Wings fans shared their reactions as Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings suffered their most embarrassing defeat of the season on Wednesday against the Washington Mystics. The Wings were comfortably cruising with just over three minutes left in the third quarter, leading 76-56. However, the Mystics flipped the switch and went on a 40-16 run in the final 13 minutes to secure a 96-92 win.
Dallas had a dismal fourth quarter, scoring only 12 points, while allowing 24. The Wings’ offense was spread across the board with no player taking more than five attempts. Arike Ogunbowale, Alanna Smith and Paige Bueckers were among the players to take five shots. Azzi Fudd had just one, while Jessica Sheppard took three.
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Given the circumstances, the Wings should have used their best player, Paige Bueckers and a shotmaker like Fudd in the fourth quarter. However, coach Jose Fernandez opted to run plays through Ogunbowale (25.0% usage) and Smith (33.3% usage), who were inefficient with their possessions and struggling to create clean chances for themselves or their teammates. Bueckers’ usage was up to 20.0% in the fourth.
Most fans blamed Fernandez for failing to optimize Bueckers and Fudd in the clutch.
“Send jose back to college,” one fan wrote.
More reactions followed.
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Paige Bueckers and Jose Fernandez point out Wings’ flaws in loss
Paige Bueckers and Jose Fernandez addressed the loss on Wednesday, sharing their assessments of what went wrong for the Wings. Bueckers felt the Wings defended better in the first half and bothered Washington in transition. However, she felt their opponents limited those opportunities in the second half.
“It looked like they put an emphasis in the second half on stopping our transition … We played better defensively in the first half, so we got stops and were able to get up,” Bueckers said (via Wings reporter Myah Taylor).
Meanwhile, amid mounting criticism of his coaching tactics, Fernandez pointed to his team’s one-on-one defense and inability to stop the bleeding when the Mystics had the momentum.
“I thought we played a good 27/28 minutes. We really struggled to guard one on one at times in certain places. … They got the momentum and we didn’t answer at times in some of those crucial possessions,” he said (via Wings Reporter Myah Taylor).
The Wings have lost four of their last six games, dropping to 19-12. They will hope to bounce back at home on Friday against the Golden State Valkyries.
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