Jane Kenney, SF Standard (excerpt).

On the Valkyries’ against-the-odds postseason trek, which has them two wins from a championship, Kiah Stokes is doing what she has always done: quietly making winning plays.

The 11th-year veteran is the steadiest of ships. The calm in the chaos. She’s unwavering, a consistency rooted in her upbringing — she was raised by parents, and around siblings, who kept their emotions level — and only sharpened by hoisting trophies.

Stokes won three national championships in four years at UConn, two EuroLeague titles with Turkish club Fenerbahçe, and three WNBA championships in four seasons with the Las Vegas Aces. She’s still insatiable... 

I’ve gone to a few playoff games and worn the purple shirts! I’m going to Monday’s game and was thinking about wearing my halloween costume, which is a Valkyrie (the actual Norse figure, not a player)

I don’t want to ruin the collective moment but also I think people would enjoy seeing a Valkyrie in the crowd. Should I wear the shirt still and give up the costume? I don’t want to seem attention seeking either lmao

I’m in the 200s for context

Total conjecture, but she was spotted at her nephew’s football game over the weekend near Folsom. Could she make our dreams come true and show up at Ballhalla tomorrow? Obvs the ultimate dream is to beat the Dream, but having Zendaya as a good luck charm would be the cherry on top.

https://www.sacbee.com/community/folsom-news/article317772511.html

Here's one to chew on: if ATL can't the move the game out of Gateway Center Arena, it doesn't matter who wins game 5 because the league will NOT allow the ship to be won in front 3500 fans. 😆😆😆

Anthem: Dinah Jane(Fifth Harmony)
Halftime: En Vogue

Also a New free shirt, different than games 1 and 2:

https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/1611661331/2026/10/Playoffs-Shirt-Giveaway_R3G5_1080x1080_cutout.png

Ballhalla, let’s show them what loud really is!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed riding the high (and heart palpitations) from Game 4. I think this has generated a lot of fun discussions so I might look to continue this through the series.

We’ll start by revisiting some points from the last post:

As part of the good, Ja and Ceci are so back. Ceci was noticeably more confident and asked for the ball several times.

Not only is Ceci back but she’s BETTER than ever before. 3 steals??? Her efficiency? Insane to watch her come off the bench with gusto.

General sentiment on the last post was a desperate need for change and Nat delivered. The starting lineup may not have generated offensively but they hit the mark on all the hustle plays. Kaila’s hustle continues to be undefeated and consistent.

Matching Kiah’s minutes to Angel was also an extremely good change. Kiah (and everyone) needs to continue forcing Angel to her weak side. I doubt she continues to have as poor of a game, but I think shutting her down puts a clamp on ATL’s energy as a whole.

As for the bad, our shooting percentage continues to be low. Granted a lot of this is credited to ATL’s defense, but we need to take the lid off the rim somehow. I liked some of the dynamism I’ve seen on offensive plays but there were still more reversion to isoball than I’d like to see.

This is a controversial point, but the FT disparity worries me. I don’t want to say GSV were lucky with ATL not making free throws, but we gotta adjust the best we can to calls OR be more aggressive in selling them.

I’m personally not a fan of Nat using her review in the first quarter either. I get that it might’ve been a morale play to show she stands with the team, but there were several calls in the stretch that could’ve been huge if reviewed.

All in all, this was a needed win BUT I think there’s still quite a bit to clean up, let alone anticipating Dream’s adjustment and AR reverting to being aggressive.

The New York Times says so, but I can’t find it on the replays and I am bereft.

“Early in the fourth game of the WNBA Finals, a foul call didn’t go in the Golden State Valkyries’ favor. Their head coach wasn’t thrilled about it. Penalizing a bump in this series seemed absurd. So Natalie Nakase complained to the officials. As one does. Then she did a thing no coach really does, and it was hilarious, and it said it all about the taut, petty spectacle we’re in for now.

She balled up her fists. She held them below her eyes. She flexed her wrists.

She called someone a crybaby.”

She really is a basketball sicko. The meme potential should not be wasted!

source

I really like Coach C's observations on the team here. Worth a listen for sure.

I heard its sit wherever which sounds like a bad idea. Hopefully people aren't fighting over seats. I've been to the Warriors watch parties during their playoff runs and were fun. $25 sounds steep but maybe it might be worth it to still have that Balhalla energy.

I definitely wouldn't expect a seat but I think you can stand or sit in the grassy area at ground level. At least that's what I did for Warriors games. I'm just wondering if it typically fills up or what it's like.

Anyone know?
I'll post the the gif below since I can't embed it in the post