{"id":927820,"date":"2026-10-10T13:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T13:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/927820\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T13:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T13:38:11","slug":"becky-hammon-cant-help-but-tip-cap-to-valkyries-special-culture-after-aces-sweep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/927820\/","title":{"rendered":"Becky Hammon Can\u2019t Help but Tip Cap to Valkyries\u2019 \u2018Special\u2019 Culture After Aces Sweep"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Valkyries are going to the WNBA Finals in their second season of existence. They didn\u2019t just beat any team to get there. They swept the reigning champions with an 87-77 overtime win in Las Vegas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Aces were short-handed without NaLyssa Smith<\/a>, but they still had their big three and a championship head coach. Any team led by Becky Hammon and A\u2019ja Wilson is a formidable foe. But the Valkyries relied on their depth and balanced offense, wearing the Aces down with hustle plays on the glass and on defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hammon, who mentored Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase for a few years, praised the team\u2019s culture and identity after Game 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really play great team ball,\u201d Hammon said, per a video<\/a> on the Aces\u2019 YouTube channel. \u201cOn any given night any of them can have 15, 20 on you because they share the ball, and it seems\u2014I don\u2019t know her team that well, but it just seems like nobody cares who gets the credit, and that\u2019s a really special thing to have on a team, and I think Golden State has that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beating the Aces was a team effort\"Tiffany<\/p>\n

Oct 9, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton (22) and guard Tiffany Hayes (15) high-fives in overtime during game three of the second round for the 2026 WNBA Playoffs against the Las Vegas Aces at Michelob Ultra Arena. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Gabby Williams has become the face of the Valkyries franchise, and she has been great <\/a>in the playoffs so far. She recorded a 25-point double-double in Game 1 against the Aces and followed that up with another 20-point performance. She struggled to score efficiently in Game 3, shooting just 37.5% from the floor, but made big plays late and still finished the game with 16 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, Williams needed help to beat the Aces\u2019 big three, and she got it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Game 1, Kaitlyn Chen emerged as the team\u2019s second-leading scorer with 11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block off the bench. Moreover, Aminata Gueye, an undrafted rookie who had just joined the team and barely played in the regular season, recorded 9 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 1 block in 13 minutes while guarding A\u2019ja Wilson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the next game, Tiffany Hayes was huge off the bench with 21 points, and Kayla Thornton made all the difference with 16 points and great effort on the glass. Veronica Burton went 1-of-3 from the field, but hit a big 3-pointer when it mattered most.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When it was time to close out the Aces, Thornton scored 18 points and grabbed four offensive rebounds. Hayes, Chen, and Kaila Charles combined for 24 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals off the bench, while Kiah Stokes played her best game of the playoffs. She recorded 11 points on perfect shooting, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Valkyries are a rather unusual championship contender due to their lack of star power compared to teams that recently won titles. Nevertheless, they are proving in real time that depth, versatility, and selflessness can be just as valuable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Golden State Valkyries are going to the WNBA Finals in their second season of existence. They didn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":927821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-927820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927820","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=927820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}