SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Natalie Nakase throws her arms up to guard Gabby Williams one moment, then moves to defend Veronica Burton the next as Golden State’s high-octane coach gets into it to help the Valkyries gear up for the WNBA Finals. She briefly steps out of the action to observe before jumping right back in to take a turn against Tiffany Hayes.
And you bet Nakase can trash talk with the best of them.
“Oh, yeah, I say, ‘Yeahhh!’ I say, ‘Not here! Not this time!,” she shared Wednesday. “I let them know. Because that’s effort. Again, it goes back to you can control that. I’m 46 years old, why am I getting that (stop)?”
Nakase never stops moving, and it’s why everyone around her is offering regular reminders that she needs to eat for energy and rest just the way she stresses those things to her players. The coach collapsed on the court late in the deciding game of the first round with Dallas and later called it “a wakeup call” to prioritize her well being.
Her players love and appreciate how hands-on she is with practices and game planning.
“It probably brings back some memories of her being in uniform when she used to play,” Hayes said. “It’s definitely fun, but it’s more fun when we actually get the bucket on it ‘cause if she gets the stop we won’t hear the end of it.”
That intensity and drive is something Hayes has seen for years, dating to their days when Nakase was an assistant with the Las Vegas Aces coaching Hayes and the guards. And it played a key role in Hayes following her to the Bay Area.
Nakase had just been hired for her first head coaching job when she asked Hayes to take a chance on a brand new team and join her in San Francisco and start something special with the expansion Valkyries.
Hayes had absolutely no reservations and the answer was a resounding yes. Her unfamiliarity with the Bay Area hardly mattered, because she had Nakase –- and that’s a sentiment many of Golden State’s players feel given how much she has invested in each one of them. Nakase has built a culture with the Valkyries in such a short time largely by finding a way to know each woman on a deeper level, far beyond just basketball.
She is breaking barriers
With the Valkyries and their famous, violet-colored “Ballhalla” fan base on the big postseason stage, everybody is getting a glimpse of what Nakase vowed to do from Day 1: put Golden State on the map for women’s basketball after all those special NBA championship runs by Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr and the Warriors.
And, no, she’s not surprised by the playoff success so soon — she thought the Valkyries should have made a run last year, when they lost in the first round to Minnesota after becoming the first expansion franchise to reach the postseason in its inaugural year.
Nakase was groomed by some greats: Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, former Los Angeles assistant Armond Hill, who has been attending practice in Oakland this week, and Aces coach Becky Hammon.
“You just celebrate people that are blowing away ceilings for women in sports, specifically women’s basketball, and obviously we’re a little biased toward Natalie,” UCLA coach Cori Close said of Nakase, the former Bruins guard.
“I just think about what she’s done. She came to UCLA as a walk-on, then earned a scholarship, then became a captain, then was one of the first women hired on an NBA team and 10 years with the Clippers and really doing a great job with Becky Hammon and winning championships there. And now coming here and they say, ‘We want to win it in the first five years,’ and she’s like, ‘Bring it on, that’s exactly the kind of organization I want to be a part of,’ and then go back it up and then sell out every game. The list just goes on and on.”
Nakase has found a way to relate to all of her players, and she works at it. Whether it’s learning about their culture or language, favorite music or dance move, she makes an effort to know everyone on her team far beyond just basketball.
“I think my identity changes from year to year because I’m a constant learner,” she said.
Uplifting the group does wonders
Celebrating in the locker room after winning on Las Vegas’ home floor last Friday, Nakase praised her team for its fight in overtime to eliminate the defending champion Aces.
She pointed to Kiah Stokes for making a key block, and teammates broke into chants of “Ki-ah! Ki-ah!”
Then it was Kayla Thornton’s turn to be shouted out, for her rebounding. And cheers of “K-T, K-T!”
The coach finished by acknowledging her two clutch finishers in crunch time, “the closers, you two,” and pointed at Hayes and Williams. Players started hollering “Tip! Tip! Tip!” and “Gab-by! Gab-by!”
The Valkyries rallied from an 11-point deficit to pull off an 87-77 overtime victory in Las Vegas for an improbable sweep in the best-of-five WNBA semifinals.
“Down 11 meant nothing, right? You guys stayed connected, you guys stayed composed. What I loved was your fight, everyone brought another level of fight,” Nakase told them. “It was pure joy.”
Success has affected her health
But this special season hasn’t come without challenges for Nakase. She scared her family and everybody else when she went down in the closing minutes of the clinching Game 3 against the Wings earlier this month. Yet the coach got back up and finished the final 1:40.
When Nakase saw her sister in tears afterward, she realized she had to take better care of herself to be there for others. She leaned more on her assistants.
“You could want to win as much as you want but if my tank is not full, whether it’s rest, food, hydration, everything, then I’m not going to be able to give my full self during the game as you guys saw,” she said. “It’s doing that.”
Nakase’s late father, Gary, influenced most everything she does. She watched him overdo it at times.
Her former players are accustomed to how hard Nakase pushes herself.
“That’s Natalie and that’s about giving her all, literally 100%,” Aces center A’ja Wilson said. “She’s a warrior, it’s what she does. She eats, sleeps, breathes basketball.”
Valkyries owner Joe Lacob could see it when he interviewed Nakase over a late breakfast in Las Vegas two years ago.
“She’s everything I thought she would be,” Lacob said. “I’m so happy for her, she continues to impress me with her coaching, she’s just terrific.”
While handling video duties as an intern for the Clippers, Hill asked what her goal was and Nakase told him she wanted to be a head coach one day. He replied, “OK, let’s get to it.”
“He’s the reason why I’m here, seriously,” she said. “… He calls me grasshopper, because I’m always anxious, I want to do everything right, I’m a perfectionist, I’m an extremist but he’s all about, ‘Hey, just take a breath, make sure you’re clear and concise with your game plan, try not to get everything done all in one night and more importantly take care of your health.’”
She honors her late father every day in all she does, committed to treating the job as a tremendous opportunity.
“I’m always going to be a fighter,” Nakase said. “That’s how my dad raised me.”
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