Game Preview: Regular Season Game 5 vs New York Liberty

Date, Time, Location: Thursday, May 27th, 4:00pm PDT, Barclays Center (Brooklyn)
Broadcast Information: KPIX (Bay Area), KMAX (Sacramento), WWOR and FOX Local and Liberty Live (away team local market), WNBA League Pass (outside local markets), Audacy (radio)

After a day without a game, the Golden State Valkyries will be playing the New York Liberty for the second straight game on Thursday. It will be an opportunity for the team to immediately prove that they learned from the big loss in the last meeting. The game will be on the same media outlets as the previous game and another large crowd is expected for this game too.

Avoiding another poor start will be the key to making this game more competitive as the Valkyries could not slow down the Liberty at all early and had trouble getting the shots that they wanted early. Even though the defense did look a little bit better in the middle quarters, New York was able to take advantage of Golden State’s aggressiveness and find open shooters, knocking down those shots consistently to keep a healthy lead.

On offense, the Valkyries did end up shooting their highest percentage from three-point range all season, but they struggled to get easier shots. Temi Fagbenle did find success in the paint and ended up perfect on field goals, but everyone else had trouble converting in close against the size advantage enjoyed by the Liberty and were largely unable to get good midrange looks either. Turnover totals were not too high early, but the team had a major problem with them in fourth quarter, allowing the final defeat to look more lopsided.

Both teams could be at full strength for this game as Cecilia Zandalasini has not been ruled out of getting her chance to finally play for the first time this season. Tiffany Hayes and Monique Billings could also return. While Zandalasini will have to work her way back into shape after the time that she missed, the team could definitely use the additional scoring from Hayes and having Billings be another option to battle in the paint, especially if Nyara Sabally is able to return for the Liberty.