The Valkyries have a winning formula. But should it be this close against losing teams?
The Valkyries keep finding ways to win. The question is whether they should be working this hard to beat the teams they're beating.
Golden State has rattled off back-to-back victories over Seattle and Phoenix – the two worst teams in the Western Conference.
Both wins followed the same script: Build a commanding lead, watch it evaporate, then scramble to close it out.
It's a formula that works against the bottom of the barrel. Whether it will hold up against stiffer competition is a different conversation.
The Valkyries will enter one of their toughest stretches of the season with matchups against Los Angeles, Dallas, Minnesota and Las Vegas in a seven-day span. The habits on display in the last two games will be tested in new ways.
And the Valkyries know that.
"We can't come out and just expect teams to roll over," Valkyries forward Gabby Williams said after Friday's win against Seattle. "We can't also just rely on our offense, we have to come out with more energy."
With lots to take away from the Valkyries' last two wins, here are some observations from Golden State's nail-biting victories:
Gabby Williams' brilliance
The Valkyries' only consistent scoring threat over the last two games has been the 29-year-old French forward.
Across their two wins, Williams has averaged 22 points per game on 42.5% shooting from the field and 39.3% from the 3-point line.
Defensively, Williams' work on the perimeter has come up clutch for Golden State. Often drawing the toughest perimeter assignment, the seven-year veteran has slowly grown into being a true No. 1 stopper.
"The coolest thing about Gabby is she kind of let herself build really good relationships with the players," Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said before Golden State's win over Phoenix. "She came in and she wanted to fit in and not come in and say, ‘Hey, I want to do this, this and this,' because our team is based off the team before self, and we share the ball and we share responsibilities. So when a player comes in that way, then it's almost like you earn everyone's trust, quicker than normal and she wasn't demanding anything."
Where does the rotation stand?
The season is just over a quarter of the way through, but Nakase seems to have settled on a core group of players she trusts.
The starting lineup has mostly stayed the same with Williams, Veronica Burton, Kayla Thornton, Cecilia Zandalasini and Kiah Stokes opening games. Janelle Salaün, Kaila Charles and Kaitlyn Chen have consistently been getting minutes off the bench all year. And over the last three games, veteran Tiffany Hayes has gotten playing time in crucial minutes.
That has left backup center Laeticia Amihere and rookie Justė Jocytė on the outside looking in.
Nakase has repeatedly said this season that her rotations are matchup-based and that she wants to ease Jocytė into the system. However, both players being healthy scratches has raised questions about the team’s depth as they face a challenging upcoming schedule.
After being a rotation regular, Amihere has played just one minute over the last six games. The coaching staff has opted to go small when starter Kiah Stokes is off the floor with Thornton playing backup center and Salaün and Zandalasini handling minutes at power forward.
Amihere's sudden benching has been perplexing considering the Valkyries are statistically better when she's on the floor. Their offensive rating is 16 points higher and their offensive rebounding percentage is over four points better when she is on the court.
Though Jocytė was initially trending toward being a rotation regular, the rookie registered her third consecutive DNP on Friday. Nakase said she doesn't want to rush Jocytė into the rotation as she is still learning how to be a point guard, but has confidence that she'll learn quickly with Burton and Chen showing her the ropes.
"It’s her first year in the W and in the States,” Nakase said of Jocytė. “So I'm giving her a little bit more grace in terms of her surroundings."
How did they close?
One can look at the way the Valkyries closed the last two games in different ways.
Golden State found a way to earn a win when everything wasn't seamless. The Valkyries figured out how to squash the other team's momentum when their backs were against the wall.
On the other hand, the Valkyries probably shouldn't have been in those positions in the first place. Playing two of the worst teams in the league, the Valkyries undoubtedly played down to their competition and if a few plays had broken the other way, Golden State could be sitting on two bad losses.
When asked if the way they were able to pull out these two wins speaks to the composure of this group, Williams chuckled and said, "That's a very positive outlook. Sure, yeah, we’ll go with that."
Nakase had a very different tone when discussing these two wins.
Despite almost blowing both games, Nakase said she believes the blown leads and offensive struggles in the second halves were more a product of mental mistakes such as missed layups.
"What I did like is we’ve been there before a little bit with those layups, and then we made sure on the defensive end we were locked in," Nakase said. "There’s so many things that we can take from this and learn from this."
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This story was originally published June 14, 2026 at 6:04 AM.