SAN FRANCISCO — Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase briefly collapsed to the floor during a timeout with 1:40 left in Golden State’s dramatic 77-73 comeback win over the Dallas Wings on Friday night at Chase Center.
After being helped up by her assistant coaches and grabbing her forehead, she returned to the Valkyries’ huddle and drew up the play that led to Gabby Williams’ go-ahead shot that put the Valkyries up 73-72 with 1:17 left.
Nakase remained on the bench to coach the remainder of the game but left shortly after the buzzer sounded under the support and supervision of a team staffer.
She did not attend the team’s postgame news conference. Assistant Kasib Powell filled in for Nakase postgame and said the coach was “fine.”
“She didn’t miss a beat,” Powell said. “I mean, we were locked in as that happened. When she went to the sideline, she drew the next play up. She was in the huddle, getting on him about getting a stop. So we didn’t. It was she didn’t skip a beat at all. So you know we tried to keep our composure and just rally around each other and her.”
Powell added, “We just know that we saw her afterwards, and she was fine, laughing, in great spirits. So we’ll figure out more as we go. But I think she’s totally fine. She’s talking. She’s laughing in the back. So we look forward to preparing and getting ready for Sunday.”
The Valkyries were in the final stages of their 16-point comeback when Nakase went to the floor and finished off Dallas with four clutch free throws by Williams.
Golden State will face the Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals on Sunday at Chase Center after Golden State’s win in the clinching Game 3.
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