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Thanks for everything you do - Valkyrie Nation is an oasis of love and fandom in a world of division and strife. Truly the happiest space I inhabit.
Please find attached a picture of my dog, Hugo, who has endured us leaving him at home for every home game this season. He is extra salty that we sometimes watch the games back at home after seeing them live because that is additional time when he does not get undivided attention. C’est la vie. Allez Valks!!!
— Sandra O

General offer to Valkyrie Nation: if you send me a tasteful picture of your loved animal, I will add it to the rotation of Game Wrap animal pictures. Please include a couple of sentences about them and how you want your name to appear.

Extra points if they are wearing Valkyries gear, but even without is okay.

No AI please.

Email to apricotan@gmail.com

Valks clinch playoffs against Dallas again!

It’s okay if you don’t know what all these stats are. My high-strung computer calculates some rough advanced statistics for the game.

Teal = better, blood orange = worse.

And here is a home-grown graph of the game win probability tonight:

It looks right to me, but if you use this for anything important or anything bad like gambling, then you get what you get.

Coach Jose Fernandez pregame

He was in a very brief, low growl mood pregame.
I asked the following:
Eric: Coach, on the Valkyries side, there’s been some criticism that the offense might be over-stagnant or simplified at times.
Jose: They should not be criticizing Natalie at all.
Eric: Okay. I was wondering your perspective, as someone who has to attack it.
Jose: (pause to give me the death eye) They’re good. They’re deep. She does a very good job. So whoever’s criticizing Natalie, I don’t know why they would.
The transcript doesn’t convey the withering contemptuous stare he gave me (the proxy for all Nakase critics).

Coach Nakase pregame

For Laeticia, working on two-foot finishes because most of her defenders are “twice her weight possibly. I don’t know, not twice her weight, I’m exaggerating. But it’s, it’s something.”.
Kiah was mad she was in concussion protocol. NN reminded her it was about her life beyond basketball and her health. Then reminded her it’s leadership time for her.
Janie McCauley talked about Cynthia Cheak, a 68 y.o. “This team has, has brought her out of a, a deep depression. She orders 15,000 purple Valkyries bracelets, hands them out, uh, before games. Um, sequins, head to toe, Caitlyn signed her prosthetic leg. What does that mean to you? I mean, you’ve brought her new life and she’s actually bringing this arena some new life too.”
Natalie gave a long answer, but said, “We’re going to play this game for Cynthia.”

Pregame

I didn’t catch the name of the young anthem singer tonight, but she knocked it out of the park. Kind of wondered how she’d hit the high notes and she delivered.
Nice ovation for Rikki’s on the jumbotron. The are the Rising Bay Business Honorary Captain of the game.
- By the way, the Valkyries Courtside people are recording their pod live at Rikki’s Tuesday evening.
Dana Patterson, founding guard, waving the flag.
Mixed boos and cheers for the DAL starters, except Paige gets a big cheer.
I just noticed that when the starters get announced for the Valkyries, they call them the “first five” in line with the discussion that the bench is not the bench. They’re just the “second five”.

Gabby 103.8 dB
Cecilia 102
Stokes 101.4
- I think people appreciate her a bit now that we missed her for a game or two
KT 100.2
Veronica Burglar 103.8
Natalie Nakase 101.7

