SAN JOSE, Calif. — Ballhalla, as was proven Wednesday night, is not a location. It’s an energy. One not confined by brick and mortar, yet significant enough to swell any Bay Area edifice.
Its energy took over SAP Center, the staged house borrowed by the Valkyries for their first-ever home WNBA playoff game. Thanks to the previously scheduled and complexly structured Laver Cup tennis event, this historic WNBA moment was relocated to the home of the San Jose Sharks. Still, Golden State sold out the larger venue, filled it with violet T-shirts and the fervent roar conceived in Chase Center.
“It was still amazing,” Golden State forward Janelle Salaün said. “You felt it. We felt the energy. Especially at the beginning of the game.”
For three quarters, it was potent. Coaxing the best out of the Valkyries, rattling the WNBA’s No. 1 seed. After losing by 29 points in Game 1 at Minnesota, Golden State needed a home-court advantage.
It was almost enough. The Valkyries nearly had a new pinnacle for their storybook season.
But Minnesota found another gear, like a team on a championship mission. The Lynx scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter, snatching all the momentum and introducing the Valkyries to postseason pressure. Golden State’s 17-point lead crumbled into a 75-74 Game 2 defeat and elimination from the postseason.
We came together and rewrote the rules. A team of 18,543* and the first of a lifetime. Thank you for everything, Ballhalla ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/F5nFLLQr4W
— Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries) September 18, 2025
“I said, ‘Get your f—ing heads up’,” said newly anointed WNBA Coach of the Year Natalie Nakase, recalling her postgame message to the team. “I want everyone’s eye contact. I want to feel every single person right now. I want your emotions. I want your heart. I want everything, and everyone looked up, and I just told them how proud I was. To have that place rocking tonight, to have that Ballhalla mentality, to be able to go toe-and-toe to the number one team, I was so proud.”
The Valkyries earned respect in their inaugural campaign. They made an immediate impression on the WNBA and set a proper foundation for their ambition as a franchise. They provided a refreshing jolt of novel warmth in the Bay Area sports landscape, in the league, in this percolating women’s sports movement.
Yet, Wednesday’s gut-wrenching conclusion was fitting. Necessary even.
Reality caught up to the Valkyries. Immaculate vibes couldn’t compensate for shortcomings in talent and experience against the Lynx. Chemistry and scheme, even playing hard, don’t hold up reliably against stars.
By tip-off, they were down three starters: All-Star forward Kayla Thornton was ruled out for the season in July, veteran guard Tiffany Hayes missed her 10th straight game with an undisclosed knee injury, and center Temi Fágbénlé was a last-minute scratch with right knee pain. Nakase went primarily with six players.
They were valiant most of the game. The Valkyries made 10 of 20 from 3 in the first three quarters, three by Veronica Burton. When the 3s are falling, they are formidable. But Monique Billings came off the bench and gave them a presence inside. She led Golden State with 15 points to go with four rebounds. Her energy was infectious. Her three-point play to close the third quarter had the SAP Center shaking.
The Valkyries led by 14 points entering the fourth quarter. They outplayed the best team in the league over 30 minutes. But Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier, the WNBA MVP hopeful, and Kayla McBride, the sharp-shooting All-Star vet, took over. They combined to score or assist on 21 points in the fourth. They revealed the levels involved.
During the regular season, Golden State ranked next to last in fourth-quarter scoring (18) and last in fourth-quarter field goal percentage (38.5 percent). Wednesday, it totaled 11 points over the final 10 minutes, making just 5 of 16 from the field. And what the Valkyries did get was hard. They were only playing Minnesota because they went 5 of 20 in the fourth quarter at Seattle in the penultimate regular-season game, landing them as the No. 8 seed instead of No. 6.
This isn’t a lesson general manager Ohemaa Nyanin has to learn. She’s assuredly already working toward how to get to another level. The Valkyries have work to do.
Playoff basketball comes down to playmakers. To elite skill. To execution driven by conviction. The Valkyries got to feel that, as Minnesota turned up the heat.
“Obviously, that’s a really tough way to go out,” Burton said after totaling 13 points, nine assists, six rebounds and four steals in 35 minutes. “When you have a lead majority of the game — I think we’ve had a few games like that this year — (it) stings even more. Just really soaking this all in. This was an incredible experience. This was an incredible team.”
The Valkyries have the crowd and the culture. They have the coach. They have some core players, including a few gems they found. They have the resources. They also have championship aspirations.
That’s why getting their hearts ripped out on Wednesday was a net positive. It’s a visceral reminder of how being competitive, being fun, ain’t enough. This season was a taste, but wasn’t the thing.
That sentiment was in Burton’s eyes as she took a moment to stare off into nowhere, shaking her head. In Salaün’s tone in her postgame remarks.
“People in this group are special, you know?” she said in response to her team being called inexperienced. “Yes, we don’t have big names. Yes, there were no stars. But we’re f—ing underdogs. We’re fighters.”
It was in team owner Joe Lacob’s expression as he sat courtside. In forward Cecilia Zandalasini’s tears.
She took the final shot of their season. She was one play, one jumper, from forcing the series back to Minnesota for a winner-take-all showdown. Or being the one to close the door on a dream season. With four seconds remaining, down a point, Nakase asked her veteran forward if she was ready.
Yeah, she was ready. The 29-year-old Italian had every incentive to keep this season going. This was the best year of her WNBA career, which totaled four seasons since 2017.
Zandalasini — who the Valks plucked from Minnesota in the expansion draft — blossomed into a primary offensive weapon for the Golden State, her career fertilized by the Valkyries’ ethos. On this night, on the biggest possession of the season, she was the go-to player.
Minnesota fouled intentionally when Zandalasini first got the ball. But the Valkyries executed the same play with 2.8 seconds left, running her from the baseline to the top. She curled as she received the inbounds pass, dribbling across the width of the court, trying to get away from Minnesota’s McBride. Out of time, Zandalisini pulled up for a contested, fade-away 18-footer.
“To be able to have that type of confidence at the end of the game, and to put it all on her shoulders,” Nakase said. “I told her, ‘I’m always going to ride with you to the end of the game. I’m always riding with you for my last shooter.’ She was able to create separation, lift. It was so beautiful.”
She fell to the hardwood as the shot banked off the rim and the horn sounded. The tears rolled almost immediately. Lying on her back, surrounded by her teammates, Zandalisini cried as she processed the disappointment.
Fairytales aren’t forever.
(Photo of Janelle Salaün: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)