For the second time in the last 10 days, the Dallas Wings (6-7) fell to the Los Angeles Sparks (6-7) — though unlike their meeting on June 14, when Dallas scored just 61 points and trailed for the majority of the game, last night’s rematch was a game the Wings should have won.
The Wings began the game as hot as the Sparks did cold, getting out to a 27-13 first-quarter lead and neutralizing the Los Angeles offense with notable amounts of ball pressure. The Sparks persevered, however, slowly chipping away at the Wings lead as Dallas’ own offense was unable to sustain its momentum; near the end of the third quarter, Los Angeles tied the game, setting the stage for a back-and-forth fourth quarter that ended in perhaps the most deflating fashion of any Wings game thus far in 2023.
Though neither team had its best offensive outing — Dallas and Los Angeles combined to shoot 7-of-42 on 3-pointers, which, according to Across the Timeline, was the seventh-worst combined long-range shooting percentage (16.7 percent) in a WNBA game with at least 40 3-pointers attempted — the Wings had been able to muster just enough to maintain one- and two-possession leads for much of the fourth quarter. The Sparks’ backcourt of Jordin Canada and Destanni Henderson, however, made several…
