‘Our Guards Have Really Stepped Up’: Dallas Wings’ East Coast Road Trip Is Being Built On Defense

BROOKLYN, New York — The Dallas Wings turned a 7-point deficit into a 47-31 halftime lead Tuesday behind a second quarter that has become the standard for what this defense is capable of. New York shot 13.3% in the period, 2-of-15 from the field, the first time a Dallas opponent has shot under 14% in a quarter since the Los Angeles Sparks in August 2022.

Jessica Shepard said the effort in that stretch traced back to buy-in across the roster.

“I think it was our defense. We did a great job in that quarter of really flying around, helping each other and making all of their shots difficult,” she said.

She pointed specifically to the perimeter defenders when asked what has carried over from Dallas’ recent games.

“I think our defense in general today was really good,” Shepard said. “Obviously, [Awak Kuier] played a huge part in that because when she’s on the court you have to account for her. Our guards have really stepped up over the last two games, taking their individual matchups personally and being great defenders.”

Head coach Jose Fernandez framed the defensive stand as inseparable from Dallas’ offense in that stretch, not a separate accomplishment.

“I thought we got out in transition and ran. We made really good decisions against their pick-and-roll coverages when they blitzed,” he said.

New York Didn’t Point To A Scheme

On the other side, neither Jonquel Jones nor Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco described Dallas as having unveiled anything unfamiliar. Both pointed instead to their own execution.

“I think we’ve got to get stops. They do a really good job of mucking things up and playing with activity. We can do a better job of executing, figuring out where we have mismatches and attacking those,” Jones said.

DeMarco was more direct about where the quarter went wrong for his team.

“It was a lack of execution. It’s hard to run offense when you’re constantly taking the ball out of the basket. In the first quarter we had some unforced turnovers and gave up a lot of offensive rebounds. Those are opportunities to build a lead and control the game,” he said.

Sabrina Ionescu offered a similar read from New York’s side, describing a run Dallas simply capitalized on rather than something schematically unusual.

“Dallas went on a run. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but we didn’t stop the bleeding early enough. They made shots, we didn’t, and we didn’t get back in transition,” Ionescu said.

The Two Games Shepard Was Talking About

Shepard’s reference to “the last two games” points to two identifiable opponents: Toronto on Sunday and New York on Tuesday. In both, the defensive results involved containing an opponent’s perimeter star.

Marina Mabrey scored 10 points in the first quarter alone Sunday in Toronto, going 3-of-3 from the field and 2-of-2 from three before Dallas adjusted. Over the final three quarters, she managed just 9 more points on 4-of-15 shooting and 1-of-7 from deep, finishing with 19 points in a game Dallas won by 13. The clampdown wasn’t limited to Mabrey. Toronto as a team shot just 11.1% from three in the third quarter, 1-of-9, its worst shooting stretch of the night after opening the game 3-of-5 from deep in the first quarter. Mabrey and the Tempo face Dallas again Friday, this time in Montreal, and containing her after a hot start figures to be part of the same conversation.

The pattern repeated on Tuesday against New York. Sabrina Ionescu was scoreless through the entire first half, missing all seven of her shots, including three attempts from three, before scoring all 14 of her points after halftime to finish 5-of-15 for the game. The Liberty shot just 5-of-26 from three as a team (19.2%), only the second time all season New York has made five or fewer threes in a game.

The individual defensive numbers add another layer. Azzi Fudd has been especially disruptive in the passing lanes across both games, picking up 3 steals and a block in Toronto and 2 more steals against New York, five takeaways combined over the stretch. Paige Bueckers added 2 blocks against New York, both while containing drives. Awak Kuier has anchored the interior in both games, blocking 3 shots in Toronto and 3 more against New York, six total without playing more than 28 minutes in either one.

Two different opponents, two different shooters taken out of rhythm. Whether that reflects a deliberate scouting emphasis on perimeter threats or matchup-specific defense will be one of the things worth tracking when Dallas and Toronto meet again on Friday.

The Numbers Back Her Up

Dallas held a single opponent under 14% shooting in a quarter for just the second time in franchise history, with the only other instance coming against the Los Angeles Sparks in August 2022. But the more complete picture comes from the Wings’ last two games.

Over that stretch, Dallas owns the best net rating in the WNBA at plus-15.3, built on the league’s best offensive rating at 112.7. The defense Shepard pointed to ranks fifth over the same two games at a 97.5 defensive rating, behind Golden State (86.1), Seattle (87.4), Washington (92.6), and Chicago (96.5), solid rather than league-best on its own.

Widen the sample by just one more game, and the numbers soften. Over Dallas’ last three games, the net rating drops to plus-11.4, and the defensive rating rises to 99.6, both worse than the two-game figures. That points to the game three back as the outlier and Toronto as the actual starting point of whatever has changed.

On-court splits over the last two games back that up at the individual level. Alanna Smith has posted an 85.7 defensive rating in her minutes, the best mark on the roster among players who appeared in both games. Bueckers leads everyone in on-court net rating at plus-35.0, followed by Smith (plus-29.8) and Ogunbowale (plus-29.1), with Kuier, Shepard and Fudd all still comfortably positive.

Where her comment about individual guard play holds up most clearly is in the ball-security numbers. Dallas’ 14.0% turnover rate and 2.05 assist-to-turnover ratio over the last two games are both the best marks in the WNBA, the kind of guard-level detail that does not always show up in a highlight reel but tends to show up in a net rating.

Whether that holds as a season-long identity or settles back toward the mean will be one of the more useful threads to track when Dallas and the Tempo meet again Friday in Montreal.