The goal for the Golden State Valkyries this season is a championship.
Yes, they are only in their second season as a franchise. Yes, if they can win a playoff series, it will be the first such victory in team history. They are probably going to be the No. 2 seed and have already exceeded expectations in a massive way.
Yet ask anyone around the franchise, and certainly they will make clear that they are not playing for moral victories or a feel-good accomplishment. They want to win it all, to compete with the best teams in the W and bring a championship to Ballhalla.
And they just lost their best opportunity to do so.
Everything was in place for Golden State
There was a point on Tuesday night that everything was breaking right for the Valkyries. Heading out of the World Cup break and into the final four-game stretch, Golden State needed to win out and needed the Minnesota Lynx to stumble in a major way to catch them for the No. 1 overall seed.
Tuesday night, the Lynx lost to the Indiana Fever, falling to 1-2 since the break and briefly falling into a virtual tie with the Valkyries. Suddenly, in just their second season, Golden State had a real chance to move up into the No. 1 spot and have homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs.
The opportunity was not only theoretical but tangible. Wednesday night, the New York Liberty lost, locking them into the 8 seed. If the Valkyries made it up to No. 1, they would get to play a Liberty team they owned during the regular season, going 3-0 and winning by an average margin of 15 points.
Breanna Stewart is still at the height of her powers, but no team in the W is better equipped to slow Stewie down than Golden State with their frontcourt defenders. Gabby Williams and Kiah Stokes give her no room to attack.
All the Valkyries had to do was win out against two lottery teams, starting with the expansion Portland Fire on Tuesday night.
They failed to do so.
The Valkyries missed their opportunity
With 3.5 minutes left in the first quarter, the Valkyries led the Fire 17-0. It was a domination from the start, with their shots falling and their signature defense smothering the outmatched Portland squad.
From there, however, things took a major turn. The Fire came roaring back, forced overtime, and former Valkyries guard Carla Leite put the ultimate exclamation mark on her breakout season by sealing the deal with clutch baskets in overtime. The Fire won, the Valkyries lost, and the No. 1 seed was out of reach.
Golden State could face the Dallas Wings in the first round now, a relatively easy matchup, but it's not the first round that matters most to this team.
Moving past the first round is where the true missed opportunity comes to light. If the Valkyries were the top seed, they would likely be playing the Atlanta Dream (3-0 this season) or the Indiana Fever (2-1 this season). Instead, they will almost certainly be playing the defending champion Las Vegas Aces and MVP favorite A'ja Wilson.
If Golden State somehow overcomes the Aces (they have failed to do so this season, going 0-3 against Vegas) they would likely face the Lynx without homecourt advantage in the WNBA Finals. A pathway to the upper hand is now a reset and a climb from a disadvantaged spot.
The Valkyries have had a great season. It's a success in the big picture no matter what happens in the playoffs. This team proved a lot this season and reset their own expectations, and now the goal is clear: win the title. And the last two days showed just how close they got to their goal, and how much further away it now is.
Add us as a preferred source on Google