Jose Fernandez Blasts Dallas Wings Players for 'Selfishness' After Lynx Loss
The Dallas Wings had control of this game for long stretches. That made what happened at the end even harder to take.
Dallas fell 90-86 to the Minnesota Lynx on Thursday night at College Park Center, dropping to 1-2 on the season. The Wings built a 12-point lead in the second quarter and carried that advantage deep into the second half. They were still up four in the fourth quarter with the game in hand. Then it fell apart.
Jose Fernandez Calls Out Selfishness in the Locker Room
After the final buzzer, coach Jose Fernandez pulled no punches during his postgame press conference. He turned into a direct message to his team, calling out both Bueckers and the group as a whole for selfish play and a lack of accountability.
"It's real talk and it's accountability, that's what I told them," Fernandez said, via Landon Thomas. "I told them there's selfishness in this locker room. There is. And you gotta look in the mirror and be accountable on how you play. And don't get upset if you think you should've played more or you didn't play enough or you didn't get the shots you think you should've gotten. Really good teams, they don't give a [expletive] about that. You know what they give a [expletive] about, they give a [expletive] about winning."
The Wings held on against the Indiana Fever earlier in the season but lost both the Atlanta Dream and Minnesota Lynx games in similar fashion. Closing out tight games has been a problem. Fernandez clearly thinks the answer starts inside the locker room.
Paige Bueckers' Performance and Wings' Closing Stretch
Minnesota closed the final 3:26 on an 11-3 run, repeatedly attacking the paint off simple pick-and-roll actions that Dallas couldn't stop. Courtney Williams and Natasha Howard hit back-to-back baskets to erase the lead after the Wings missed their chances at the other end. Dallas scored just two points in the final 1:32 as the Lynx finished it off with a 5-0 run.
Paige Bueckers was the best player on the floor for most of the night. She finished with 27 points, three rebounds and eight assists and was still productive into the fourth quarter. But when it mattered most, the shots stopped falling.
Bueckers managed just one point over the final three minutes, missed a free throw with 13 seconds left that could have cut it to one and couldn't convert a late three-pointer either.
Minnesota's late blitzes put her under pressure, and Jose Fernandez turned to Odyssey Sims over Azzi Fudd during the clutch possessions. On defense, Bueckers also struggled to stay in front of Lynx guards at the point of attack.
It was a tough finish for a player who had done so much through the first three quarters.
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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 4:50 AM.