Paige's Wings Page (merged thread)

[bballnut90]

Well specifically no defense from the Wings.
Yueru was 16 points on 8-11 from the field.
Quinerly 13 points 6-11.
James 11 points 3-4 from 3.

They had enough support on offense (outside of Arikes 0-10) they were very efficient shooting the ball. The team doesn’t play defense. Is that a coaching thing? The make up of the roster? But it’s a theme game in and game out, can’t stop anyone.

Their posts are slow. Their starting combo now is solid offensively but no match for the likes of Natasha Howard in transition. Carrington is a very active perimeter defender but tends to make poor decisions offensively. Love their trio of rookie guards though. Arike isn’t player hero ball which is good for Dallas but she needs to find her shot. I’d extend some grace though considering today was her first game back after injury

 

[Huskee11]

This season is playing out for Paige pretty much exactly like many on the Boneyard feared that it would shortly after Dallas won the first pick. She is playing great, on a team that is mediocre.

A saving grace is that Dallas did have a decent draft beyond Paige (could have taken Lucy Olsen instead of Madison Scott though) and the addition of Yueru was also a good move. Continue to give those four experience and revamp the rest of the roster as best they can.

 

[Dogdude]

Even Paige got burned on D a couple times... But the rest of the team gets burned on that end so often they need to wear fire retardant uni's.

And my guess is that the rare times Paige gets beat is because she has practically no help.

What's that old trash talking line? "Bring your dental records 'cause you're gonna get burned beyond all recognition."

 

[WiseWillie]

Arike was 0 for 10?! Embarrassing.

She's known for her high-volume, low-efficiency stat lines but has she ever gone 0-fer before?

Would have thought surely by now that the chemistry that the Wings had hoped for vis a vis their stars especially Arike and Paige would materialize. It just hasn't for various reasons - including injury - but whether the front office will make any changes to revamp or stick with it remains to be seen. I don't see them making any drastic changes. I think they got and played a couple of bad hands and to the Dallas market don't want to admit failure at least not yet. They'll probably try to give it a go for the rest of the season - and look to make changes next year maybe possibly with a new experienced coach? Your guess is as good as mine. Guess we need to stay tuned.

 

[my2cents]

Obviously Dallas's defense was atrocious. Nobody got back on defense, including Paige. Nobody kept their "man" in front of them with zero rotation.
A team that is really put together poorly.

 

[Bigboote]

Even Paige got burned on D a couple times... But the rest of the team gets burned on that end so often they need to wear fire retardant uni's.

And my guess is that the rare times Paige gets beat is because she has practically no help.

Paige is a very good individual defender, but a GREAT team defender.

There’s really no discipline in Dallas’s team defense. If you don’t know what your teammates are going to do, how do you know when to hedge? Which way do push your mark? How do you know which passing lane to cheat toward?

Larry Bird was one of the best team defenders I can remember, but he had McHale, Parrish, DJ, and Ainge during his salad days. They were always on the same page. Without them, I suspect Larry wouldn’t have been as good on defense.

 

[WiseWillie]

This is Paige's Wings page but we, including me, keep harping upon atrocious defense on the Wings. To me that is definitely a coaching deficiency. Not easy to get players to stress defense when most stats (not including blocks or steals) are not part of the stat sheet so why should players exert themselves? That is where the coach has to provide the "motivation" which on the Wings appears to be completely missing. Just look for example at the games where Geno feels someone - including Paige - wasn't playing aggressive defense. What happens? They sit. Compare the defense of the Suns vs the Wings in the last game and the difference is pretty obvious.

Wings in the beginning kept saying they had to experiment with a new team and rookie players. That is fine for a while but by now the rough edges should have been taken care of and it is obvious they are not. Remains to be seen what changes they can make at this point to improve substantially.

In the meantime, all can see that Paige is trying her best and has had some great games but her best on this particular team is just not good enough.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

We are always told that in season changes are tough in the W because of the compressed schedule. The coach himself a rookie, has a good friend in senior management. I don't know what a soy boy is, but whatever it is I think he fits.

 

[WiseWillie]

We are always told that in season changes are tough in the W because of the compressed schedule. The coach himself a rookie, has a good friend in senior management. I don't know what a soy boy is, but whatever it is I think he fits.

Soy Boy is made with gluten-free with filtered water, whole non-GMO soybeans, brown sugar, sea salt and calcium carbonate. Haven't checked much into his background but doubt Chris Koclanes has much of the ingredients in him!

