DHJ Quick Take: Dallas Wings’ Comeback Falls Short In 85-77 Loss To Minnesota Lynx
The Dallas Wings rallied from 23 points down but could not complete the comeback, falling 85-77 to the Minnesota Lynx and dropping their third straight meeting with Minnesota this season.
- Why did Dallas lose? A 1-of-14 first half from three dug a 23-point hole the Wings could not climb out of.
- Who led Dallas? Paige Bueckers scored a game-high 25 points and Azzi Fudd added 21 on 8-of-23 shooting.
- Who hurt the Wings most? Natasha Howard posted 21 points and 14 rebounds, and Olivia Miles added 21 points and 8 assists.
- What is the takeaway? Jose Fernandez said the Wings must bring urgency from the opening tip rather than after halftime.
- What’s next? Dallas falls to 11-8 and visits the Connecticut Sun on Thursday, while Minnesota improves to 15-4.
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Wings could not overcome a season-worst start from three-point range, falling 85-77 to the Minnesota Lynx in front of a sold-out crowd at College Park Center on Sunday. Dallas missed 13 of its first 14 attempts from deep, fell behind by as many as 23 points, and rallied to pull within 4 in the fourth quarter before the comeback fell short.
The result dropped Dallas to 11-8 on the season and lifted Minnesota to 15-4, the Lynx’s third win over the Wings this season with one meeting left on the schedule, August 9 in Minneapolis.
The comeback showed real fight from a Dallas team that has built a habit of clawing back into games, but it also underlined how much ground the Wings still have to make up against the league’s best.
“I would say how we’ve started,” Azzi Fudd said when asked where the team can improve. “We’ve had a lot of close games and a lot of games where we haven’t started great, scoring-wise, and that kind of carries over into our defense. Then we come into the second half down a little bit, and we hit that second gear. But we need to start the game with that gear already unlocked.”
Paige Bueckers carried the offense with a game-high 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting, adding 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. It was her third straight 25-point game, the longest active streak in the WNBA. Fudd finished with 21 points, 1 rebound, 4 steals and 1 block, going 8-of-23 from the field and hitting 4 of Dallas’ seven 3-pointers.
Minnesota’s Hot Start From Deep Buries Dallas
Minnesota jumped out to a 28-16 lead after the first quarter, hitting seven 3-pointers in the frame alone, the most Dallas has allowed in any quarter this season. The Lynx kept pouring it in from the perimeter through the second quarter, finishing the half shooting 52.9% from three while Dallas made just 1 of 14 attempts, a season-low 29 points at the break. Minnesota led 45-29 at halftime.
Wings coach Jose Fernandez said the issue wasn’t effort, it was makes.
“I think we did a great job protecting the paint in the first half,” Fernandez said. “I thought we did a good job guarding pick-and-roll coverages. But what happened? They made shots. How many threes did they make in the first half? Seven. We were 1-for-14. That was the difference.”
He was careful not to let his team hide behind that explanation for long.
“That shouldn’t matter,” Fernandez said. “That shouldn’t dictate how hard you play or how hard you talk on the defensive end just because the ball goes in the basket.”
Azzi Fudd, tasked with chasing Minnesota’s guards around ball screens for much of the night, said her own focus was on slowing the game down rather than trying to do too much at once.
“Trying to slow down, trying to read, and listen to our bigs about what coverage we were calling, that was the game plan,” Fudd said. “Trying to slow down, trying to listen, and take it one possession at a time, for sure.”
Olivia Miles Answers The Bell In The Second Half
Olivia Miles went just 1-of-6 in the first half before catching fire after the break, finishing 5-of-7 in the second on her way to 21 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists. Reeve credited an in-game adjustment for the turnaround.
“They’re trying to bully her a little bit physically,” Reeve said. “It was important for her to avoid wide finishes and get directly to the rim, trying to get into defenders’ bodies. I thought she made a great adjustment there.”
Bueckers, who spent much of the game defending Miles, broke down the shift in Minnesota’s ball-screen coverage that opened things up for her in the third and fourth quarters.
“They switched up their positioning and spacing in their ball-screen coverage,” Bueckers said. “I think we did a good job forcing it to the sideline in the first half. They got more of the pick-and-rolls in the middle of the floor in the second half, which is tougher to guard and tougher to help off from. Guarding two with two is tough. They also got out in transition a little bit more, and she got loose that way, then got to the free-throw line as well.”
Natasha Howard And Minnesota’s Bench Keep Answering
Natasha Howard matched Miles with 21 points and added a game-high 14 rebounds, helping Minnesota control the paint, 38-28, all night. Reeve said Howard has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the pick-and-roll partnerships Minnesota runs through Courtney Williams and Miles.
“She’s been the recipient of tremendous pick-and-roll play with Courtney and with Liv,” Reeve said. “She puts herself in such great position because she gets out of screens so fast. She’s a great finisher, has great timing and continues to be aggressive on the glass, kind of making her own breaks. She’s been extremely valuable to us, for sure.”
Fernandez pointed to that same finishing ability when asked what separates Dallas from the league’s best teams.
“She finishes around the rim,” Fernandez said. “She’s got good hands. She knows where to slide and how to seal her defenders, and our backside help was nonexistent.”
Dallas twice cut the deficit into single digits in the second half, and both times Minnesota’s defense let the Wings back in, according to Reeve.
