{"id":900714,"date":"2026-09-18T17:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T17:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/900714\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T17:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T17:54:17","slug":"what-the-valkyries-can-do-in-the-final-week-of-the-wnba-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/900714\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Valkyries can do in the final week of the WNBA season"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKLAND \u2014 With just a few games left in the regular season<\/a>, the Valkyries<\/a> can nearly set their sights on the WNBA playoffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not quite yet, though.<\/p>\n

Though the two-week break for the FIBA World Cup<\/a> came while the Valkyries were on a four-game winning streak, Golden State (29-11) has an opportunity to regain some momentum heading into the postseason against some of the league\u2019s worst teams not that the WNBA is in its home stretch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After back-to-back home games against Portland (in ninth place at 16-26) and Seattle (in last place at 8-33) starting Friday night against the Fire, Golden State travels to Portland and Los Angeles (12th place, 15-26) to close out the regular season.<\/p>\n

\"Golden<\/a>Golden State Valkyries\u2019 Gabby Williams (1) scores a 3-point basket against Dallas Wings\u2019 Alysha Clark (7) in the first quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Should the Valkyries finish with a strong closing kick, the No. 1 seed remains within reach. Golden State returned to action two games behind the Minnesota Lynx for the best record in the WNBA.<\/p>\n

The Valkyries knocked off the Lynx 80-66<\/a> to kickstart their-winning streak, a watershed moment<\/a> that snapped a nine-game losing streak to the team that swept Golden State out of last year\u2019s playoffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reintegrating Gabby Williams, Janelle Salaun and Cecilia Zandalasini, all of whom exhausted themselves to various degrees competing for their countries at the World Cup, will be the task of the week ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re intentional with our planning,\u201d coach Natalie Nakase said. \u201cOur medical team does a great job. Understand, we have a back-to-back now. That\u2019s not normal. So coming from a back-to-back, we simulated it in practice, just making sure everyone\u2019s on the same page.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were prepared because we had the schedule set. It\u2019s more important to see where we feel at the moment rather than \u2018You should feel like this, you should do this.\u2019 Let\u2019s take a breather. Now we come together, and now we\u2019re after a bigger goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golden State has already clinched a spot in the playoffs, which are just around the corner.<\/p>\n

The Valkyries\u2019 final regular season game is Thursday in Los Angeles, then the Valkyries start the first round of the playoffs-three days later at Chase Center against an as-of-now undetermined opponent.<\/p>\n

\"Golden<\/a>Golden State Valkyries\u2019 Veronica Burton (22) is fouled by Toronto Tempo\u2019s Kiki Rice (1) in the second quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made the playoffs last year. We understand it\u2019s a whole different piece,\u201d point guard Veronica Burton said. \u201cWe understand what it\u2019s like to lose in the playoffs, so that feeling, carrying that over, motivates us even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last season as an expansion team the Valkyries snuck into the postseason as the No. 8 seed before being swept by Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Expectations are much higher this fall, with Golden State squarely in the top half of the league\u2019s playoff picture and trying to secure as many home games as possible.<\/p>\n

With the No. 2 seed, the most likely path, the Valkyries would be set up with home-court advantage in the first two rounds, should they advance that far. Additional home court is possible should the Lynx lose before the WNBA Finals.<\/p>\n

What matters now, in the final week of the regular season, is the momentum Golden State\u00a0 can generate before hosting their first playoff game in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have these next four games that we want to win, so we can keep our seeding,\u201d guard Kaila Charles said. \u201cSo we\u2019re just taking every day, making the most of it, taking advantage and just getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND \u2014 With just a few games left in the regular season, the Valkyries can nearly set their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,3335,48,1612,82,630],"class_list":["post-900714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-canada","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}