Broke the Fever

W 88-77

The Golden State Valkyries pulled off their most impressive win of the season, overcoming a 13-point deficit to defeat the Indiana Fever by 11. It was our favorite team's first honest-to-god come-from-behind victory. It was an awesome performance from Tiffany Hayes, who played 32 minutes off the bench, scored 14 points, and provided the leadership we know she possesses--but that we have been eager to see in action while she has been sidelined.

Such a fun game! It's great to follow the hometown team. But it's really great when the team always plays super hard. And maybe the Valkyries aren't the best jump shooting team (finished the first quarter at 12.5% from 3, and all the Valkyries not named Kayla Thorton shot 4-23 from 3). And maybe we don't have the tallest players now that Temi is away from the team for Eurobasket. But dang do we play hard every damn night. Hard not to get excited about that.

A few fun takeaways from Ballhalla:

• Ballhalla was packed to the brim with home team fans, not just Johnny-come-lately's who wanted to see Caitlin Clark, and it showed. Chase Center was rocking for the Valks even before tipoff, and it was louder than a Warriors post-season run. Best 6th woman in the business!

• Caitlin Clark did not shoot well. Much credit goes to the Valks, led by a creative game plan from Natalie Nakase, but sometimes the shots just don't fall. That being said, dang Caitlin really is that good. Those passes were darts. And Aliyah Boston could someday be a league MVP. In a game the Valkyries won by 11, Boston's +/- was 0. We won the game when she was on the bench with fouls.

• This was the second game that the crowd devolved into a wave during an extended timeout. Both waves have gone counterclockwise. What's the deal with that?

• The Freedom Buckets challenge returned! Francis remains atop the leaderboard. But the competition is getting tough.

• Brandon Podziemski was wearing a Kate Martin jersey today (Kate is now remarkably 5-0 against Caitin in their WNBA matchups). And he was having a lot of fun out there, instructing the Fever to go "night night" in the fourth quarter.

• The other Warriors sightings today were Juan Toscano-Anderson and Steve Kerr. Bay FC and a few Niners were also in the house. But--by far (and it was not close)--the largest and longest applause was for Kristi Yamaguchi. The city loves Yamaguchi

The Fever had 16 turnovers compared to seven for the Valkyries. And while the Fever had only 66 shots on basket through the game, Valkyries had 70. So, we shot a marginally worse percentage than the Fever (43.9% overall versus 42.9%) but won the game by 11. That is a hustle and grit victory. Just love to see it!