Paige Bueckers torched the Phoenix Mercury defense — but she can’t win games alone

Bueckers went off for 35 points in Phoenix, but the Dallas Wings dropped their fifth straight game, 93-80, in Phoenix

A tragic Dallas Wings playlet unfolded at Phoenix’s PHX Arena on Wednesday.

Paige Bueckers pulls up to Phoenix’s PHX Arena in the drop-top, slides her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose and says, “Get in, Wings. We’re torching the Phoenix Mercury.”

Pan to an empty sidewalk. None of her teammates have even shown up. End scene.

Bueckers made her first seven shot attempts in her first game back after missing the last four for the Dallas Wings on Wednesday, but despite the rookie phenom’s best effort, Dallas dropped its fifth straight game to the Phoenix Mercury (7-4), 93-80.

Opposing defenses have been hounding star guard Arike Ogunbowale with double-teams, traps and hedges to get the ball out of her hands in Bueckers’ absence, but after Bueckers nailed her sixth-straight field goal, a 3-pointer along the right wing on the first possession of the second quarter, the Mercury shifted that tactic in her direction. Bueckers turned the ball over twice in the next three minutes as the Phoenix defense tried to take away the Wings’ not-so-secret weapon.

Bueckers gave a knowing nod after her second turnover of the second quarter, a shot-clock violation as two Mercury defenders sent her scurrying backward with the ball instead of attacking the basket. Adjustments would be necessary, and adjustments were incoming.

A minute later, Bueckers came open four feet behind the 3-point line on a ball reversal. Her stroke was every bit as pure as her first two 3-point attempts and tied the game, 28-28, midway through the second.

Bueckers shot 8-of-10 from the field against Phoenix, including those three from 3-point range, and set a new career-high scoring mark with 22 points — in the first half, when she played all 20 minutes.

She needs a ride-or-die, or two, or three, though. While Bueckers went 5-for-5 in the first quarter, the rest of the Wings shot an abysmal 3-of-13. No other Dallas Wings scored more than four points in the first half.

Phoenix held Ogunbowale to a big donut in the scoring column through the first two quarters on 0-of-7 shooting. She picked up her third and fourth fouls two minutes into the third quarter before diving to the rack along the baseline for her first field goal a minute later to pull the Wings to within 47-38.

Ogunbowale, DiJonai Carrington and Maddie Siegrist combined to shoot 7-of-25 from the field in the loss. Ogunbowale and Carrington combined for eight of Dallas’ 20 turnovers. The Wings shot 5-of-19 from 3-point land as a team in the loss. Everyone not named Bueckers combined to shoot a putrid 0-of-13 from long range. The Mercury — known league-wide this year as 3-point merchants — shot 15-of-35 (42.9%) from deep in the win, outscoring the Wings by 30 points from beyond the arc in the win.

Bueckers’ space station is indeed fully operational. That’s no moon. She has arrived on the scene as a force to be reckoned with in the WNBA. But she needs help in a bad way.

Even before Wednesday’s outburst, she led all rookies in points per game (14.7) and assists per game (6.7). But she can’t manufacture wins all by her lonesome. The Wings’ 1-10 record at the quarter-pole of the WNBA season is the best evidence of that. At this time last year, on their way to a 9-31 finish, Dallas had managed a 3-8 record.

Satou Sabally, who was Ogunbowale’s running partner a year ago in Dallas, led Phoenix with 20 points on four made 3-pointers and 10 rebounds in the win over her old team. Bueckers nailed two more 3-balls in the fourth quarter to give her 35 points and become the first Wings’ rookie to score 30 or more points in a game since Ogunbowale did it in 2019.