Valkyries start off the game guarding Paige Bueckers with Gabby Williams. Alysha Clark ends up with a pretty easy kick-out when Stokes(?) comes to double in the paint.
Jessica Shepard is going to eat for mid-range tonight if she wants it. The Valkyries’ defense is designed to give up mid-range shots.
7:49. Every shot so far tonight has been KT, but they’ve been open threes, so I don’t mind it.
Dallas is guarding the Valkyries’ pick-and-roll with drop coverage (see my last video!), which is a little rough if you’re not willing to pull up and take a jumper. So far, Veronica is not willing to do that.
6:17. The Valkyries get a lot of mileage out of that simple rip-cut straight to the basket with a back screen. That’s also the basis of that Kaitlyn Chen out-of-bounds play.
5:45. Valkyries, I think, run the same rip-cut play for Veronica Burton, but I think the Wings switched it.
4:33. Okay, that is just way too early to put a dagger on. I know there’s some history to the term dagger that could be very nice, but I’m telling you this thing needs to be reserved for really big game-changing shots.
4:13. Oh, what a sweet wrap-around pass that was. The Wings have gotten Alanna that same little drop-off pass three different times already, as extra help comes on the driver and Alanna just kind of sneaks in from the off side.
3:40. I think if Dallas does not end up winning this game, they’re going to wonder how the heck they completely dominated this stretch by hitting seemingly open layups every single time down and yet only ended up seven points ahead. Valkyries probably will want to change up their coverage.
I feel like the Wings are absolutely expecting a big to attack on the right side and for help to come from the left side, and then they drop off a little pass with varying levels of flair. I don’t know if the Valkyries want to bring a second defender from a different place or what?
3:00. Valkyries change up the defense and go to a trap, which is one way to prevent the entry pass to the post. It gets them going back to an unset defense and a good attack by Chen. HERE COMES THE CHEN-ERAL.
2:12. What did Arike eat for dinner? She is slicing through the defense. She’s clipping through players like she’s in a glitchy video game.
I don’t know what the defender Shepard was thinking closing out on Janelle like that, but I guess not everyone believes in the Ja +20% buff on contested shooting.
0:38. Ballhalla was really excited about that first free-throw miss. Fairly vengeful yell afterwards.
OK, you can imagine how much they loved the second miss as well, but the Valkyries unfortunately cough it up with the travel. Just a little tap dancing by Ja on the catch.
Arike tosses in a truly gorgeous bank shot.
0:01. OK, I guess it’s still Tiffany Hayes’s world, and we’re just living in it. She steps a couple feet over the half-court line and casually chucks in a 40-foot three to take the lead. Then she turns and starts lecturing the crowd. I think she then turned to the Dallas bench and started flashing a talkie-talkie sign with her left hand, as if she was formally objecting to the amount of trash-talking coming from the Dallas side.

8:46. Wow, Kaitlyn Chen going in strong for the drive, and then help actually rotates flying across from the help side, and she somehow hangs in the air long enough to let the help go by. What a finish.
8:00. I’ve noticed the last couple games them trying to work the ball more to Janelle Salaün in the post. I don’t think it’s been that productive, but it’s a really good idea to diversify her portfolio.
8:00. Valkyries run that back-screen rip-cut play for Kaitlyn Chen on the sideline out-of-bounds play, and I think Dallas just switched it. They got immunized when Veronica ran it a couple times earlier.
7:00. Good pick-and-roll defense from Kaila Charles. She switches on the pick-and-roll and then stays with Sutton on the drive and stands up strong when Sutton tries to drive through her.
5:55. Really good effort from the Valkyries on that defensive play, but when Janelle sank into the paint, there was confusion about whether she or Kaitlyn was going to jump out to defend the far corner when they both went. Ja couldn’t recover back to her mark, who cut under the basket for an open layup. Good find by DAL.
Natalie immediately calls a timeout to try to straighten out the defensive coverage there.
5:38. Veronica Burglar!! Insert hamburglar.gif.
5:09. Dallas has gifted the Valkyries a few bad-pass turnovers, which have been sorely needed as the Valkyries can’t quite get their offense out of second gear tonight.
4:46. So when do we start believing that Veronica Burton’s new three-point form is real?
4:36. Speaking of gifted DAL turnovers.
4:23. That was a subtly interesting play. Kiah Stokes sets a screen for Cecilia, and Dallas fights over the screen, and that gets Cecilia a little bit of space. Jessica drops to try to contest it, but Kiah’s roll distracts Shepard just enough to force her to lean back toward Stokes, which then gives Cecilia the green light to shoot the jumper. It’s the little things that can make a difference.
4:23. Mike Dunleavy Jr. showed on the screen, and he got a mix of cheers and boos. Moses Moody happy cheers. Will Richard, cheers; GP 2 103.2 dB, 108.4 for Steph Curry!
3:55. That was an interesting series of dribble handoffs that the Valkyries guarded super well, and it ended up with Paige Bueckers having to launch a super-awkward shot. Like a creaky trebuchet.
Paige is really out of rhythm. The Valkyries haven’t even really doubled her that much, but just the threat that the Valks are going to do something wild seems to have thrown her off.
So, when do we start believing in Veronica Burton’s new three-point shot form? It’s really quite charming, her teeny little hop she takes on the catch. It seems to stabilize her form.
1:36. TEENY LITTLE HOP IS UNSTOPPABL3.
I think I have to start doing a teeny little hop before I start writing.
0:03. The referee’s perhaps questionable out-of-bounds call on Gabby Williams robbed the viewers of a satisfying climax to the second-quarter drama. All the characters and storylines were set up, but the writers couldn’t deliver in the finale. Sad.

