SAN FRANCISCO -- The motto "Strength in Numbers" has been well known in Bay Area basketball since 2015.
It's a slogan that captured the Golden State Warriors' NBA dynasty. Now, it has been passed along to the region's budding WNBA franchise.
The Golden State Valkyries took a 2-0 series lead and are one win away from clinching a spot in the WNBA Finals after beating the Las Vegas Aces 83-81 in Game 2 of their semifinal series. Game 3 is Wednesday in Las Vegas.
The Valkyries are only in their second season after joining the league last year as the first expansion franchise since 2008. They took the league by storm in Year 1 -- becoming the first expansion team to make the postseason in its inaugural year -- but the team's growth this season has cemented it as a contender.
Golden State's depth -- which features the WNBA's best bench unit and unanimous Sixth Player of the Year Janelle Salaun -- has been a massive part of that. The ability for any player to go off on any given night has been a fueling factor in their series dominance against the reigning champion Aces.
In Game 2 it was Tiffany Hayes, who finished with a team-high 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting off the bench.
"When you have someone like her, it makes us all want to play as hard as we can," Veronica Burton said. "When you have a teammate like that who you know will have your back no matter what, it brings a level of joy to the game. We wouldn't be us without her."
Gabby Williams finished with 20 points, and Kayla Thornton had 16 for Golden State.
This was a different group of star contributors than Game 1, when it was Kaitlyn Chen and Aminata Gueye. It seems as though every single night, a different combination of players steps up for the Valkyries to either lead the team in scoring or contribute at crunch time.
"It's so valuable to have so many people who can score on any given night," Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. "The ability for our closing group -- it doesn't matter who scores as long as we're finding each other and we're getting quality looks."
On Wednesday, while Hayes provided the spark that gave Golden State steady control of the game early, it was Burton who hit the dagger shot down the stretch.
Up 17 points in the third quarter, the Aces slowly, yet methodically chipped away at the deficit -- eventually taking their first lead of the night with 1:36 left. A'ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray combined for 43 points, while Jackie Young finished with 14 points and Stephanie Talbot added 10 points in her first game of the postseason.
Williams instantly hit a 13-foot midrange shot to tie the score, and after forcing Gray into a miss, Burton hit the most important shot of the night: a 28-foot 3-pointer over the outstretched arm of Wilson.
"Let me tell you something. I think I held my breath the whole time the ball was in the air," Hayes said about the shot. "V ... she's amazing. She was kind of trying to find her way in the game a little bit. That composure -- to keep her head in the game and hit that big shot -- it was a huge shot that just shows you her leadership and her still keeping her head in the game, even though like everything wasn't going her way."
Burton finished the game with only eight points, and that 3-pointer was her only field goal. In the game before, she was benched midway through the third quarter after airballing two shots. But the strength in numbers has kept Golden State afloat until she found her form.
Now, the Valkyries' depth has them one win away from becoming the first expansion team in league history to reach the WNBA Finals within two years of its founding.
"At the end of the day, we've got to take care of business," Burton said. "Every game we approach as a do-or-die situation. That's the reality of it. We are going to approach the next game as such. ... Obviously, their backs are against the wall. They're the reigning champs. They have experience, so it's not going to be easy. It's going to be a battle, and we're going to approach it as such."