The Valkyries Are Fighting Firepower With Frenzy

Before Sunday's semifinal Game 1 in Ballhalla, the Valkyries threw a little ceremony to honor Janelle Salaün for winning Sixth Player of the Year. Salaün's unanimous approval by voters is one indication of her team's tremendous depth; another, stronger one is that the Valkyries overwhelmed the Aces, 71-60, thanks primarily to their bench and even as Salaün missed both of her shots, scored two points, and played six anonymous minutes. What makes the Valkyries special? Simply: there are so many of them. Sure, fine, also the defense, though the Valks' defense is in large part a function of their depth. Their bench scores more than anyone else's, and no other playoff team's starters get anywhere near as much rest as Golden State's. Not having to manage around the limits of, say, Breanna Stewart playing 33 minutes per game allows Natalie Nakase's team to operate at a higher intensity for a longer amount of time and mix up the looks they give opponents. However, the unfortunate predicament facing any team structured to play this way is that the playoffs are all about playing Breanna Stewart as much as possible, not having a bunch of overtalented eighth players buzzing around off the bench. At least in theory. Game 1 showed how devastating Golden State's depth can be. You could see it in the way the Valkyries closed, with Kaitlyn Chen not only stepping in for Veronica Burton but running a form of crunch time offense built around her repeatedly cooking Mai Yamamoto. You could see it in Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young's combined 9-for-29 night, the product of being hounded for every inch of court by a rotating cast of good athletes. You could see it personified in Aminata Gueye, a backup center the team signed two weeks ago and trusted to play her first non-garbage time minutes in a crucial playoff game against the best player in the league. You could definitely see it in the gaudiest stat of the night: the Valkyries' 17 offensive boards and plus-27 rebounding margin. That was the subject of the first question Nakase fielded in her postgame presser, and she credited the rebounding masterclass to the team's depth.

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