Valkyries beat Aces in Game 1 as Nakase outmaneuvers former mentor Hammon

Golden State flipped a season-long losing record against Las Vegas to open the WNBA semifinals, with three tactical changes from coach Natalie Nakase deciding Game 1.

The Golden State Valkyries opened their WNBA semifinal series against the Las Vegas Aces with a home win in San Francisco on Sunday, flipping a regular season in which they lost all three meetings between the clubs. The teams had not shared a floor since June, and Golden State arrived with no victories over Las Vegas in 2026.

Las Vegas waved off that record before tipoff. Guard Chelsea Gray said the Valkyries were nothing like the team the Aces handled earlier in the year, and coach Becky Hammon agreed. "The first mistake is believing that beating them 3-0 in the regular season matters," Hammon said. "It doesn't matter." The judgment proved correct in an unwanted way for Las Vegas: Golden State bore no resemblance on Sunday to the side it had beaten three times.

Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase was leading a team in the semifinals for the first time, but she carried direct knowledge of the opposition after three seasons on the Las Vegas bench, a stretch in which the club advanced at least this far every year. That tenure under Hammon, her former mentor, shaped how she prepared. "High alert in terms of attention to detail," Nakase said of the playoffs. "When you have the same team over and over, you have to keep teams off rhythm."

The first adjustment targeted the offensive glass. Golden State had crashed the boards well all season, yet on Sunday it committed all five positions to pursuing misses. Kiah Stokes, who managed three offensive rebounds combined in the three regular-season meetings, pulled down seven by herself, chasing caroms from the corners to punish Las Vegas bigs who left her open on the perimeter and sealing off Vegas guards on drives before shots went up.

Nakase also declined to play small. Her reserve units usually feature Janelle Salaün at center to open the floor with her shooting, but the Aces handle small lineups well, switching constantly and defending up a position, with Gray often checking power forwards rather than point guards at this stage of her career. Golden State instead kept one true big on the court for all 40 minutes, sacrificed 3-point volume and attacked the basket through its center, stressing Las Vegas' pick-and-roll defense. The Aces' back line broke down more than once, allowing easy finishes at the rim.

The boldest call came at backup center. Laeticia Amihere had filled that job for most of the season, but she is undersized and at a strength disadvantage against A'ja Wilson, so Nakase turned to Aminata Gueye, a French national signed for the rest of the season on Sept. 20. Las Vegas had almost nothing to study: four minutes of mostly missed layups in the regular-season finale, 10 minutes of mop-up duty in Game 1 of the first round and only a handful of World Cup minutes with France.

In her first meaningful action with the team, Gueye made an immediate impact. She blocked Jackie Young at the rim, intercepted a Gray skip pass toward the right corner and finished a pick-and-roll pass from French teammate Gabby Williams while drawing the foul. "There's a connectivity between Gabby and Ami. … She picks up our stuff really quickly, and she's in there, obviously, to be a physical presence," Nakase said.

Hammon's responses ran thin: she funneled more offense through Wilson and dropped into a zone late once Las Vegas ran short of bodies, and she will need new ideas for Game 2 of the best-of-five series. The stakes of an opener are real, with Game 1 winners taking such series about 78 percent of the time, yet the Aces have recovered from Game 1 losses to win multiple times in their three championship seasons, once against a Gabby Williams-led Storm team.