As some would say he's just also a rookie so it takes time. But why the Wings chose to go that route when also bringing in a host of rookie players is really the mystery. Miller's decision? No matter which way you look at it there will be many questions about how this team and staff were set up. Compare that if you will to the Valkyries. Night and day. Where does that start? I say at the very top.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Saw half the Paige/CC game the other day. Two questions for the BY:

I don't mind if a defensive player gets in the way of an off the ball player with their body, but to have their arms fully extended horizontally to impede movement is ridiculous. Has it always been like this?

Paige had a good game offensively, especially since she drew a lot of coverage. But how was Paige's defensive game on a scale of 1-10?

tia

 

[Dogdude]

It's impossible to judge one player's defensive game when the rest of the team doesn't try or have the ability to play defense. While a one-on-one, show-stopping block may be really sweet, defense is a team effort. One player can only guard one other player at a time, and if the other four are capable of scoring, the game's over. So at this point in time, you really can't judge Paige's defensive effectiveness, you can only judge her effort, which is exceptional, especially when you consider the offensive load she has to carry. As CC has found out this year, the game's a lot easier when all your teammates on the court are playing hard and smart also (well, offensively, anyway in the Fever's case...).

 

[CL82]

 

[oldude]

Gimme that damned ball!

Not to mention scoring on an “and1” on the other end.

 

[oldude]

I loved that in the postgame press conference, Paige jumped in to answer a question directed to the coach in order to defend Arike.
I am not confident that her leadership will bear significant results this season, but, my goodness, she's a great leader through this difficult time, and I have a feeling that other players around the league will take note of that when considering where to sign next season (at least I hope so).

Paige jumping in on the question about Arike’s 0 for 10 night demonstrates clearly that she will support her teammates regardless of the situation. While I don’t know if Arike’s will be back in Dallas next season, like you, I have to feel that there will be a number of veteran free agents who will take a serious look at playing with Paige in Dallas next year.

 

[Basingstoke]

While Caitlin did steal 3 of Paige's passes, Paige, in addition to this video of her steal from Caitlin, also chased Caitlin down after one of those steals and challenged her layup - which she missed.

 

[WiseWillie]

Saw half the Paige/CC game the other day. Two questions for the BY:

I don't mind if a defensive player gets in the way of an off the ball player with their body, but to have their arms fully extended horizontally to impede movement is ridiculous. Has it always been like this?

Paige had a good game offensively, especially since she drew a lot of coverage. But how was Paige's defensive game on a scale of 1-10?

We all know Paige is a real gamer. All you have to do is go back and look at her D on some of the games prior to and in the Tournament guarding perimeter shooters. She would lay back to help in the lane and under the basket but run to block or restrict a shot from the perimeter. So she certainly has it. In fact Rebecca often mentioned while broadcasting the FF how she impacted the games many times with her D. I would however maybe give her a 7.5 -8.0 in the last Fever game. She can only do so much if switches aren't made efficiently or at all and you are left hanging.

 

[WiseWillie]

Paige jumping in on the question about Arike’s 0 for 10 night demonstrates clearly that she will support her teammates regardless of the situation. While I don’t know if Arike’s will be back in Dallas next season, like you, I have to feel that there will be a number of veteran free agents who will take a serious look at playing with Paige in Dallas next year.

I watched that and came away feeling the same. Paige in her rookie year is already taking on the persona of a seasoned professional. She is the consummate teammate and demonstrates leadership by word and deed both on and off the court.

 

[RoadMaster]

 

[RoadMaster]

 

[RoadMaster]

 

[Bald Husky]

Tough game last night for Paige when nothing she put up went in, sometimes not even close. Had 10 points after 3 quarters but came alive with 10 in the fourth to help propel a great comeback, cutting a 22 point deficit to 2 late in the fourth quarter. Aces eventually won with a 37-point performance by Wilson, just couldn't stop her. Paige, 20 pts, 8 assists.

 

[oldude]

Unusual game for Paige. She drains a nice midrange jumper to start the game, then she can’t throw it in the ocean for 3 qtrs, along with several ugly turnovers.

At the same time she gives an absolute masters clinic on backdoor cuts to the point where LV has to change their defense to drop a weak side defender into the paint to keep Paige from blowing by her defender to receive a pass from teammates for easy layups.

