July 16, 2026

The Defense Won the Showdown, and the Valkyries Are Second Alone

Williams returned from game-time status to lead Golden State with 16, Kaitlyn Chen scored 12 in four third-quarter minutes for the most efficient burst in WNBA history, the 88-75 win closed a perfect 5-0 road trip and a franchise-record eighth straight, and the idle Aces dropped to third.

The rubber match went to the defense

The five-game road trip ended the way the season series began, in Indianapolis, and the league's best defense beat its highest-scoring offense 88-75 Wednesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Golden State (18-7) won its franchise-record eighth straight, became the second team in WNBA history to go 5-0 on a single road trip (joining the 2021 Seattle Storm, per Elias), and clinched the season series over Indiana 2-1.

Gabby Williams, listed as a game-time decision with the back contusion that cost her the Connecticut game, started and led the Valkyries with 16 points, three rebounds, three steals, and a block. It was the most-clicked storyline of the week for this beat, and she answered it on the floor.

The bench decided it. Kaitlyn Chen scored all 14 of her points in the second half on 5-of-5 shooting, including 12 in a four-minute span of the third quarter that turned a one-point deficit back into a seven-point lead. Per the team's postgame notes, Chen is the first player in WNBA history to score 14 points in under 10 minutes of action on 100 percent shooting (minimum five attempts). Tiffany Hayes added 13 (7-of-7 from the line), Janelle Salaun 12, Kayla Thornton 11 with a team-high eight rebounds, and Cecilia Zandalasini 10 with two early three-pointers that built the lead. All 10 Valkyries who played scored, six in double figures, and the bench outscored Indiana's reserves 43-21.

The game swung twice. Golden State led 40-30 at halftime, the fewest points Indiana had scored in any half this season. Indiana answered with a 17-4 run to briefly take the lead in the third before Chen's burst sparked a 12-4 Valkyries run. Golden State opened the fourth on an 11-5 run to go up 69-56 on Thornton's three, and after a Clark basket was waved off for a shot-clock violation, Hayes completed a three-point play for an 80-65 edge with 3:30 left. Kelsey Mitchell cut it to 80-73, but the Fever turned it over on the next possession and the Valkyries sealed it at the line.

For Indiana (14-10), Mitchell led with 20, Aliyah Boston had 15 and seven rebounds, and Caitlin Clark scored 13 on 4-of-14 shooting (1-of-8 from three) in 26 minutes, still on a 25-minute restriction as she returns from her back injury. Seven of Clark's 13 came in the fourth.

We have to be the only team that has multiple Sixth Player of the Year options. It's insane. She [Kaitlyn Chen] is just fun to watch, and she also just loves to play the game, it gets all of us up and hype and we just feed off of that energy.

— Gabby Williams, on Kaitlyn Chen (Valkyries postgame notes, July 15)

Film room: the blueprint from May 28 held

Yesterday's issue framed this as the league's best defense (76.2 points allowed, fewest in the W) against its highest-scoring offense (94.0 points per game). The defense won the matchup by 19 points of expectation, holding the Fever to 75, which tied Indiana's season low.

The through-line to the May 28 win at Chase Center is the shot profile Golden State forced on Indiana's two engines. On May 28, Veronica Burton hounded Clark into 3-of-12 from the field and 16 points, and the Valkyries held Mitchell to 14 on 5-of-13. Wednesday, Clark went 4-of-14 (28.6 percent) and 1-of-8 from three (12.5 percent), with only six points through three quarters. Mitchell, who came in on a six-game streak of 25-plus and had just been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week at 28.0 per game, finished with 20 on 7-of-16. The streak snapped at six.

The mechanism is the same one the staff has ridden all season: contest without fouling, run shooters off the arc, and dare Indiana into mid-range pull-ups. Indiana attempted 67 field goals to Golden State's 58 and still scored 13 fewer points, because the Fever shot 40.3 percent to the Valkyries' 51.7. Golden State also committed just three first-half turnovers to Indiana's eight, and its 9 steals and 4 blocks kept the Fever out of transition, where this Indiana team is most dangerous. The defense that ranks first in fewest points allowed, fewest paint points allowed, and fewest turnovers forced the league's best offense into its worst half of the year and its worst shooting night in weeks.

