WNBA Finals Game 3: Golden State 71, Atlanta 97
By the Numbers
- Gabby Williams led all scorers with 15 points. Williams had a postseason career-high in assists with eight and added three steals.
- Kiah Stokes had 11 rebounds and three blocks, becoming the only player in WNBA history with at least 11 rebounds and three blocks for two consecutive games.
- Stokes has 23 blocks this postseason, tied for the seventh most in WNBA history for blocks in a single postseason.
- Tiffany Hayes posted 14 points off the bench, shooting 6-13 (46.1 percent) from the field, and has scored in double figures in four of the last five games.
- Cecilia Zandalasini added 13 points, shooting 4-6 (66.6 percent) from the three-point line, tying her career postseason high for made threes in a game.
- Janelle Salaün scored 13 points, shooting 5-7 (71.4 percent) from the field, including a career postseason high 3-4 (75 percent) from the three-point line.
- Golden State had 19 assists on 24 field goals made tonight.
- The Valkyries had 38 bench points, the third time this postseason they’ve had 35 or more points from the bench.
Quotes
HEAD COACH NATALIE NAKASE:
ON THE TEAM’S CONFIDENCE:
“Our fight has never not been there. I feel like this is just a long series. We’ve been down before. We've come back from games where we've been down, and so now we just put it as a longer series. We fought back from 17. We fought back from 16… So we're resilient. We've done it before. They know that, and again, it's on my shoulders. I got to figure out maybe a couple of different schemes that could be a little bit more aggressive. I could be a little bit more clear on how I could make sure we're fighting with the right units. So, yeah, this is on me.”
ON JANELLE SALAÜN’S PERFORMANCE TONIGHT:
“It was really good. Her spacing, just being ready to catch and shoot. That's Ja [Janelle Salaün], the killer. It's the confidence. It's the floor spacer that's really good. But also, I liked her fight, too, on the defensive end. I thought she was in good spots. I thought she was boarding. I thought she was being really physical. She was a nice little spark for us for sure. And now I just want to make sure I'm putting any of those right units together. [We need to be] super connected.”
ON GOLDEN STATE’S COMPOSURE:
“I think we play very composed. I think that's what’s brilliant about our team is that we lost the game… But we know how to come back. What's good is that we usually come back even tighter. This is where we lean on each other more rather than split. We respond really well with that…I'm now excited to go look at the film, be curious, and then build a better game plan to win the next game.”
GOLDEN STATE GUARDS GABBY WILLIAMS AND TIFFANY HAYES:
ON TAKEAWAYS FROM TONIGHT’S MATCHUP:
Hayes: “It was very uncharacteristic of us. But we know we're gonna make mistakes. Everything's not perfect. That's the series for a reason. So we all just talk together after the game and let each other know that it's a series for a reason. We can adjust, but we have to do it now, and we have to stay together and do it.”
ON NEXT STEPS:
Williams: “We'll have to go back and look at the video. Again, I think we were a bit undisciplined on defense, but we just have to go back and watch it and see where we can adjust…First and foremost, rest [and] recover, and then back to the film so we can adjust and have a good day of practice, reconnect, regroup, and just get ready for Saturday.”
ON WHAT NEEDS TO IMPROVE BEFORE GAME FOUR:
Hayes: “Our discipline and our fight. I think [in] this game, they wanted it more than us, and that's not who we are. That's not who we've been, and that's not how we got here. So I think we got to get a little bit more of that [discipline and fight.]
Up Next: The Valkyries are on the road for Game 4 of the WNBA Finals in Atlanta on Saturday, October 24 at 10 pm PT, airing on NBC, Peacock, 95.7 The Game, ESPN 1320 and the Audacy App.