“They were taking advantage of our porous transition defense,” Reeve said. “Porous, as in not poor, but porous transition defense, leaving people wide open. We were taking bad shots at one end, and Dallas is terrific in transition, so they were opportunistic there.”
A Homecoming With An Edge
Sunday marked Miles’ return to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where she played her final college season at TCU after transferring from Notre Dame.
“It was great,” Miles said. “Obviously the whole TCU team is here, came to support. I love Dallas. It’s a special place in my heart. It took me in for one year, allowed a kid to find her joy back and feel that freedom.”
The game had its share of edge, with Miles drawing a question about her growing reputation for trash talk around the league.
“I wasn’t starting it. I do not start it,” Miles said. “I usually just kind of get triggered by something, and I don’t want to get punked out there just because I’m a rookie, so I try to hold my own. It’s not who I want to be, but it’s just kind of the competitiveness in me.”
That competitiveness boiled over in the third quarter, when Miles picked up a technical foul as the buzzer sounded after arguing a non-call. Reeve said she wants her rookie guard channeling that edge the right way.
“She’s still navigating that space because she’s very, very passionate,” Reeve said. “We want Liv to leave the officiating to us. She can stand up for herself when players are giving it to her, both verbally and basketball-wise. I want her to talk with the basketball, and she did both today.”
Kayla McBride added 17 points on four made 3-pointers, and said Minnesota’s hot shooting has become a product of Miles and Howard’s chemistry drawing extra attention.
“Liv is so dangerous and so meticulous in the pick-and-roll, and her and Tasha have found their groove,” McBride said. “So now Courtney, myself and Nia, we’re just kind of playing off that because everybody knows we like to be in the paint. We have the head of the snake over here that just wants to compete and wants to be at her best for us every single night.”
McBride spent much of the night defending Bueckers and came away impressed even in the win.
“Paige is a great player. She’s a three-level scorer, a generational talent for sure,” McBride said. “I just try to make everything hard. Paige is 10 years younger than me, and I enjoy the battle. I’m a fan from afar, but between those four lines she knows I’m coming for her. Nothing but love and respect, for sure.”
Dallas Answers Behind Bueckers And A Bench Spark
Dallas opened the second half on a 4-0 run and eventually got the deficit down to 10 entering the fourth quarter, 64-54, with Fudd scoring 12 points in the frame. Against a defense Bueckers called one of the most disciplined the Wings have faced, Dallas leaned on ball movement to manufacture cleaner looks.
“Just seeing a lot of bodies and a lot of attention to the ball,” Bueckers said, describing how she attacked Minnesota’s help defense. “Being able to get out of it and play to the advantages it creates for my teammates. Getting them into scramble mode and closeout mode so we could attack closeouts, get into the paint, get paint touches and sprays. They’re just a really good defensive team, very disciplined. It’s tough to play against.”
The Wings’ bench provided a jolt in the fourth quarter, led by Maddy Siegrist, who finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists.
“They just bring energy and a spark for us,” Bueckers said. “We struggled from the floor tonight, and they provided something different. They did a really good job defensively, disrupting things and changing the momentum of the game. Then they were aggressive on offense, getting second possessions and offensive rebounds. Maddy had three offensive rebounds, and I think Li had one as well.”
Dallas kept chipping away in the fourth, cutting the margin to 4 at 73-69 with 5:15 left behind 7 points from Bueckers and another 3-pointer from Fudd, the closest the Wings would get. Howard answered immediately with a pair of buckets around the rim to help push the lead back to 10 at 79-69 with 3:51 remaining, and Dallas never got closer than 7 the rest of the way.
Reeve pointed to Howard’s efficiency in that stretch as the difference-maker.
“She’s a great finisher, has great timing and continues to be aggressive on the glass,” Reeve said. “She’s been extremely valuable to us, for sure.”
With one meeting left in the season series, Reeve said her team isn’t taking anything for granted.
“That urgency and will to win is controllable on our side,” Reeve said. “If we don’t bring it, then Dallas will beat us next time.”
Jose Fernandez Wants Urgency From The Start
Fernandez pointed to a larger pattern in the Wings’ losses this season, all of them against teams near the top of the standings.
“If we want to be a top-four team, who are our losses to?” Fernandez said. “Minnesota three times, Atlanta twice, Golden State and Las Vegas. One of those we shouldn’t have lost on the road at Portland, and Paige didn’t play.”
He also pointed to specifics Dallas needs to clean up on both ends, from settling for contact over clean looks on offense to leaking shooters in transition on defense.
“If the ball isn’t going in, I thought we drove looking for contact rather than looking to score,” Fernandez said. “The contact is going to come. You worry about scoring first. On the defensive end, you can’t lose your player in transition. Open players hurt you in transition, and I didn’t think we did a good job there.”
He tied it all back to the slow starts that dug Dallas its latest hole.
“We’ve just got to continue to value every single possession,” Fernandez said. “Every single possession has to matter, and right now, I don’t think we’ve grown to the point where every possession matters yet.”
Sunday’s loss wasn’t about whether Dallas could fight back. The Wings proved again that they can. It was about the size of the hole they had to climb out of before that fight could start, and until the slow starts disappear, Dallas will keep chasing games against the league’s best instead of controlling them.
What’s Next For The Dallas Wings
Dallas visits the Connecticut Sun on Thursday, July 2 at 7 p.m. CT, airing locally on KFAA and streaming on Amazon Prime. The Wings and Lynx close out their season series on August 9 at 2:30 p.m. CT in Minneapolis.
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