Explain One Play video, plus EARLY Game 2: GSV vs Phoenix Mercury. 5:30 PM PT

*HOME* OPENING DAY LETS GOOOOOOOOO

congrats to last game’s Valkyrie Valor winner!

Table of Contents

• A video present

  • Explain One Play: Valkyries keep running the Steph Curry WTF play against SEA

• Join the online game day thread

• What to expect today

  • How to watch

  • Channel guide

  • Injury / absence report

• Player Guide

  • Jersey number and pronunciation

  • Nicknames, reverse lookup

  • Comparative team power rankings / preview

  • 5. Phoenix Mercury

  • 9. Golden State Valkyries

• Apricot’s Valkyries & Basketball Basics videos

A video present

You know how last post I was chuckling over how often GSV were running the same play (and in fact a famous play from the Warriors)?

• Game 1 wrap: Valkyries start slow, go voom, cruise to win over SEA; but… lose Hayes and Zandalasini to injuries, sigh

I made you a present of a video that shows you those plays.

Explain One Play: Valkyries keep running the Steph Curry WTF play against SEA

In this episode, we break down a repeat sidelines out-of-bounds play the Valkyries ran across multiple preseason possessions and again in the opener vs the Seattle Storm on 2026-05-08-GSV-SEA: the Warriors’ famous “What the F” set. We show how the Valkyries signal it, and the cat and mouse game as defenses start to sniff it out.

Co-starring Veronica Burton, Tiffany Hayes, Kiah Stokes, Kate Martin, Flau’jae Johnson, Laeticia Amihere, Kayla Thornton, Kaitlyn Chen, Janelle Salaün, Kaila Charles, Jade Melbourne, Stefanie Dolson, Grace VanSlooten and Natalie Nakase. With Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga.

And here is the previous video about the history of the WTF play with Steve Kerr and Phil Jackson:

Join the online game day thread

If you’re reading this on email only, you are only getting half the fun. These game posts have a comment section which you can see by clicking the “View in browser” in the top right of the email.

In this comment section, people are encouraged to celebrate, complain, vent, make loud noises, whatever as they watch the game. Just be respectful to each other.

I try to post detailed notes about parts of the game in the comment section. Also, I typically will post breaking news in the comments as opposed to sending out a new email post.

In reality, the comments by visitors to every post are pretty thoughtful and lively, so you should always visit!

What to expect today

How to watch

• Time: 5:30 PM PT

• Watch: KPIX+ (Bay Area), KMAX (Sacramento).

  • Here is the official GSV TV schedule.

• Listen: 95.7 THE GAME, Audacy.

Channel guide

• ION

  • You may have to do some investigation to see how you can watch ION.

• KPIX, KPIX+ (Bay Area), KMAX, KOVR (Sacramento), KION (Monterey)

  • In the Bay Area, KPIX is channel 5, and KPIX+, the home of Valkyries basketball, is channel 44 (cable 12). In Sacramento, KMAX is channel 31, and KOVR is channel 13.

• WNBA League Pass if you are out of the blackout region. Even if blacked out, in theory the game is available right after the conclusion.

Injury / absence report

• Iliana Rupert - OUT - Pregnancy (sigh)

  • We discussed Rupert’s pregnancy in extensive detail before

    • What a day... Kate Martin waived; Iliana Rupert pregnant, will miss time; Miela Sowah gets GSV dev spot; plus Media Day thoughts

• Justé Joycté - Not With Team - International Commitments

  • In fact, Juste’s Girona team has to win by 2 or more points on May 10 or they will be eliminated. If they win, Juste could be away as long as May 23.

• Tiffany Hayes - OUT - dislocated finger

  • sustained a left pinky injury and exited Friday’s game in the first quarter. After further evaluation, Hayes has been diagnosed with a left pinky dislocation. She will not play in Sunday’s contest against the Phoenix Mercury and will be evaluated on a day-by-day basis.

• Cecilia Zandalasini - OUT - Concussion.

  • sustained a jaw injury and exited Friday’s game against the Seattle Storm in the second quarter. Zandalasini has since been diagnosed with a concussion and has been placed under concussion protocol. She will not play in Sunday’s contest against the Phoenix Mercury and will be evaluated on a day-by-day basis.

