Paige Bueckers scored 21 points on 9-for-10 shooting from the field in her WNBA playoff debut. Other than that, not much else went right for the Dallas Wings. They lost the rebounding battle, they couldn’t slow down the Valkyries’ offense, and three of their five starters played well below their standard.
Jessica Shepard, who emerged as a star and triple-double machine this season, finished the game with 0 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 turnovers. Arike Ogunbowale shot 2-7 on her way to a meagre ten points, and Awak Kuier couldn’t find the bottom of the net or rack up blocks like she usually does.
The Valkyries, meanwhile, were playing as well as they possibly could have. They sank 18 3-pointers and their defensive pressure rarely let up. The latter is something Paige Bueckers would like her team to take as an example.
“They might miss shots, they might miss threes, they might have an off night shooting, but they’re always locked in defensively, and I think we can take something from that,” Bueckers said in the postgame media availability. “We’ve been a team that has a bad habit of letting made and missed shots dictate how hard we play on the defensive end, and this is the playoffs, so that’s really unacceptable.”
The Wings’ defense would probably look better if Azzi Fudd and Alanna Smith weren’t injured, but even with both on the floor, the Wings still have ways to go defensively. They may have finished the regular season sixth in defensive rating, but their paint defense isn’t great, and they could use another strong perimeter stopper behind or next to Fudd.
With those deficiencies, effort is extremely important, and the Wings cannot afford to let their effort slip depending on how successful they are on the other end of the floor.
The Wings still have ways to go—and that’s okay
The Wings made a massive jump, going from a ten-win team at the bottom of the league to a playoff team. That’s a great accomplishment.
It’s also just the first step in building a legitimate contender around Bueckers. That process will still take some time, but that’s okay. If the Wings lose in the first round, no matter whether it’s a sweep or they force Game 3, they’re still right on track.
Playoff success isn’t immediate, even with back-to-back number-one picks, and the Wings still have some roster holes to patch up. Just take the Indiana Fever as an example. They were swept by the Connecticut Sun in the first round in 2024 after drafting Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark with back-to-back top picks, and they might suffer another first-round exit this year. A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces secured a decisive 102-85 victory.
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