Paige Bueckers’ lack of help evident as the Fever’s balanced offense bests the Wings

The imbalance between Paige Bueckers’ points and her teammates’ output was evident yet again. In the Dallas Wings’ 88-78 loss to the Indiana Fever on Friday, Bueckers had 22 points. None of her teammates cracked double digits.

The issue was especially noticeable with the rest of the starters. In the first half, Bueckers scored 15 points, while the other four starters combined for only 12. The starters, excluding Bueckers, had 23 points by the final buzzer.

On the other end of the court at the American Airlines Center, the Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell, Natasha Howard and Aliyah Boston were within one point of each other by the end of the first half, evening the load.

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Mitchell pulled ahead, finishing the game with 23 points. Unlike the Wings though, only one Fever starter finished the game with fewer than 10 points.

Myisha Hines-Allen and Aziaha James each had nine points off the bench, making them Dallas’ second-highest scorers of the night.

“Just trying to be that instant offense off the bench, being that energetic, repeat,” James said after the game. “Just doing what I have to do, trying to get the ball in the basket.”

Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale are the only two Wings starters averaging above 8.0 points a game this season, with 18.3 and 16 respectively. Dijonai Carrington is the only player coming off the bench who meets that same quota, averaging 10.7.

Starting versus coming off the bench has recently been a contentious topic for the Wings. Carrington said two weeks ago that coming off the bench felt “sort of in a sense” like her role was being diminished “a little bit.”

Against the Fever, Carrington had 4 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist. She shot 25% from the field in just over 16 minutes.

Wings coach Chris Koclanes said that deciding minutes was something that he puts a lot of thought into.

“You want to try to establish a rhythm and normality with your subbing and rotations, and you go into every game thinking that that’s going to be the case,” Koclanes said after the loss. “And then the game unfolds and things change.”

In the fourth quarter, Koclanes kept Arike out when he noticed that Bueckers, Hines-Allen and James “got it rolling.”

James, who logged 16 minutes, said she doesn’t struggle finding her rhythm coming off the bench.

“You just always gotta stay ready,” James said. “You never know what’s going to happen, you never know where the game is at, who needs to be in the game.”

Paige Bueckers does her part, but Wings fall short against Caitlin Clark-less Fever