Tiffany Hayes Reacts to Beating Former Aces Team in Game 2

Tiffany Hayes scored 21 points off the bench Wednesday night against the franchise she won Sixth Player of the Year with two seasons ago. Golden State beat Las Vegas 83-81 in Game 2 and leads the best-of-five WNBA semifinal series 2-0.

Hayes made six of her 10 shots and all eight of her free throws. In Game 1 on Sunday, she scored three points on 1-of-4 shooting.

Her free throws came in a game in which the Valkyries went 25-of-27 from the line. Las Vegas went 23-of-26.

Hayes missed Golden State's postseason run last year with a left knee injury. This year, the Valkyries beat the Dallas Wings in three games for the first playoff series win in franchise history.

Before Golden State, there was one season in Las Vegas. Hayes had announced her retirement after the 2023 season, then signed with the Aces in May 2024. She played in 33 of their 40 regular-season games that year, came off the bench a career-high 28 times, and averaged 9.5 points. Her 313 points led all players who qualified for the Sixth Player of the Year award.

Las Vegas protected Hayes in the expansion draft. She signed with Golden State as a free agent anyway, joining Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase, who had been the Aces' first assistant under Aces coach Becky Hammon from 2022 through 2024.

Hayes spent eight seasons with the Atlanta Dream before that, from 2012 to 2019, and two more from 2021 to 2022. She played the 2023 season in Connecticut. With Atlanta, she was an All-Star in 2017 and made the All-WNBA First Team in 2018.

Some of what Hayes thinks about facing Las Vegas, she is keeping to herself.

"It felt amazing to be able to go out there and get a win with the team that I'm with now," Hayes said.

Veronica Burton's go-ahead 3-pointer with 41.5 seconds left was her only field goal of the night. Hayes said the shot showed Burton's leadership.

"Let me tell you something. I think I held my breath the whole time the ball was in the air," Hayes explained. "V … she's amazing. She was kind of trying to find her way in the game a little bit."

"That composure — to keep her head in the game and hit that big shot — it was a huge shot that just shows you her leadership and her still keeping her head in the game, even though like everything wasn't going her way," Hayes continued.

Hammon coached Hayes through the 2024 season. She said the scouting report on Hayes was to keep her off her left hand and make her finish over the top.

"Tip Hayes being Tip Hayes," Hammon said. "I knew she wasn't going to come out and play like she did the other night; we kind of got away with one from her. The spray-out three on the offensive rebound gave her a nice, clean look. She's a momentum-type player. You can't let her see the ball go in the hoop that easily."

"I thought we fouled her too much," Hammon added. "We know she wants to get to that left hand, so we have to stay disciplined, play angles and make them finish over. She was very efficient — 21 in 16 minutes. That's too much damage. She hurt us."

Hayes was the first free agent with WNBA experience to sign with Golden State who had not been taken in the expansion draft.

"It is really cool," Nakase said. "I remember our conversation about coming here and asking if she was willing to take the leap of faith with me in my first year. She said yes. That week, she saw a billboard of herself off the freeway and sent it to me, saying she'd never had that type of acknowledgment, love and support from a community."

"She sent it to her mom, who was crying because they're extremely close — her mom is more of a basketball coach to her than I am," Nakase continued. "It was cool to see her grow into this role after taking the leap of faith with me. Now she's thriving because of the love and care in our culture."

Nakase said Hayes reads plays before she gets to the paint.

"Quick punches, for sure," Nakase explained. "What's cool is that she's continuing to develop her skill set around the rim. Before, it was really quick and off one foot; now sometimes it's one, sometimes two, sometimes slower or quicker. She loves the paint and finding open players, and she can see the play develop before she gets there."

"She's studying a lot of film and continuously wants to learn and get better, which isn't always true of people as they get older," Nakase added. "That's why she's special: she wants to be pushed to improve every single game."

Burton calls herself a huge fan of Hayes.

"When you have someone like her, it makes us all want to play as hard as we can," Burton said. "When you have a teammate like that who you know will have your back no matter what, it brings a level of joy to the game. We wouldn't be us without her."

Golden State's bench outscored the Las Vegas bench 34-14 in Game 2, and Hayes accounted for 21 of those points.

The series moves to Las Vegas for Game 3, which tips at 9:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 9.