After a 1-2 start to the WNBA season, first-year Dallas Wings coach Jose Fernandez has seen enough.
“It’s real talk, and it’s accountability. That’s what I told them. I go, ‘There’s selfishness in this locker room,'” Fernadez said after a 90-86 loss to the Minnesota Lynx Thursday.
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“You gotta look in the mirror and be accountable on how you play. And don’t get upset if you think that you should have played more, or you didn’t play enough, or you didn’t get the shots that you should have gotten. Really good teams, they don’t give a (expletive) about that. Know what they give a (expletive) about? They give a (expletive) about winning because that’s what matters.”
The Wings opened the season with a 107-104 win against the Indiana Fever. Five players scored in double figures, including guards Arike Ogunbowale (22 points) and Paige Bueckers (20 points). However, Dallas lost a close May 12 matchup to the Atlanta Dream, 77-72, after being outscored 39-31 in the second half and putting up 13 points in the fourth quarter.
On Thursday, Dallas led 48-40 at halftime and had a 12-point lead in the third quarter. Still, by the end of the third, the lead was down to 2. Minnesota ended up outscoring Dallas 50-38 in the second half. The Wings also allowed the Lynx to shoot 60% from the field, 46% from deep and score 48 paint points despite forcing 18 turnovers.
“That’s what this league is all about: close games (and) learning how to finish,” Bueckers, who finished with a game-high 27 points, said.
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“Obviously, we’re a new team, and it’s going to take times and reps. And it’s (only our third) game of the season. So we don’t wanna panic, but we also wanna hold ourselves accountable to the standard that we wanna set. It’s defensive for us. Get stops. Play team defense … just set that tone. Honestly, it’s play better throughout that entire 40 minutes of it, so that games don’t come down to two minutes so much.”
Even with the loss, Bueckers seemed to maintain that Dallas will figure it out.
“We’re learning. We’re growing. We’re having tough conversations. We’re learning through repetition, so that’s all we can ask,” Bueckers said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wings coach unloads on team for ‘selfishness’ after ugly loss vs Lynx
