Dallas Wings Golden State Valkyries WNBA

“Nothing to Lose”: Dallas Wings Look to Play Spoiler Against Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center

Rashad MillerSeptember 4, 2025September 4, 2025no comment

Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings, WNBA, Golden State Valkyries

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

The Dallas Wings are winding down a season marked by highs, lows, and plenty of growing pains, but head coach Chris Koclanes sees one last chance to make noise.

On Thursday night at Chase Center, the Wings face the Golden State Valkyries for the third time this season. This matchup has playoff stakes for Golden State and spoiler potential for Dallas. The game tips off at 9 p.m. CT and airs locally in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on KFAA29.

“This is a playoff game for them,” Koclanes told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “To be able to clinch a postseason berth at home, they’re going to come in all fired up. I just told our group to embrace it and go out there and play spoiler. Again, nothing to lose. Come out here, play together, just play with all-out effort.”

The shorthanded Wings (9-32) fell 96-71 at Minnesota on Monday night, limited to just eight players with three joining the team via hardship contracts in the past 11 days. Three-time WNBA Rookie of the Month Paige Bueckers scored a team-high 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting, leading four Wings in double figures.

Golden State (22-18) has won four straight, most recently a 66-58 home victory over the New York Liberty on Tuesday, with Temi Fagbenle scoring 16 points. The Valkyries, an expansion team in their first season, are on the verge of clinching a playoff berth.

Lessons From the Last Matchup

When these teams last met on Aug. 24, the Wings fell 90-81 at College Park Center, as Golden State leaned on Veronica Burton’s 25 points and 13 assists. Koclanes said that after that game, the Valkyries’ execution and offensive rebounding swung control.

“Anytime we had some slippage or were just a half-second late, they exploited us,” Koclanes told DallasHoopsJournal.com then. “Credit to them for executing better than us on that side of the ball. And then the other piece was the second chances. When we did get some first-shot misses, they were able to get a ton of offensive rebounds and had almost 20 second-chance points.”

Haley Jones added that Dallas struggled to cover the arc against Golden State’s spread attack.

“A big thing for us coming in was defending the arc, and I don’t think we did that,” Jones told DallasHoopsJournal.com after the game. “They got up 40 threes and hit 16. With a lot of their middle ball-screen action, it kept putting us into rotations — whether at the point of attack or over-helping on the backside — and it led to a lot of kick-outs.”

Those themes remain top of mind for Koclanes going into Thursday.

“Burton had a really big game against us, scoring the ball and also dishing it,” he told DallasHoopsJournal.com this week. “So coming out, just focus on her ball screen point of attacks and mixing it up with some different coverages. But more than anything, our effort and energy at the point of attack, and then second chances were really big in that game too. I think they had 20-second chance points. So we’ve got to finish plays collectively as a unit and gang rebound.”

Containing Traps on Paige Bueckers

Golden State’s defensive game plan in that Aug. 24 meeting centered on trapping Bueckers. She was limited to nine points, snapping her streak of 30 straight double-digit scoring games, but still recorded nine assists.

Bueckers addressed the way opponents have been guarding her before Dallas’ matchup with the Atlanta Dream, citing both the Valkyries and the Seattle Storm after her 44-point performance against Los Angeles.

“Just be aggressive. I feel like teams are playing me a little bit more, which leaves my teammates more open — more driving lanes for them, more open opportunities to shoot,” Bueckers told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Especially off the double teams, we can play to those advantages and create opportunities that way.”

Koclanes said this week the Wings must handle those coverages better.

“We’ve got to find ways to still help P get some separation so she can find her own shots,” Koclanes told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “And then you’ve got to be able to exploit them too. If they’re going to throw two and three at the ball, when we get it behind the ball, we’ve got to just improve our decisiveness with our decision-making. If you’re open, shoot it. If not, pass it. But we’ve got to make them pay when we get in those 4v3, 3v2s on the backside of their traps.”

Spoiler Mentality and What’s Ahead

For Dallas, Thursday night is not about playoff seeding or standings. It’s about pride. Koclanes has stressed resilience and togetherness all year, and now he sees a chance to deny Golden State its moment.

“That’s the first thing we said when we met — just how big this game was,” Koclanes told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “This is a playoff game for them. I just told our group to embrace it and go out there and play spoiler.”

The “nothing to lose” mantra has become a rallying point. With postseason hopes gone, the Wings can play free, lean into the underdog role, and focus on execution.

“If they end up making more shots, then they do, and you tip your hat,” Koclanes told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “But if we can come out and execute and play really hard, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”

The Wings close out their West Coast swing in Los Angeles before returning to College Park Center for their season finale against the Phoenix Mercury. While the playoffs are out of reach, Koclanes views these last games as building blocks.

“You know, bittersweet here as this season winds to an end,” Koclanes told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “Just all sorts of ups and downs as a W season does entail. But one more in L.A., and then we’ll come home in front of the crowd to finish with Phoenix. Ultimately, I am just proud of this group for their resiliency, their fight, their togetherness, and their commitment to one another and to a longer vision and a process.”

The Wings and Valkyries have met three times this year. Dallas won the inaugural meeting before Golden State took the last two.

More Dallas Wings News & WNBA Rumors

Leave a Response Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Archives