Valkyries defense shifted into high gear to sweep the Aces, advance to WNBA Finals

LAS VEGAS — The scariest sights in basketball include Chelsea Gray with the ball in a last-shot scenario. She took the dribble-handoff from A'ja Wilson, angled toward the right elbow of the free-throw line, leaned into Golden State Valkyries defender Kaila Charles, and faded back for her patented shot. Shots like this will put Gray in the Hall of Fame. Off balance. On the money.

"I thought it was in," Valkyries guard Veronica Burton said. "I was under the basket, so I got a good look."

It rattled out. A loud exhale swooshed through Michelob Ultra Arena. Angst from the Las Vegas Aces, relief from the splashes of violet in the crowd.

Gray, she of game-winner lore, grimaced as she walked to the bench to prepare for overtime.

"Shoulda hit it," Gray said. "I've hit that shot a thousand times."

But the game was over. Five minutes remained, yet these WNBA semifinals were effectively decided.

The Valkyries knew it as they sensed a team's resolve buckling beneath their pressure. Golden State locked in for the second half and rattled Las Vegas. The Valkyries' confidence graduated to conviction.

These were the defending champion Aces, to be sure. So the occasion required appropriate fear. But the heavy legs and fading force of Las Vegas, a product of injuries and the accumulated toll of years at the top of the league, revealed the gauntlet of Golden State.

This was that moment in a series, despite narratives and expectations, despite matchups and accolades, when a team realizes it's just better. Perhaps, after the talent is felt and the strategies all play out, the other team knows it, too.

That's what the Valkyries exuded in overtime of Game 3. Their defense shifted into another gear. The engine of this season, of their culture, revved like a Hellcat during the break before overtime, then proceeded to blow the doors off Las Vegas, putting the finishing touches on an 87-77 win to sweep the Aces and pause, if not end, a dynasty.

A team isn't ready to win a title until it earns the kind of conviction Golden State displayed. On the road, against the five-time MVP, with a trip to the WNBA Finals on the line, the Valkyries revealed they have a defense and a will that can make history.

"Now is our time," Burton said through the congestion that revealed her illness, echoing the message she gave in the huddle. "This is it. Like, lay it all out there. But we knew we had an extra gear. I think that's the beauty about our team, that we play so many people. We have the extra gear. We knew it was ours."

Gray's missed game-winner became a reprieve for the Valkyries, as if the game wanted to reward their tenacity.

It began at halftime, when coach Natalie Nakase showed some film that illustrated how the Valkyries had gifted the Aces an offensive groove. So in the third quarter, Golden State put the clamps down.

The Valkyries held Las Vegas to seven points in the third quarter on 2-of-16 shooting. A 17-0 Golden State run flipped the game and forced the Aces to dig deep again.

Golden State played like a team with no doubt about its defensive prowess. The pick-and-roll Las Vegas smoothly executed in the first half suddenly looked more like dental work for the Aces offense. The Valkyries fought over every screen, switched with aggression when they had to, collapsed on the ball in the paint and crashed the boards without regard for their bodies.

"They're bought in. They're on board," Wilson said. "That's what it takes to win a championship. … They're really a bought-in group from top to bottom, and it's special."

With the Aces leading 69-67 with just over two minutes remaining, Wilson got the ball on the low block with Williams on her back. The 6-foot-4 Wilson against a smaller defender had been a fruitful set for Las Vegas.

"I obviously wasn't blocking her," Williams said after the game.

Knowing that, Williams used her quickness and 6-3 wingspan to lunge around Wilson and steal the ball. Williams led the ensuing fast break, dumping it off to Kayla Thornton to tie the game. The next time down, Tiffany Hayes maneuvered the screen instead of switching, forcing Wilson into isolation against Kiah Stokes.

Stokes, the anchor of the Valkyries' defense and a three-time champion with the Aces, forced her former teammate Wilson into a contested turnaround jumper in the lane. After it missed, Burton put the Valkyries up 71-69 with a runner off the glass over Jackie Young.

The Aces had two chances to tie. But Stokes deflected and stole a pass from Young, and then blocked a Wilson turnaround. Stokes' pedigree is central to Golden State's defensive DNA.

"I could get emotional talking about it, honestly," Williams said of Stokes' impact. "She's just someone that is so appreciated by us. She just knows how to win. There's a reason she's a three-time champion."

It became increasingly clear the Valkyries' defense found its glow. Burton's go-ahead basket looked as if it might hold up. But a blown coverage, courtesy of a classically brilliant Becky Hammon after-timeout play, left Young all alone under the basket for the game-tying layup. It was the kind of mistake that dooms young teams and breathes life into older ones.

And after Williams' runner didn't drop, Gray had a chance to give the Aces life in this series. So when it missed, the inevitability kicked in.

Who they are, and who they've been, crystallized in the final five minutes of Game 3. This moment required the very elements on which they thrive. It demanded the mentality Golden State has been honing.

The fresh legs. The relentless pressure. The trust that allows one player the freedom to struggle because another will flourish. A roster not built around one transcendent scorer, but around the collective capacity to make life miserable for such scorers.

"We empty the tank," Nakase said. "We play as hard as we can for 48 minutes. With that type of style, that's probably why we had so many injuries last season. … It wasn't sustainable."

The Valkyries weren't expected to be on this precipice. Many believed they didn't belong here yet, not so soon after their inauguration. But such doubt only provided more impetus for seizing this window. They've spent all season, indeed, their entire two-year existence, crafting a defense that takes exactly what they shouldn't have.

"We've all, in one way or fashion, been the underdogs," Charles said. "Some of us have been cut from certain teams multiple times, and some of us haven't been able to get the opportunity that we deserve. So I think it's just that mentality of having the chip on our shoulder and understanding that this could be taken away unless you give 110 percent."

They're in the WNBA Finals for the first time in their history. No one's taking that away.

Las Vegas Aces, Golden State Valkyries, WNBA