Date, Time, Location: Saturday, July 5th, 5:00pm PDT, Target Center (Minneapolis)
Broadcast Information: KPIX (Bay Area), KMAX (Sacramento), FanDuel Sports Network – North (away team local market), WNBA League Pass (outside local markets), Audacy (radio), multiple affiliates (away team radio)
After having most of the week off due to a short league break for the Commissioner’s Cup championship game, the Golden State Valkyries start a four-game road trip on Saturday by visiting the Minnesota Lynx. The Valkyries lost to the Lynx in their first meeting at the start of June and both teams have had some big wins since then. With players returning from EuroBasket, the Valkyries will be hoping that they can be reintegrated into the rotation quickly and that they can play as well as they have been in their most recent homestand.
The Valkyries
Carla Leite will miss another game for Golden State, but the EuroBasket returnees have been activated and should all be available, leaving the team with eleven players. After five days without a game, the Valkyries will have a stretch of three games in five days and then another stretch like that before the All Star break. Those first three games are against teams with a winning record so it will be tough for Golden State to maintain their own pace.
The Opposition
The Minnesota Lynx made one move since the last time that they played the Valkyries, waiving backup center Marieme Badiane to free up space when she headed to EuroBasket to play for France. In her place, they signed Russian post player Maria Kliundikova after she had failed to make the roster for the Los Angeles Sparks out of training camp. She is a WNBA veteran, but just returned this season after missing years for a variety of reasons.
Karlie Samuelson just suffered an injury that will keep her out for the rest of the season, but the rest of their roster is expected to be available. Their resulting lineup imbalance could mean that they challenge the Valkyries with bigger lineups that include two post players deployed alongside Napheesa Collier at small forward. Golden State often used their center to defend her in the first game between the teams to varying degrees of success, but might find it harder this time.
The Lynx are in their own busy stretch as this will be their fourth game in seven days and they have a game on Sunday. Part of that is being caused by their winning the Western Conference spot in the Commissioner’s Cup championship game, but they lost at home on Tuesday to the Indiana Fever. The hangover from that tough loss may have carried over to the first half of their game against the Washington Mystics on Thursday, but they eventually got the win. Minnesota had previously lost to the Mystics, their only regular season defeat besides a loss to the Seattle Storm, but they still hold a three-game lead for the top seed in the playoffs.
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