LAS VEGAS -- It was less than a month ago when Aces coach Becky Hammon talked about having her own coaching tree now that Natale Nakase is coaching the Golden State Valkyries and Tyler Marsh is in charge of the Chicago Sky.
"I certainly want them both to do great, except for when they play the Aces," Hammon said on May 8 during the team's annual Media Day.
Saturday will mark the first time Hammon will coach against one of the two former assistants that helped her win back-to-back WNBA championships when the Aces visit San Francisco to play the upstart and pesky Valkyries.
Hammon will also see second-year player Kate Martin, who was drafted by the Aces.
"We have a tight-knit group, and so they were part of our group last year, but I'm excited to see that place filled with purple," Hammon said about the Chase Center. "The excitement around women's basketball in the Bay Area I think is super cool."
After a rather sluggish 2-2 start to the season, the Aces have looked much better in winning their last two and should be refreshed for their first game in five days, since avenging an earlier loss in Seattle by defeating the Storm, 75-70, last Sunday.
The Valkyries, meanwhile, come in after losing four straight. That said, the first-year franchise faced four very tough opponents, having visited the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty for two games, losing at home to defending Commissioner's Cup champion Minnesota and then losing in Phoenix on Thursday.
"(That's) a team that I think is really hungry," Hammon also said. "They're playing really, really hard. Nat has them playing hard. And so that's a skill set in itself, that's a habit in itself, and it's something that we can learn from. And so, yeah, we'll give them all a squeeze and then play the game."
Here are three things to watch in today's game:
RESTED ACES: Las Vegas opened the season with four games in nine days, including three on the road. The Aces opened in New York, played three nights later in Connecticut, returned for their home-opener against Washington three nights later, and two days later showed their fatigue in a 102-82 loss in Seattle on May 25. But from May 26 through Friday, a span of 12 days, the Aces have played just twice, on May 30 and June 1, both wins. After taking Monday off, they practiced only on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, rested Thursday, traveled to the Bay Area on Friday and should be good to go for Saturday's game.
"We're still forming habits, forming identities, so we want to just make sure we're playing Aces basketball at the standard that is expected of us," Hammon said. "If we match their energy right out the gate, I feel really good about us, but I want to have legs, because they get up and down like crazy."
LOOKING IN A MIRROR: There's no doubt Nakase and Marsh have implemented some of Hammon's tendencies into their systems, so there is an expectation of seeing Aces basketball in Golden State's system. That said, Hammon and star A'ja Wilson have recognized plenty of Nakase's own implementation into the Valkyries and expect a staunch effort from the first-year club.
"They're building their own culture and their own everything," Wilson said. "It's just kind of cool when you can see different plays that they may run, or just different styles, how they play and move. I'm just happy to see an expansion team just really blossoming. I think that's the biggest thing.
"Normally, you think expansion team, you think, 'Okay, rebuild. But they are 12 individuals who are playing extremely hard for each other. Under Coach Nat they're gonna be hard workers, so that's what I'm happy about.
CLEANING THINGS UP: If there's been one area of concern for the Aces it's on the defensive end of the floor, where through May 25th, they ranked 10th in the league in allowing 82.0 points per game on the league's second-worst field-goal percentage of .462. But after their last two games, and through June 5, the team has improved to fifth in scoring defense (79.8) and 10th in defensive field-goal percentage (.458).
"We just got to clean up some miscommunications on defense, that's kind of been a big area for us," Kiah Stokes said. "And then just keep the ball moving on offense, I think we just got to clean up a few things. We had pretty good game against L.A. and (played) decently against Seattle. But we just want to keep the positives going up, and we still got a long way to go before the end of the season."