Valkyries push two-time champion Aces to brink of elimination

The Golden State Valkyries beat the Las Vegas Aces 83-81 on Wednesday night at Chase Center, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five WNBA semifinals and pushing the two-time defending champions to the brink of elimination. The result, secured on a go-ahead three-pointer from guard Veronica Burton with 41 seconds left, means Golden State is one win from the first WNBA Finals appearance in its two-year history.

The numbers

Tiffany Hayes scored a team-high 21 points off the bench, part of a Valkyries reserve unit that outscored the Aces' bench 34-14. Gabby Williams added 20 points and five rebounds, and Kayla Thornton scored 16. Golden State built a lead as large as 17 points in the third quarter before Las Vegas, down 66-55 after three quarters, clawed back behind A'ja Wilson's 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting and a tying three-pointer from Chelsea Gray with 2:10 remaining, according to the league's semifinal schedule and format that has governed the series. Burton, who had gone scoreless to that point, answered with the deciding three, then made two free throws in the final seconds. The last possession for Las Vegas ended when Jackie Young missed the second of two free throws with six seconds left, Gray grabbed the rebound and drove for a potential game-winning layup, and Kiah Stokes blocked the attempt before Burton secured the loose ball.

How Golden State got here

The Valkyries are in just their second season of existence. Golden State became, in 2025, the first expansion franchise in WNBA history to reach the playoffs in its inaugural year, a run that ended in the first round against the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx. A year later, under coach Natalie Nakase, the team has won the first two games of a semifinal series against a roster built to win championships, and now stands one win from a first Finals berth. Game 2 followed the pattern of the series opener: Golden State won Game 1 in San Francisco 71-60 on Sunday behind 25 points from Williams, who finished runner-up in this year's Defensive Player of the Year voting, while the Aces lost Loyd to injury partway through. Hayes, who missed last postseason because of a left knee injury, has instead been one of the series' steadiest performers off the bench in both games.

Las Vegas, by contrast, arrived at this series as the sport's standard-bearer. The Aces organization has won three of the past four WNBA titles, in 2022, 2023 and 2025, and had never previously trailed 0-2 in a semifinal round under coach Becky Hammon. Historically, the deficit is close to insurmountable: ESPN Research has found that WNBA teams are unbeaten in best-of-five playoff series after taking a 2-0 lead.

Reaction

Hammon credited Burton's shot but said her team's first-half performance, not the finish, decided the outcome. "That Burton 3 was massive," Hammon told reporters in Las Vegas afterward, adding that her team had been "abysmal" for long stretches before rallying. She was direct about what Friday's Game 3 means for a roster that has not faced postseason elimination in any of the past four years: "I can't convince them that this is not a must-win, because if we lose we go home, and we stay home."

"I think I held my breath the whole time the ball was in the air," Hayes said of Burton's go-ahead three. "It felt amazing to be able to go out there and get a win with the team that I'm with now."

Burton, a seventh overall pick by the Dallas Wings in 2022 who was waived in 2024 before Golden State acquired her in that year's expansion draft, said she welcomed the moment despite her quiet shooting night. "I was just saying I had to do something out there," she said. "I appreciated Gabby trusting me in that moment, obviously a big moment." Nakase pointed to the depth that has carried Golden State through two rounds, saying afterward: "We had multiple closers. It's so valuable when you have multiple people that can score any given night."

Who is affected, and what happens next

For the Aces, the loss raises the stakes on an already difficult turnaround. Guard Jewell Loyd, who left Game 1 with a left leg injury and did not return, was listed as doubtful for Game 3. Wilson, a three-time champion and the favorite for a fifth career MVP award, has not previously had to lead the Aces out of a 2-0 deficit in the postseason. A loss in Las Vegas on Friday would end the team's season and its bid for a fourth title in five years.

For the Valkyries, who have never played a Finals game, the opportunity is now concrete: a win in Game 3 would send the two-year-old franchise to the championship round a year after their first postseason ended in a narrow first-round loss to the Lynx. The run has drawn attention to how quickly Golden State's roster, assembled largely through the 2024 expansion draft and free agency, has turned into a contender.

Game 3 is scheduled for Friday, October 9, at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, with tipoff at 9:30 p.m. ET. The Aces must win to force a Game 4, also in Las Vegas, on Sunday; a Golden State victory would close out the series and send the Valkyries to their first WNBA Finals.