9:25. By the way, the Valkyries were guarding the Wings’ pick-and-roll with the drop-and-trail-over defense that they had to change against Chicago. For one thing, the screener Jessica Shepard didn’t roll hard to the basket enough to be a threat. We’ll see if the Wings do end up trying to attack that coverage.
Next play, they also guard the Paige Bueckers pick-and-roll with the same trail-over-and-drop defense. That’s a more questionable proposition since Paige is a good mid-range shooter, but I guess they’re going to just live with the mid-range twos. According to analytics, that’s not a bad shot to be giving up. Of course, analytics are not a consolation when the variance kills you.
6:55. The Valkyries are desperately trying to live up to their third-quarter reputation and hand this game back to the Wings, but Dallas has just been killing themselves with unforced errors.
6:12. Tiffany Hayes has been playing with supercharged energy today. That might have been too much, as her kick-out pass to the corner to Kayla Thornton came with supercharged velocity. That looked like it hurt to catch.
5:42. Ooooo, that looked very shove-off-like from Paige. Let’s go to the People’s Court... Ballhalla says... Booooooo.
This is the first time I have noticed people behind the basket waving handkerchiefs and towels to complicate the visual field of the free-throw takers.
5:10. Tiffany Hayes really has a sense of the moment, huh? Buzzer-beater step-back three.
As soon as I write that, Tip with a great steal, but then maybe getting a little too supercharged, tries a super-cool bounce pass through three Wings, which draws the attention of one of the Wings.
Then Tiffany Hayes gets called for a block, even though it looked pretty close and she was doing a whole River Dance there, complaining to the ref. I have the feeling there’s going to be a challenge.
- Q on Discord: Happy we clinched. Looked really good in Q2 and Q3. Anyone have a guess as to why Nat just gestures after fouls called us but never challenges? She did the rockabye baby gesture at least 10 times without challenging.
- Eric: There is a process where an assistant with an iPad checks the play to see if it’s worth challenging. The one I noted was a foul on Tip I think, with maybe no imminent possession, so it would have converted 2 FTs to a jump ball. So it probably didn’t feel worth it
It’s pretty much been the Tip Hayes show, for better and sometimes worse, these last few plays.
Katrina in Discord tells me they handed out towels at halftime, so I am not a completely unobservant clod.
4:29. Tip Hayes is on perma-turbo mode.
4:07. That step-back three might have been a stop too far on the Tip Turbo Train.
2:50. Veronica Burton signals the play by tapping her shoulder. I have a hard time believing that the play call was to throw it to Janelle on the wing and have her side-step a three-pointer with 16 seconds on the shot clock, but it’s not for nothing that Janelle’s official motto is “non, non, oui.”
2:12. Valkyries again guard the Paige Bueckers pick-and-roll with the trail-over-plus-drop coverage. This time Dallas runs an empty-side PNR, so there’s no wall help to come from the right side. Paige Bueckers ends up snaking the drive in order to keep her defender on her back and then just kind of runs into the drop. When she considers going to the left, Janelle Salaün is there to wall up from the left side.
- I don’t really think this is a good way for Paige to be attacking this kind of coverage. She’s a good enough shooter to punish this with pull-up threes and even mid-range shots. Instead, she rotates the ball to a post-step on the right side.
- This is a really interesting contrast to the Chicago game, where, as I covered in my last video, the Valkyries had to completely adjust every aspect of their coverage because Chicago was destroying it. This is an example of where the trail-over-plus-drop coverage is completely working, so it’s not just a silly idea.
Shepard posted up but was distracted by Tip Hayes’s supercharged jittery stunting in to threaten a double-team.
2:06. I have to admit that when the “clap clap clapclap clap Go Valks” chant begins officially on the Jumbotron PA system, it starts with the beat and ends with the “Go Valks,” and yet many of us still very much prefer to hear the “Go Valks” as the beginning of the chant. I polled a few more people in the press room. The opinions are split right down the middle.
So far DAL shot 43 shots and 10 FTAs. GSV shot 57 shots and 4 FTAs. That’s just a huge difference, and even if you knew nothing else about the game, you’d think GSV had an advantage. The magic of turnovers and OREBs.
Reina on Discord writes, “Just a note: Tiffany Hayes was requesting recs for colonics on Threads.”
- So... GO COLONICS (?)
Turnovers: GSV 8, DAL 13. Offensive Rebounds: GSV 6, DAL 3. That’s 7 extra possessions right there.

