Paige Bueckers would rather not need to channel fourth-quarter Paige as much as she has already this season for the Dallas Wings.
The two-time All-Star paces the league with 138 points scored in the fourth quarter of 19 games, more than the 126 of Breanna Stewart (22 games) and Kahleah Copper (29 games) through Wednesday. Her clutch play creates appointment viewing late into the night, but it’s not a point of pride she wants to keep up for a championship-contending roster.
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“It’s a bad habit for me and the team,” Bueckers said on the Yahoo Sports Hoops 360 podcast this week. “If you watch a lot of our games, we’re trailing at the end of the third and we’re starting off slow in the second half. And we have to find a will to win in the fourth. And I hate that about us.”
The Wings (16-8) are clinging to a No. 4 playoff seed at the midway point of the season, trailing league-leading Minnesota by a mere 2.5 games. In half of their wins, they’ve come back from a fourth-quarter deficit — a stat tied with the Washington Mystics (12-10) for most in the league.
The fourth-quarter theatrics were required in a 96-91 win over the Chicago Sky on Sunday that extended their winning streak to five. All three wins over Chicago arrived via double-digit comebacks, tying the mark for most double-digit comeback wins over a single opponent in a single season in WNBA history.
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Dallas won the fourth, 30-18, with a balanced scoresheet from Bueckers (8 points, 3 of 6), Arike Ogunbowale (8 points, 3 of 5), Jessica Shepard (8, 4 of 4), Azzi Fudd (6 points, 2 of 3 from 3). Bueckers scored a game-high 22, including the first six points of the fourth to pull within five. Five of her 11 assists were in the fourth.
“As a team collectively, I wish and I hope that we’re going to start not waiting until the fourth to really lock in and hone in on the details and show that level of competition,” Bueckers said. “We want to embrace that for the entire 40 minutes. There’s something about the Wings in the fourth quarter, we just, I don’t know, ultra lock in.”
The Wings successfully will their way in the fourth, averaging 22.4 ppg, a mark that ranks fourth in the league, but it’s the third quarter where they’re the most productive at a third-best 24.1 ppg. The first halves require it, with a 10th-best 20.8 ppg in the first and a bump to 21.5 (sixth) in the second. Bueckers scored 106 points in the first quarter of games, an output far outpaced by tone-setting four-time MVP A’ja Wilson (164).
There is an upside. Dallas is learning early in the campaign how to win late, an asset that will only boost their prospects in October. The Wings are building chemistry and relationship equity with a roster featuring Bueckers and Ogunbowale as the only returning starters.
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Fudd, the No. 1 overall WNBA Draft pick out of UConn, slotted in after a few games coming off the bench. She leads all rookies in steals (40) and ranks fourth in the league at 1.7 per game. Jessica Shepard, the offseason acquisition from Minnesota, is a runaway choice for Most Improved with three triple-doubles and a regularly deep stat line. She was named an All-Star for the first time in her career, joining Bueckers as a starter. Center Awak Kuier is averaging career-highs upon entering the regular starting lineup for the first time in her four years.
“It’s a we over me mentality,” Bueckers said of first-year head coach Jose Fernandez’s system. “And I think part of that, too, is having a really deep team and a really competitive team and people that, so many people that can contribute to winning basketball.”
Dallas, fresh off winning the No. 1 draft pick in back-to-back seasons, is looking to make the playoffs for the first time since 2023. The Wings reached the semifinals in the old single-elimination first-round format, and were swiftly knocked out by the Aces in three games of the best-of-five. The franchise last played in the Finals in 2008, its third championship in six years as the Detroit Shock. It moved to Tulsa in 2010 and Dallas in 2016.
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The Wings eclipsed their 2025 win total of 10 by the 16th game of the season. More than half of their losses are to the Dream (0-2) and Lynx (0-3), with one each left to play against them. They’ve already notched series wins over the powerhouse Aces (2-1) and Liberty (2-0). Dallas’ Thursday game against the sliding Liberty (13-11) was postponed due to mechanical issues with New York’s plane. They’ll play Monday at 8 p.m. ET instead.
