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ARLINGTON, TX — The Dallas Wings suffered a 106-80 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday. It was a difficult game for Dallas, however, there were some positive takeaways. The Wings limited A'ja Wilson to only 14 points scored. She did record 10 rebounds and seven assists, but the Wings took steps forward in their defense against Wilson.
“Improved from the last time we played,” head coach Chris Koclanes said of the Wings' defense against the Aces star. “Her floor definitely looked a lot more crowded. Now it was the arc today… Last game, A'ja goes for 40 and we do a good job on everybody else and then tonight we kind of keep her somewhat in check… I know she had seven assists as well.
“But then, everyone goes off. Gotta be able to do both. That's what defending is all about. Right now, we're very one-dimensional. We need to be able to do more than one thing defensively.”
Completely containing Wilson is almost impossible. She still played well overall. Nevertheless, it was a respectable performance against the three-time MVP.
“I think we did pretty well, we could have been better… crowding her a little bit more,” Teaira McCowan said of how the Wings defended Wilson.
In the end, the Wings obviously would have preferred to have earned the win. Although the Wings kept Wilson “somewhat in check,” Koclanes believes the overall defense needs to improve.
“It's defense, first and foremost… Offensively we show spurts and we need consistency more on both sides of the floor but we need to know that we're going to give ourselves a chance every night on the defensive end,” Koclanes said. “And right now, that just hasn't been the case… It's defense, first and foremost.”
The Wings will try to rebound on Monday night at home against the New York Liberty.
