For the first ten games of the 2023 WNBA season, the Dallas Wings (5-5) have fielded one of the league’s more dynamic offenses. Though the Wings have had an up-and-down start to the season shooting the basketball (44.5 percent effective field goal percentage; 10th in the WNBA), they’ve been second to none in earning extra possessions via offensive rebounds (33.1 percent offensive rebounding rate), and they’re playing at the fastest pace of any WNBA team at 84 possessions per 40 minutes.
To put it simply, the Wings want to play in high-scoring games. Their most recent loss showed what happens when they don’t.
On Wednesday, Dallas came out flat against the Los Angeles Sparks (6-5) and finished on a similarly poor note, scoring just 10 points in the 4th quarter and a season-low 61 in the game. The Wings once again struggled from outside, going 4-of-19, and though they pulled down 12 offensive rebounds to the Sparks’ three, disparities in turnovers (17 to nine) and free throw attempts (16 to seven) combined with the team’s inefficient shooting were too much to overcome.
