Natalie Nakase Takes Blame After Valkyries Fall Behind 2-1 in WNBA Finals

The Golden State Valkyries committed 17 turnovers Wednesday night in a 97-71 loss to the Atlanta Dream in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, and coach Natalie Nakase put the result on herself afterward.

Atlanta leads the best-of-seven series 2-1. Golden State won Game 1 68-64 at Chase Center before losing the next two by a combined 40 points.

Nakase said the Valkyries usually come back tighter after a loss, leaning on each other rather than splitting.

“They’re fine. Yeah, they’re fine,” Nakase said. “Our fight has never not been there. I feel like this is just a long series. We’ve been down before. We’ve come back from games where we’ve been down. And so now you can just put it as a longer series. We fought back from 17. We fought back from 16 in Dallas. So it’s just — we’re resilient. We’ve done it before. They know that.”

“And again, it’s on my shoulder,” Nakase continued. “So I got to figure out maybe a couple of different schemes that could be a little bit more aggressive. I could be a little bit more clear on how I could make sure we’re fighting with the right units. So, yeah, this is on me, though.”

The Dream scored 22 points off Golden State’s turnovers. The Valkyries turned 10 Atlanta turnovers into 7 points.

Gabby Williams had 4 of the 17. Veronica Burton had 3 and Kaila Charles had 2, and the Valkyries were also called for two shot-clock violations.

Golden State turned it over 19 times in Game 2, a 79-65 loss in which Rhyne Howard set a Finals record with 6 steals.

Howard had 5 more on Wednesday. Atlanta finished with 9 steals, and Angel Reese had 3 of them.

The Valkyries’ film work before Game 4 will come in three layers: individual, group, and team.

“I really think we tried to make the adjustment in terms of [taking care of] the ball,” Nakase explained. “17 is just way too many. It’s just we have to be a little bit more, I’d say, composed in moments of when we look to attack. It’s like looking at that next layer. And right now it’s kind of like we’re just trying to — it’s definitely not a me thing, but it’s like, let’s see if we could continue to create for others.”

“And I think sometimes some of our players like to put a lot on their shoulders,” Nakase added. “They want to do it for the team, where it’s like, let’s just continue to keep trusting and moving it. And so there’s been a fine line right now that we’re kind of — I was trying to do it a little bit too much for myself or whatever, but it’s not a selfish thing. It’s like I want to do what’s right for the team, and I want to help the team. So I told [them] film sessions are going to be definitely — it’s going to be a double dose in terms of individual, and it’s going to be group, and then it’s going to be team. So we’re going to be a lot more detailed.”

Atlanta shot 49.3% from the field. No team had shot better than 35% in a game in the series before Wednesday, according to the league.

The Dream scored 44 points in the paint to Golden State’s 20 and outscored the Valkyries 13-5 in fast-break points. Over three games, Atlanta leads 43-11 in fast-break scoring, per the league.

Effort was not the problem for Nakase. She thought her players played as hard as they could.

“Just the undiscipline,” Nakase said. “We weren’t in our shifts correctly. We weren’t communicating. We’re kind of just late on certain rotations, which was — it’s just uncharacteristic. And so I have to figure out and talk to them. I think more listening to them individually rather than groups of, like, are we confusing you guys in the game plan? And if so, how can I be more clear?”

“Because at the end of the day, they’re only going to follow my voice,” Nakase detailed. “They’re only going to follow my leadership. So if something’s being a little bit unclear, then that’s on me. So I just wanted to have more conversations.”

Williams led Golden State with 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting and had a career playoff-high 8 assists. Tiffany Hayes scored 14 off the bench.

Cecilia Zandalasini and Janelle Salaün each had 13, and Kiah Stokes finished with 11 rebounds and 3 blocks.

The Valkyries shot 34.8% from the field and 12-of-30 from 3-point range. They assisted on 19 of their 24 field goals.

Golden State won the second quarter 25-23 and opened the second half on an 8-2 run, tying the game at 48 on a Zandalasini 3-pointer with 8:52 left in the third.

The teams were tied again at 49 before Atlanta closed the quarter on a 22-8 run.

Golden State swept the Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals. This is the franchise’s second season.

The Valkyries have two days off before Game 4, which is Saturday at 1 p.m. ET at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.