The Golden State Valkyries are in the WNBA semifinals, and they got there the ugliest, most satisfying way a team can: down 16 in the second half to Dallas, then standing on the floor at the end of a 77-73 Game 3 with the series in hand.
Gabby Williams is the reason. She finished with 19 points and 11 of them came in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead bucket late. That is the whole story in one line. Playoff basketball shrinks to about four possessions a night, and the team that has someone willing to take those possessions personally is usually the team that advances. Golden State had her. Dallas, with a 16-point cushion and the clock on its side, did not find an equivalent answer.
A 16-point hole in an elimination game is not a thing you climb out of with a hot quarter alone. It takes stops, and it takes a group that does not start trading good shots for hero shots when the deficit feels permanent. The Valkyries did neither. They just kept grinding the margin down until the lead was something Dallas had to think about instead of something it could lean on.
The night had a scary beat to it too. Coach Natalie Nakase collapsed on the court late in the win. The team said afterward she was lightheaded and exhausted, that she was fine after the game, and that she is expected to coach Sunday's Game 1. That is the only part of this story that actually matters, and the good news arrived quickly.
checked the almanac: this is a franchise that played its first regular season game in 2025. An expansion team, barely more than a season and a half old, is still playing basketball in October. Take one beat of wonder on that, then move on, because the next opponent does not care.
What comes next is the Las Vegas Aces, Sunday at 4:00 PM ET in Golden State, Game 1 of the semifinals. That is a steeper climb than Dallas was, and the Valkyries will meet it on short rest after an emotionally expensive closeout.
I am watching two things Sunday: whether Williams gets the same fourth-quarter runway against a defense built to take it away, and whether Nakase is on the sideline looking like herself.