SAN FRANCISCO – Gabby Williams crouched into her defensive stance, slid up into Paige Buckers’ shrinking airspace and stalked Dallas’ star guard for the entire 94 feet on Golden State’s first defensive possession of the postseason.
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The unspoken question resonated more loudly than the vaunted and delirious home crowd at Chase Center that packed the arena to watch the team’s first playoff game in San Francisco.
The Valkyries and their top-ranked defense were ready for the physicality of the postseason. Could Dallas handle it?
“As long as I can make them hard, tough shots where she has to really work hard for them, then she gets tired, that’s kind of the goal,” Williams said.
Golden State’s suffocating defense and torrid shooting revealed the answer was a resounding “no” in its 104-80 demolition of the visiting Wings as the franchise secured its first postseason victory.
“It feels great,” Ceci Zandalasini said. “Just gotta keep going. It’s just the first game of the first series, so we’ve just got to think about the next one.”
After calling her group a team that thrives using a “strength in numbers” ethos during her pregame press conference, Natalie Nakase eschewed traditional playoff thinking, bypassing a shortened rotation for a nine-player philosophy.
“Strength in numbers, that’s the reason we’ve been able to get to this point and be healthy and execute with that type of energy,” Nakase said.
What had worked all year also produced results in the postseason. While the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx stumbled in a stunning loss to the eighth-seed New York Liberty earlier Sunday, Golden State cruised against their lower-seeded foe.
Ceci Zandalasini scored a team-high 22, Williams put in 20 points, Tiffany “Tip” Hayes had 21 and Veronica Burton and Kayla Thornton each put up 10. Bueckers made 9 of 10 shots and scored a team-high 21 for Dallas. Jessica Shepard, the Associated Press’ Most Improved Player, missed all seven of her shots and went scoreless.
Williams and super-sub Hayes went shot for shot with Bueckers in the first quarter, combining for 14 points while Bueckers went for 11 in a period that ended with Golden State leading 21-20.
That lead ballooned, and then expanded, and then grew even more. While the Wings asked Bueckers to play nearly every second, Nakase utilized her regular deep rotation.
After single-covering the Wings’ superstar and her sidekick Arike Ogunbowale, the Valkyries had Hayes and Co. aggressively trap Bueckers in the second. The result was a flurry of rushed shots and turnovers.
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Shooting 9 of 19 from behind the arc did not hurt the Valkyries either, with Zandalasini putting in 12 second-quarter points, including a tough and-1 layup over Ogunbowale with two minutes remaining.
Golden State led 58-31 at halftime after outscoring Dallas 37-11 in the second quarter. That was the most points the Valkyries had scored in a quarter this season.
“We didn’t get stops, and they got whatever they wanted offensively,” Bueckers said before adding, “A 37-point quarter is insane work.”
The Valkyries expanded their advantage to as much as 33 in the third quarter as Kayla Thornton turned back the clock to her pre-injury form of 2025 and scored five quick points. The Wings subbed Bueckers out in the third quarter, and Nakase subbed in the deep reserves in the fourth quarter. Former Mitty-San Jose and Stanford star Haley Jones earned some garbage-time minutes playing time in the fourth quarter for Dallas.
The vast majority of the 18,064 sellout crowd slipped on the one-size-fits-all violet T-shirts arrayed along the back of each seat and spent two hours roaring.
They had waited 365 days for their opportunity.
A year ago, the home team was temporarily evicted from their beloved San Francisco home, sent to San Jose by an indoor tennis tournament. The Valkyries found residence at SAP Center. Ballhalla traveled with them, turning the Shark Tank into Valkatraz South.
Their excursion to Santa Clara County resulted in a bitter learning experience, a season-ending loss to the top-seeded Lynx in the expansion Valkyries’ first playoff series.
A year later, the circumstances were reversed.
Valkyries owner Joe Lacob promised the team would never be asked to play a home game at any other venue than 1 Warriors Way. And the Valkyries were plucky underdogs no longer – they enjoyed homecourt advantage after earning the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
The roster, injury-ravaged entering the 2025 playoffs, showed every player as having a clean bill of health.
Dallas had enjoyed a rise from making the top pick in the draft to the postseason, even with No. 1 overall selection Azzi Fudd lost for the season with a right knee injury.
The Wings entered the postseason as one of the league’s hottest teams. Behind sophomore superstar Bueckers, who averaged 20.9 points and 5.9 assists per game, Dallas ran off seven wins in its last eight games. The one loss was by a single point.
The Wings had momentum. The Bay Area’s violet defensive buzzsaw stopped it dead in its tracks.
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The Valkyries will look to close out the series in Dallas on Wednesday.
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