6:40. Veronica Burton rotated to help on that drive from the help side like a rocket.
The Valkyries have been trying out these dribble handoffs, which is pretty similar to the dribble-handoff play I think that Dallas ran before, and neither works too well. Not a big fan of this in the W. I feel like players can switch pretty well if necessary.
5:34. The Valkyries have not been exactly double-teaming Paige Bueckers, but they’ve definitely been prioritizing her on help situations. In that situation, she had a driving lane to the basket, and help came way off the left wing, leaving a completely open three for Odyssey Sims. Which she missed, so the risk was worth it.
5:05. Just a reminder that the corporate mission is “Always Close Enough To Hurt™,” and so far the Valkyries have not delivered on that promise. It shouldn’t be surprising that they have let the Wings creep back to within 11 with five minutes to go. Plenty of time for it to become close enough to hurt... or worse.
Okay, I have to admit I don’t know what it would mean to be worse than that. I don’t think anyone is going to get permanently injured from this game. I just wanted to sound all ominous and spooky.
4:41. Kiah’s effort got that virtual offensive rebound.
4:30. I don’t quite know how to describe that play, but let’s just say Tiffany Hayes has taken the colonics and it’s given her Everything Everywhere All at Once powers.
4:23. I’m not going to say it’s close enough to hurt, but it’s definitely close enough to be close enough to hurt.
2:50. Tip has been heat-checking all quarter, and I think the team could use more stability and less supernatural insanity.
I think a win is going to clinch the playoffs, right? I don’t sense the crowd really knows that or really cares. The sights of Ballhalla have lifted to higher heights than that.
1:12. DAL goes to a trap. Good idea.
0:50. Hey, as foretold in the chronicles, I would count this as close enough to hurt. Six points up, 47 seconds left. Just enough to imagine bad things happening, but the Win Probability has to be very, very high.
0:34. VB to the line for two free throws. The crowd sounded like it was mostly saying “V’s up,” but might still have some “two shots” loyalists. I’m going to need Ballhalla to enunciate more clearly, please.
Very big cheer in the crowd for a sign that says “Ballhalla, all are welcome.”
For the record -- and I understand people’s anxiety watching the game -- and yes, weird things have happened in the past that have scarred us -- and we are human beings with human risk aversion -- but for the record, the win probability for the Valkyries, according to APRIBOT, has been 99% since the end of the third quarter. I might have to check those calculations (that seems a little high to me), but I’m not surprised that it’s been >90%.
Valks showing off their playoff shirts.
Looks like Kaitlyn and Ash and Miela are helping people throw shirts into the crowd. I’m not sure if they’re playoff shirts or just generic shirts, but the effort is appreciated.
Cool. Kaitlyn Chen is signing the shirts before she chucks them into the crowd. Very nice. Also, Kaitlyn showing off her cannon arm. I think a few players signed the shirts.

Pregame: Veronica Burton and Gabby Williams

Gabby: I knew we’d make the playoffs, but I didn’t know it would be so fun together.
VB: we’ve been drilling the details, ball screen coverage, since training camp.
Eric
- The press room is as crowded as it’s been all year. I guess due to Paige and the playoffs clinching. Maybe the Caitlin Clark game was slightly more crowded, but not that much.
- No Paige at the DAL postgame, so only one person went over there. I would have gone over if Paige were available.

Postgame: Coach Nakase

NN says Ballhalla was extra loud tonight. Says she will have to invest in some ear plugs.
Natalie mentions playing for Cynthia!
Mentioned the team was flat from the 4 day layoff.
Defensive communication was bad except for Q2.
The battle and composure was there.
Cool answer to a question from my pal Maya Goldberg-Safir from Rough Notes. The different leadership strengths of players:
- VB’s strength is playcalling. Gabby helped out in Q4.
- KT focuses on little details. Boxing out. Communication.
- Kiah keeps people composed.
- Still learning Gabby’s leadership strengths.
NN: Celebrating making the playoffs “isn’t me”. She thinks about all the work they have to do.

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If you don’t know what Discord is, you can ignore this. If you like how the site is now, then don’t worry. This site will still work the same and I’ll still post game previews and wraps over email and the web, etc.

However, if you are wondering where everyone is during game day, it’s the Discord server. For instance, for the IND live game chat, there were 880 messages (that’s a lot, even if 150 of them were Kaitlyn Chen puns).

Basically Discord is a group chat where you can engage with me and other readers. It’s good for conversation that’s a bit more casual than leaving a web site comment. You can also respond with emojis and multimedia.

I have been posting my live game notes in the Discord chat as I write them. I even live-commented the media-coaches game over Discord and answered questions. Questions and comments sometimes turn into things I write about for the newsletter.

For now, I’ll keep it open to everyone, but I reserve the right in the future to restrict it to paying subscribers.

Many thanks to Marisa Emi and Tac0maAr0ma for volunteering to moderate the Discord and generally reorganizing it intelligently.

The invitation link for August: https://discord.gg/3P5XTuwAd

Game 34 wrap: Valks shake off slow start, cruise to win over Wings

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