But in the 4th qtr with a 20 pt deficit, Paige started playing like Paige making shots from everywhere while dropping a series of beautiful dimes on her teammates to cut the lead to 2 pts. Down 4 with less than a minute I was a little disappointed Paige missed a 3 that would have closed the score to within 1.

I have no doubt that Paige was dissatisfied with her play during the first 3 qtrs and probably gave credit to her teammates for the comeback in the 4th. I suspect that she will have a game or two this season when she goes off for 4 qtrs and we all sit back in awe.

 

[HuskyNan]

Unusual game for Paige. She drains a nice midrange jumper to start the game, then she can’t throw it in the ocean for 3 qtrs, along with several ugly turnovers.

At the same time she gives an absolute masters clinic on backdoor cuts to the point where LV has to change their defense to drop a weak side defender into the paint to keep Paige from blowing by her defender to receive a pass from teammates for easy layups.

But in the 4th qtr with a 20 pt deficit, Paige started playing like Paige making shots from everywhere while dropping a series of beautiful dimes on her teammates to cut the lead to 2 pts. Down 4 with less than a minute I was a little disappointed Paige missed a 3 that would have closed the score to within 1.

I have no doubt that Paige was dissatisfied with her play during the first 3 qtrs and probably gave credit to her teammates for the comeback in the 4th. I suspect that she will have a game or two this season when she goes off for 4 qtrs and we all sit back in awe.

Paige has got to be exhausted. She’s playing a lot of minutes and defenses are keying on her. It takes a toll, physically and mentally

 

[oldude]

Paige has got to be exhausted. She’s playing a lot of minutes and defenses are keying on her. It takes a toll, physically and mentally

Paige has a 6 day break now for the allstar game. While she’ll play in the game, it won’t be for as long or at the same intensity level as a regular season game. But I also agree that she could use a couple of months to rest and recharge from a prolonged physically and mentally demanding college and professional schedule back to back. That won’t happen until the W’s season ends.

 

[Pharos]

Check out the number of free throws each team got (Wings vs Aces).

 

[oldude]

Check out the number of free throws each team got (Wings vs Aces).

Wow! I guess the Aces are better at fouling than the Wings…….

 

[browns]

Paige has a 6 day break now for the allstar game. While she’ll play in the game, it won’t be for as long or at the same intensity level as a regular season game. But I also agree that she could use a couple of months to rest and recharge from a prolonged physically and mentally demanding college and professional schedule back to back. That won’t happen until the W’s season ends.

Clark went thru the same thing last year playing in the national champoinship game and then right into the WNBA season where she set numerous records and was 1st team all pro while elevating Indiana to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016

 

[FanInNC]

I’ll preface this with admitting to being biased. I thought the staff deserved some scrutiny for the rotations last night.

Quinerly had a rough stretch during the middle of the game, Arike went 3-12 (now 3-22 in the last 2 games) and Paige was having a very poor night by her standards for the majority of the game. Paige had 3 fouls with maybe 4 minutes to go in the 2nd and he kept her in - why? Her defense will suffer, she’s already turning it over and shooting poorly - what’s the point?

In the 3rd the game really got away from them.

To me you have 3 guards not shooting it well, why not give James a little more run? She played 12 minutes and they were kind of broken up over like 4 stints. No shot attempts. She actually didn’t look terrible defensively (which at times has been a weakness for her). No turnovers. Had some assists. I thought she was fine and has been good recently - why not see if she can get it going while some are struggling ?

Similarly Yueru didn’t play enough. She was +11 in a game they lost.

Hines-Allen played 15 minutes, probably should have been cut in half. She wasn’t good. (A -21 in 15 minutes and 0-5 shooting although did rebound it well). I would have liked to see more Haley Jones and more Yueru and found 5-8 more minutes for James.

 

[Bald Husky]

Paige has a 6 day break now for the allstar game. While she’ll play in the game, it won’t be for as long or at the same intensity level as a regular season game. But I also agree that she could use a couple of months to rest and recharge from a prolonged physically and mentally demanding college and professional schedule back to back. That won’t happen until the W’s season ends.

Unfortunately, she has already signed up to play in the Unrivaled league. No rest for the weary. BTW, she played 39 minutes against the Aces.

 

[Bald Husky]

Hopefully they will use Grace Berger and not just leave her on the bench until her 7 days are up.