The Golden State Valkyries’ reserves outscored their starters 33-32 in Monday’s 79-65 home loss to the Atlanta Dream in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals. The loss at Chase Center left the best-of-seven series tied 1-1.

Lawrencia Moten, an ESPN analyst, discussed what that split says about head coach Natalie Nakase’s starting five on the network’s “The Wrap Up” after Game 2.

Lawrencia Moten Questions the Production of Golden State Valkyries Starters

Moten started with the reserves. “Your bench scoring 33 points is tremendous. I mean, that’s something to be proud of.”

Tiffany Hayes led the bench with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Kaila Charles made three 3-pointers for nine points, and Kaitlyn Chen scored eight on 3-of-4 shooting.

Moten pointed to the coaching behind those numbers. “You know, these ladies, whether you’re starting or you’re coming off the bench as a reserve, you put in the work and you deserve to get those minutes. So we’ve talked about how Natalie Nakase as a coach has done a great job of maximizing her roster and getting contributions from different players.”

Then Moten turned to the starters. “So it’s good that they’re scoring, but I think that it tells your starters aren’t producing at the level that you need. And that’s an issue.”

The Valkyries’ starting five shot a combined 9 of 35 from the field. The bench went 12 of 26.

Gabby Williams scored 14 points on 3-of-15 shooting, Cecilia Zandalasini went 1 of 8 for five points, and Kayla Thornton scored two. Veronica Burton added 11. The starters committed 11 of the team’s 19 turnovers.

Kiah Stokes did not score in 30 minutes, but she had 11 rebounds and four blocks.

According to the San Francisco Standard, Hayes was the only Valkyries player in double figures going into the fourth quarter. The paper also noted that the team’s 21 made field goals were a season low.

Two reserves played more minutes than most of the starters. Charles played 26 minutes and Hayes 25. Thornton played 19 and Zandalasini 17.

Moten then moved on to depth itself. “So when you look at depth, it can keep you in games, but when you need consistent production, your starting unit needs to be able to sustain that success…”

Charles finished at minus-19 and Hayes at minus-18, the two worst marks on the team. Thornton was plus-7.

Game 1 also played out differently. In the Valkyries’ 68-64 win on Saturday, Oct. 17, the starters outscored the bench 48-20, and Williams led all scorers with 26 points. Hayes scored three points on 1-of-12 shooting in that game.

The Dream got most of their scoring from their starting five on Monday. Atlanta’s starters scored 68 of the team’s 79 points, led by Angel Reese with 30 points and 16 rebounds.

Allisha Gray added 18 and Jordin Canada 13. DeWanna Bonner scored nine of the bench’s 11 points, and Madina Okot and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough played one minute each.

The Valkyries’ reserves had the early edge. The Standard reported that they outscored the Dream’s bench 18-5 in the first half. It also wrote that “the highest-scoring bench in WNBA regular-season history wasn’t deep enough to hang with Atlanta’s stars.”

The Dream won the third quarter 21-9 and led by as many as 21 points.

The Standard’s analysis also compared the two coaches. “Depth didn’t play a factor in the Game 2 outcome, but Nakase is clearly committed to using more reserves than Atlanta coach Karl Smesko.”

Nakase used 11 players on Monday. She started Thornton, Williams, Zandalasini, Stokes and Burton in both Finals games.

Game 3 is Wednesday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, and Game 4 is there on Saturday. The series comes back to Chase Center for Game 5 on Monday, Oct. 26.