It was only a matter of time before the Dallas Wings would find a groove and get back to a win. The Minnesota Lynx is a team that doesn’t make excuses. From halfway through the second quarter, they just got outplayed. There’s no mystery to it. They gave up 48 points in the paint, Dallas scored 13 points off of Minnesota’s 16 turnovers, and Odyssey Sims and Monique Billings contributed 32 points off the bench.
The Lynx starters scored 75 points, and their bench only 13. Natasha Howard and Sevgi Uzun were non-factors for Dallas, and although Jacy Sheldon only scored 8 points, her last-minute trey sealed the game for the Wings.
The Dallas offense, from the second quarter on, simply ran around a lot of the Minnesota defense, as evidenced by the gap in paint points, 48-30. They weren’t all because of Teaira McCowan either. While she scored 17, it was Sims and Billings who seemed to break through the Lynx defense, or more accurately ran around them. Perhaps the Lynx didn’t anticipate quite the level of ferocity that Dallas presented, but after losing 11 in a row, it had to start somewhere.
final. pic.twitter.com/qBid4856B6
— Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) June 27, 2024
When you look at the standings, you can see that except for New York, Connecticut, and Minnesota, every team has had struggles. Indiana, Dallas, and Washington have all occupied the cellar. But each of those teams broke losing streaks, with Indiana in particular making some real headway. For a time, Connecticut looked as though they couldn’t lose. And then they lost two in a row. No one pegged the Minnesota Lynx to be where they are now.
What Is Next for the Wings and Storm?
When they faced the Liberty in the Commissioner’s Cup final, very few people expected them to win. The Liberty had a bad game. Today, the Lynx had a substandard game (for them) and Dallas won. They deserved to win. But we’ve also seen all season that the Lynx know how to bounce back. They’ve done it every time after a loss and after a sub-par win. They will be headed to Chicago for a game on Sunday.
With all the hoopla surrounding the Sky, it will be interesting to see how the Lynx deal with that. I suspect that they will not be distracted by the noise, either real or fabricated by the media. Dallas will head to Seattle for a game with a very tough Storm team. It will be interesting to see if lightning strikes again for the Wings.
Final Thoughts
Of course, the pundits, who live for and create a lot of drama, will probably think the Lynx are starting to crack and that the Wings have taken flight. But that’s what makes pundits so annoyingly amusing; they have a great knack for being wrong about so many things, and the bravado to back it up. I said before that when Dallas played Minnesota at Target Center they played a good game, better than I had seen them play.
Today they won, and the Lynx lost. The next game for each team is just that, another game, with this one way in the distance.
And that, my friends, as they say, is that.’ — Martin Ruben.
Follow Beyond Women’s Sports for more from the world of sports.
