Date, Time, and Location: Friday, October 2nd, 6:00pm, Chase Center
Broadcast Information: ESPN2 (full national) and ESPN Deportes (Spanish-language)
The Golden State Valkyries host the Dallas Wings again on Friday in the deciding game of their playoff series as both teams face elimination now after Wednesday’s overtime game. The game will be the last of the quarterfinals with the winner having a quick turnaround to the semifinals that start on Sunday. It will be another game with a national broadcast, this time on ESPN2 with a pregame show too, as well as a Spanish-language broadcast on ESPN Deportes.
The Valkyries
It is another clean initial injury report for the Valkyries ahead of this game. After a good defensive effort in the first game of the series, they struggled to slow down Dallas’s offense in this game even as they were able to score to match them in regulation. The matchups have been pretty consistent so far, but the Valkyries did play Kaila Charles and Gabby Williams together frequently to try to give them even more options on the perimeter and the team could try to switch defensive assignments around to counter whatever is working better for the Wings over the course of this game.
The Opposition
Awak Kuier had to exit the game early with a wrist injury and she is listed on the initial Dallas injury report, but she is considered probable right now. Alanna Smith remains out for another game. Not having both of them would necessitate more smallball than the Wings have played when closer to full strength, but they had some success with that in the last game as they got some strong contributions off of the bench. After some tweaks to the rotation to get to that point, they could look to make those adjustments early or switch up the starting lineup.
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