The Dallas Wings look to prevent a season-series sweep at the hands of the Golden State Valkyries when the two teams jockeying for playoff positioning meet for a third and final time Monday night in San Francisco.
The Valkyries (24-9) have recorded double-digit wins in the first two games of the season series, recording a 91-80 home triumph in Commissioner’s Cup play in June before rolling to a 94-76 victory in Dallas earlier this month.
Golden State has dominated in two areas – cumulatively outscoring the Wings 72-48 on 3-pointers and 73-41 off the bench. Nine different Valkyries have buried shots from beyond the arc, while Janelle Salaun (21 points) and Tiffany Hayes (19) have led the charge for the reserves.
Hayes, who has scored at least nine points off the bench in each of her last six games, says accepting roles has been the key to Golden State running up the league’s second-best record.
“Whether you’re starting that game, whether you’re coming off the bench, you’re with your unit,” she explained to reporters last week, “We’ve really honed in to who our unit is, who we’re out there with, and we just know how to move with each other.”
Golden State will take the court riding a five-game winning streak. The Valkyries opened a three-game homestand with a 91-71 thumping of the Chicago Sky in their most recent outing last Wednesday.
Dallas (20-15), meanwhile, has dropped six of eight as it awaits the return of injured stars Azzi Fudd (out last four games with a strained knee) and Jessica Shepard (out last two games with a sore ankle). Shepard remains questionable for the Golden State game, while the Wings are hopeful to get Fudd back when they return to Dallas later in the week to start a six-game homestand.
The Wings enter play on Monday in solid playoff position but looking to move up from the eighth and final spot with the Washington Mystics just a half game ahead.
“This happens to every team in the league throughout the course of a long season. We’re just trying to get through it,” Paige Bueckers assured the media last week of the team’s recent slump. “The only one that can help us out of our little rut is us, and it’s all about the next game, the next possession. Not looking too far in the past, not looking forward in the future, but just trying to get better today.”
–Field Level Media
