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SAN FRANCISCO — Kaila Charles had to contain her hype. The play wasn’t over.
Atlanta guard Allisha Gray had charged up the court in transition, looking to attack early. Only Valkyries point guard Veronica Burton stood in the way. With Golden State clinging to a precarious four-point lead, Burton had to thwart an All-Star. Burton absorbed Gray’s shoulder, blocked the shot as she fell backward, grabbed the rebound under the basket and dumped it to Charles before crashing into the stanchion.
Charles made the outlet pass to Gabby Williams, who took advantage of the space in transition by driving at Dream forward Naz Hillmon. Williams drew a whistle and banked in the layup. Lying on her back on the hardwood, Williams looked up to see Charles standing over her, roaring and flexing.
This proved to be a pivotal moment in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals. It was a massive bucket for Williams, who was 2 of 11 from the field through three quarters. Her three-point play sparked the 16-4 run Golden State used Monday night to put away the Dream, 64-55, and take a 3-2 series advantage.
And it all began with Burton, on an island against one of the league’s best scorers, making a play.
“I got so hyped,” Charles said. “They think they can take her because she’s a smaller guard. But she bodies them, she blocks them and she gets the stop. That’s just the essence of who she is. She’s never gonna give up on a play. She’s never gonna give up at all. We feed off her energy.”
That defiance has become the Valkyries’ most reliable source of life. Burton does more than embody coach Natalie Nakase’s mantra of “emptying the tank.” She pours hers out first. Only somehow, it never truly empties. All season, she’s somehow found enough.
Williams is Golden State’s star. Kiah Stokes looks like the series MVP, given how she’s dominated defensively.
The Valkyries, though, are Burton’s team in ways she won’t ever declare. Let another praise you and not your own mouth, one proverb instructs. But every team needs a soul. Burton provides it to the Valkyries. Their personality. Their will. Their fight. It begins with her. As Burton goes, so go the Valkyries.
She’d rather credit the defense. The coaching. The teammates who believe in one another. She’d become a florist before accepting flowers. Her authority as Valkyries’ leader isn’t rooted in ego or an appetite for recognition, but in sacrifice. For Burton, to lead is to serve.
“Hands down,” Nakase said, “I think she’s the best point guard right now in the league. … It’s that grittiness. It’s that leadership. It is that toughness. It’s diving on the floor, getting knocked down, getting back up. That’s another way that you can show being the best point guard. And now, if you think about it, valuing that ball, that’s huge. Two turnovers in 70 minutes, I didn’t even know.”
Leadership is expensive.
It costs emotional bandwidth. It costs sleep. Sometimes confidence. And now, with a championship in reach, the price has risen. It’s now everything Burton has.
She feels every blow. Every missed shot. Every turnover. Every loss. She carries the imperfections with severity. Because when you’ve lived on the edges of the league, where opportunities are scarce and doubt takes up residence, It’s easy to see mistakes and shortcomings as condemning.
But Burton has gotten better, so much better, at moving forward, giving herself grace. She’s learned to listen more to the encouraging voices in her circle, not just the ones chiding her in her own head. She no longer lets the frustrations of falling short consume the energy she needs to lift her teammates.
“I’m still growing,” Burton said, “and giving myself grace and understanding that it’s not gonna always look exactly how I hope it would. But with that, there’s a beauty in it, in falling and getting back up, in struggling and being challenged in different ways.”
In her mind, she owes them every ounce. When Golden State’s energy begins to flag, her energy becomes its defibrillator. A diving save. A smothering defensive possession. A tough drive that somehow bounces in. Her refusal to surrender sends a current through her teammates strong enough to revive their resolve.
The last two games in this series serve as a microcosm of her impact.
She made the biggest shots as the Valkyries survived Atlanta in Game 4: a step-back 3 with 4:23 remaining, then a fade-away over All-WNBA defender Rhyne Howard as the dagger with 34.6 seconds left. She did it while playing a game-high 38 minutes, finding her aggression to the tune of 17 shots, five assists, three steals and two blocks — and still had enough to close.
In Game 5, with control of the series at stake, Burton put together a quintessential performance. The stat sheet won’t capture its value. It shows she needed 15 shots to score 13 points. Her three assists and two turnovers don’t pop either. Burton pumps her own breaks when she hears how great she’s played, knowing she’s 9-of-32 shooting over the last two games combined.
But her value can be found in the dives for loose balls, fighting around screens, her lack of hesitation as she throws her body into the mix, and in the Dream’s Jordin Canada shooting 18 of 57 with 15 turnovers in this series.
Burton always picks herself up.
She started the second quarter with a turnaround jumper off one foot in the lane. Then on defense, she helped in the paint and deflected an entry pass to Hillmon. Burton crashed into Hillmon and spilled onto the floor, got up slowly, jogged back up court and hit the trail 3.
She lived on the hardwood in Game 5. Her relentlessness earned eight rebounds and four blocks, the most by a guard in the WNBA Finals since Diana Taurasi did it in 2009. But it also got her thrown to the ground. Hit in the face. Elbowed. Shoved. Tripped. Run over. Hip-checked.
“Yeah, you gotta get back up,” Burton said. “That’s what it is. Like, I have no other choice, if I’m being honest. Like, this is everything right now. This is the most important thing. And so whatever it takes. You’re gonna have to drag me off the floor.”
Burton requested this burden. Prayed for it even. Back when the responsibility wasn’t hers, she longed for the trust of her coach and of teammates who’d ride with her. She wanted to be the person everyone looked to when winning required something more than talent.
She wanted to play nearly 40 minutes a night. To spearhead a great defense. To be in a huddle with teammates peering into her eyes for answers, their motors revving on her words. Her determination is laced with a noticeable desperation. She’s not someone afraid to lose, but someone who, with every molecule, wants to win.
The “heart of a champion” isn’t earned after a title is won. It comes with how the title is won.
“Winning would obviously also be a version of success,” Burton said. “But at the end of the day, it’s how you do it. How you go about it. How you bring people up. The relationships that you make. I think that’s more my version of success than anything else.”
The night ended with Burton chatting with Chris Paul, the Hall of Fame-bound point guard who was one of the game’s great floor generals. In a black Valkyries hat, with the free violet playoff shirt slung over his shoulder, Paul poured encouragement and no doubt some wisdom into Burton.
He’s done that so many times before. Paul, who’s close with Nakase from their days together with the LA Clippers, has mentored Valkyries players. He and Burton have held many sessions, even watching film together. He praises her relentlessness. He pushes her to be more aggressive. After their chat, he told her to go recover.
Because Golden State is on the brink of a championship. Which means Burton will need every ounce she can muster. Leading these Valkyries weighs on the soul.