Player Guide

Jersey number and pronunciation

• 1 Gabby Williams

• 2 Kaitlyn Chen

• 3 Laeticia Amihere, Luh-tee-see-uh ah-ME-hear

• 4 Justė Jocytė, YOU-stay yoh-CHEE-teh

• 5 Kayla Thornton, KAY-luh

• 6 Kaila Charles, K-EYE-luh

• 7 Miela Sowah, MEEL-uh SOW-ah

• 12 Iliana Rupert, ILL-ee-ah-nah RU-pear

• 13 Janelle Salaün, Juh-nell Sa-LON

• 15 Tiffany Hayes

• 22 Veronica Burton

• 24 Cecilia Zandalasini, Che-CHEE-lee-uh ZAN-dah-leh-see-nee

• 32 Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda, Jack-Uh-Lan-Guh, Mwen-In-Tawn-Duh

• 41 Kiah Stokes, KEY-uh

Want to know more about a player? Check out Valkyries Say Less, a series of podcasts that profiles every Valkyrie!

Nicknames, reverse lookup

These are nicknames used by the players and coaches.

• Ceci, che-chee = Cecilia Zandalasini

• illy, ili = Iliana Rupert

• Ja = Janelle Salaün

• Jak = Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda

• K.T. = Kayla Thornton

• L.A. = Laeticia Amihere

• Mr. Joe = owner Joe Lacob (I’m not endorsing this; I’m just reporting that the GM and players use this all the time)

• Nat = Natalie Nakase

• Tip = Tiffany Hayes

• V, V.B. = Veronica Burton

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Comparative team power rankings / preview

Human power rankings are all made up, but they are useful to see the conventional wisdom about teams. Here’s one from USA Today from May 8.

5. Phoenix Mercury

• 2025 record: 27-17 (WNBA Finals runner-up)

• Projected starting five: Monique Akoa Makani, G, 5-11; Natasha Mack, F-C, 6-4; Kahleah Copper, G/F, 6-1; Alyssa Thomas, F, 6-2; DeWanna Bonner, G/F, 6-4

• Most surprising cut: F Chloe Bibby; Phoenix traded for Bibby on May 6, but waived her one day later.

9. Golden State Valkyries

• 2025 record: 23-21 (lost in the first round)

• Projected starting five: Veronica Burton, G, 5-9; Gabby Williams, F, 5-11; Kayla Thornton, F, 6-1; Janelle Salaün, F, 6-2; Kiah Stokes, C, 6-3

• Most surprising cut: G Kate Martin; she was one of the Valkyries top picks in its 2024 expansion draft, but Martin had inconsistent production in her lone season in Golden State.

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Apricot’s Valkyries & Basketball Basics videos

These videos are meant to be friendly to beginners but have interesting observations for observers of all backgrounds. All the parts can be viewed independently, but the vocabulary does build up with each Part. The whole series can be found on YouTube here.

Here is the series in reverse posting order.

Part 4 terms defined include:

• 00:38 Switching defense

• 00:56 Mismatches

• 02:15 Bad switches

• 03:25 Show and recover defense (hedge and recover)

• 04:54 Drop defense

• 06:17 Valkyries 325 = Warriors 55

• 06:54 Blitz / Trap / Double team defense, surprise

• 07:41 Countering the blitz with isolation

• 08:45 Drop vs blitz defense

Part 3 terms defined include:

• 00:33 Go Over the screen, Go Under the screen, High side, Low side

• 02:19 HORNS formation

• 02:33 Dive or Roll

• 03:23 HORNS 5

• 04:14 Dribble handoff, DHO

• 05:07 Pindown screen, Down screen

• 05:15 Using the screen, Coming off the screen

• 06:37 Jamming the cut, Bumping the cut, Denying the cut

• 07:35 Slip a screen, Roll vs Pop

Part 2 terms defined include:

• 00:38 Recover

• 00:46 Bigs and Smalls

• 00:54 Mismatch

• 01:53 Rotating on defense

• 02:42 Slipping the screen, ghosting the screen

• 03:03 Double team, trap, blitz

• 04:02 Rejecting the screen

• 04:26 Helping at the nail

• 06:21 Slide cut, Passing angle

Part 1 terms include:

• 00:34 Dribbling and shooting, big vs small

• 02:00 Screens

• 02:10 Off ball

• 02:32 Cut, Flare Cut, Flare Screen

• 03:39 Ball Fake

• 03:53 Geography of the Court

• 03:57 Baseline, sideline, up, down, top

• 04:10 Corners, elbows, HORNS

• 05:29 Pick and roll, screen and roll

• 05:49 Dribble handoff

• 06:17 Rebounding, boxing out

• 06:18 Roll

• 07:18 Backdoor cut

• 07:46 ICE defense

• 07:51 take / accept / use the screen