The WNBA semifinals Game 2 slate is set for Wednesday, and the most human story in the whole bracket belongs to the woman standing up at Golden State. Natalie Nakase collapsed on the sideline during the first round. She is well enough to coach the semifinals, and the word out of the Bay is that she is taking real steps to manage what she herself calls an extreme work ethic.
That last part is the story. Not a scare, a recalibration. Coaches in this league work absurd hours because the season is short, the rosters are thin, and every possession in October is worth three in June. Nakase is the person who built an expansion franchise from a folding chair and a whiteboard, and the honest read is that the job finally sent her a bill. She is paying it by changing the routine rather than stepping away from it. I respect that, and I also hope somebody on that staff keeps an eye on her.
The four semifinalists all turned in a Game 1 and all four now get the same thing: a couple of days, a film session, and a chance to fix the one thing that beat them. Atlanta and New York meet again Wednesday at 7:30 ET in Atlanta. Las Vegas and Golden State follow at 9:30 ET in San Francisco. I don't have the full box scores from the openers in front of me yet, so I'm not going to pretend I can tell you which adjustment matters most. What I can tell you is that in a short series, the team that solves its own turnovers first usually solves the series.
From the almanac: the Valkyries were the league's first expansion team since the Dream arrived in 2008, and here they are playing semifinal basketball. That is not a small thing. Franchises usually spend their first few years learning how to lose politely.
What I'm watching next is simple and not strategic at all. Whether Nakase looks like herself Wednesday night.