DALLAS – The Golden State Valkyries have owned almost every part of their matchup with the Dallas Wings this season, but their 104-80 Game 1 victory stood out because of just how much the Valkyries took away from the No. 7 seed.

The Wings are banged up, but there are some things they do – particularly on offense – that should keep them competitive in a first round series. Instead, the Game 1 performance has them pinned against the wall and struggling to find a way into what had been one of the more dynamic transition offenses in the league.

When the Wings offense is clicking it's because they generate offense on the move, not so much in the halfcourt. The Valkyries forced Dallas to play a way it doesn’t want to by not giving them those chances. Not only did they commit a season-low four turnovers, their 48.6% shooting percentage didn’t allow Dallas much room to run off of rebounds.

Dallas entered the postseason leading the league with 13.5 fast break points per game. In Game 1, they had only 5.

“We were making a lot of shots,” Burton said from College Park Center on Tuesday. “But at the end of the day, regardless if they went in or not, they were high quality shots, and so that allows us to know when a shot is up and know where we need to be in transition defense.”

Paige Bueckers got 21 points in her playoff debut, but no other Wings player finished the game with more than 11. The Valkyries held the Wings to 30% from 3 on 6-of-20 shooting.

The Valkyries’ physicality appeared to have jarred Dallas, despite having seen this version of Golden State three other times this season. The closest the Jose Fernandez’s squad has come against the Valkyries this year was a 78-70 loss in the Valkyries' playoff-clinching game in August.

Specifically, the Valkyries haven’t allowed Jessica Shepard, the favorite for the league’s Most Improved Player and a triple-double machine, to do much of anything. They shut her down in Game 1 while the Wings’ second scoring threat, Arike Ogunbowale, scored just 10 points on 2-for-7 shooting.

When the Valkyries play a strong defensive game they can usually turn it into some scoring, and that was the case on Sunday. It’s something that Bueckers said Dallas has struggled with at times this season themselves.

“If we don’t get stops,” Bueckers said after Game 1, “we don’t get out in transition and get easy buckets. So that was tough for us on both ends.”

Before Game 1, the Valkyries had already locked in on a game plan of eliminating the Wings’ chances to move on the fast break. That’s easier said than done for a team that has sometimes struggled with turnovers and shot quality that leads to runs on the other end.

The Valkyries did have the second-best fast break defense in the regular season with 7.2 points allowed, but when they’ve lost games, they’ve been burnt in that area.

“They’re really good in their transition game,” Kaila Charles told Valkyries Beat ahead of Game 1. “They have great guards in Paige and Arike, and Jess is having a crazy year. So just making sure we are really locked in on transition defense, trying to slow them down as much as we can, trying to load up so that they don't feel so much space to get off (shots), and so that's one of our big emphasis.”

Dallas is going to come out punching in Game 2 at home and looking to adapt to what the Valkyries showed them. Perhaps they try to switch Bueckers away from Williams more, or force more mid-range and perimeter shots since the Valkyries’ paint defense is so dominant.

But the Wings so far have not been able to play the way they want to against the Valkyries all season. With their backs against the wall, it’ll be even tougher.

“We have the number one transition, we're going against the number one transition defensive team in the league,” Fernandez said. “So that's gonna we have to play our strings there, but it's gonna come down to half court execution for us, and how we screen, how we cut, how we read, how they're guarding us in all situations… We have to do a great job adjusting not only us as a staff, but also our players on the floor.”