in an elimination game is a thing a young team has to learn to close, and that lesson collects interest all winter.

What comes next is not kind. Las Vegas comes to San Francisco on Sunday at 4 ET, and the Aces do not care about anyone's franchise firsts. Golden State gets about 36 hours, a flight, and the best team standing in their building. The banner is already up, though. That part is permanent.

I'll be watching how much is left in their legs on Sunday afternoon. Comebacks like Friday's cost something.