Second place, to themselves

The win moved Golden State into sole possession of second at 18-7, a half-game ahead of the idle Aces (17-7) and one game behind Minnesota (19-6). A day earlier the Valkyries and Aces were tied at 17-7; the road-trip finale, plus Las Vegas sitting idle, is what separated them. Las Vegas is frozen until it plays at Toronto on July 20, which gives the Valkyries a two-game window at home, Saturday and Monday against Washington, to build a cushion before the Aces return.

The catch is that Minnesota keeps winning. The Lynx beat the Sparks 96-87 in Wednesday's matinee behind Kayla McBride's 24 (her fifth straight 20-point game) and Courtney Williams' 19, running their own streak to four and staying a full game clear of Golden State. The Lynx are doing it without Napheesa Collier, who has been out all season after offseason ankle surgery.

Our composure. Road games are almost always ugly. You're never going to have a game where everything's going in, where you're getting all of the calls, obviously the crowd's not with you. So road games are always pretty ugly. I think that us being able to win in these environments just sets us off for the second half of the season, and for the playoffs.

— Gabby Williams, on what stood out (Valkyries postgame notes, July 15)

All-Star: Williams to Team Coop, a full-circle pick

The 2026 All-Star draft was held Wednesday evening and Gabby Williams was selected by Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper to Team Coop, the 10th overall pick and the last starter chosen. She joins a starting five of Paige Bueckers, Breanna Stewart, Kelsey Mitchell, and Natasha Howard. The game is July 25 at the United Center in Chicago, where Williams began her WNBA career and spent three seasons with the Sky.

Williams is averaging a career-high 15.0 points and a career-best 35.6 percent from three on 5.1 attempts. She is the first player in Valkyries franchise history to be voted an All-Star starter. The other team, Team Spoon (Teresa Weatherspoon), starts Caitlin Clark, A'ja Wilson, Olivia Miles, Aliyah Boston, and Jessica Shepard.

Veronica Burton, the team's assists leader and the strongest All-Star snub case in the league, was again not selected. The replacement door is still cracked open: Kelsey Plum, drafted to Team Coop, has now missed six straight games with a lower-leg injury, and Olivia Miles' status is suddenly uncertain after the injury below.

Next: home for Washington, twice

The Valkyries return to Chase Center to host the Washington Mystics on Saturday, July 18 at 5:30 p.m. PT on KPIX+, KMAX, 95.7 The Game, the Audacy app, and ESPN 1320, then again Monday, July 20 at 7 p.m. PT on KPIX and KOVR. It is the first home game after the five-game trip and the start of a stretch where Golden State controls its own schedule while Las Vegas sits idle.

Washington (12-10) has won two straight and visits Portland tonight before flying west. The Mystics took Iriafen 25 and 14, Austin 17 and 10, and outrebounded Toronto 56-36 in their last outing, and their two All-Stars, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, were both drafted Wednesday (Citron to Team Coop, Iriafen to Team Spoon).

Tracking

Miles' ankle (MIN): Olivia Miles, the Lynx rookie and All-Star starter drafted to Team Spoon, rolled her left ankle in the fourth quarter Wednesday and did not return. She came back to the bench in uniform and danced the team's postgame Electric Slide with only a slight limp, and Sporting News reported the limp fading after the final horn. Cheryl Reeve offered no postgame update. Minnesota is off until Saturday against Portland. It is a different leg from the right calf strain that cost Miles two games earlier this month. Her All-Star availability and the Lynx's lead both bear watching.

Tonight's slate: Two games, neither involving Golden State. Portland (10-14) visits Washington (12-10) at 4 p.m. PT on NBA TV, a direct scout of Saturday's opponent. New York (13-11) is at Dallas (16-8, five straight) at 6 p.m. PT on Prime Video. WNBA schedule.

Aces statement: Las Vegas issued a statement condemning racist messages directed at Chelsea Gray after a Hilton Grand Vacations employee was fired for sending a slur to Gray's Instagram following Sunday's Fever-Aces game. The WNBA backed the statement.