Wings vs. Sparks: Arike Ogunbowale's 30 and Paige Bueckers' Career-High 14 Assists Power Dallas 104-96

Paige Bueckers handed out 14 assists and committed one turnover. Arike Ogunbowale made six 3s and scored 30. The Los Angeles Sparks shot 54 percent, got 27 points from a returning Kelsey Plum and still had to stand around on Friday night watching Dallas leave crypto.com Arena with its fourth straight win.

The Dallas Wings beat the Sparks 104-96 in a game with 18 lead changes and very little defense worth bragging about. Bueckers' 14 assists were a career high and tied Ogunbowale's franchise record of 14 in a game, which means the two people who now share that mark also share a backcourt. That seems like it could get annoying at dinner. It looks terrific on a basketball court.

Eighteen Lead Changes and Nobody Breathing

Los Angeles came out hot and went up 22-13 in the opening quarter before Dallas answered with nine straight between the 3:08 and 1:48 marks to tie it. The Sparks still took a 28-24 lead into the second, and from there this became the kind of game you want to watch with the sound on. Dallas scored 30 in the second quarter and Los Angeles scored 27.

It almost ended the half with Dallas in front, too. Bueckers hit a baseline jumper at the buzzer, the officials went to the monitor, and the shot came off the board, leaving the Sparks ahead 55-54. Dallas also lost Odyssey Sims to a left ankle injury in the first half, and she did not come back.

The third quarter finished 23-23, so Los Angeles held a 78-77 lead heading to the final 10 minutes. Dallas then won the game in two movements. First came a 9-0 run between the 7:18 and 5:52 marks of the fourth that flipped an 84-83 deficit into a 92-84 lead, the Wings' largest of the night. Then came the part where they had to survive what the Sparks did next. Plum got to the rim, Ariel Atkins hit a 3, Maddy Siegrist answered with a 3 of her own, and Plum and Erica Wheeler each made two free throws to cut it to 97-95 with 2:13 left.

The Bueckers and Ogunbowale Show

Ogunbowale's 30 came on 10-of-21 shooting, with 6-of-11 from deep, plus six rebounds and six assists. That is a lot of shots, but on nights like this one the math works out fine. She also scored the most important basket of the game, and we will get to that.

Bueckers was the one running the whole operation. She finished with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and she played 36 minutes with a single turnover while creating 14 baskets for teammates. A 14-to-1 ratio in a game this fast and this loose is a little ridiculous. Her pull-up with 4:23 left made it 94-86, and her two free throws in the closing minute put the thing away.

Jessica Shepard was the quiet engine of the whole thing. She had 22 points, matching what she scored against Las Vegas on May 28, along with 15 rebounds and five assists on 9-of-13 shooting. She grabbed six offensive rebounds and played 38 minutes without committing a foul, which feels like it should not be legal. Siegrist added 16 on 7-of-10 shooting with four steals, and 10 of her points came in the fourth quarter. Azzi Fudd scored 11 in 35 minutes and did not turn it over.

The Sparks had plenty to feel good about individually. Plum returned from missing three games with an ankle injury and scored 27 on 10-of-16, with six assists, though she also had five of the team's 17 turnovers. Atkins hit 4-of-7 from deep for 16, Dearica Hamby scored 15 on 6-of-8 shooting, and Nneka Ogwumike stuffed the sheet with 13 points, 10 boards and five assists. Cameron Brink gave them 10 off the bench.

One Offensive Rebound at a Time

The game turned with 1:47 left. Dallas was up 97-95, and Los Angeles had all the momentum after two straight trips to the foul line. Ogunbowale missed, went and got her own rebound and put it back in for a 99-95 lead. After Plum made it 99-96 from the line, Siegrist did nearly the same thing, cleaning up a miss around the 50-second mark for a 101-96 lead. Bueckers then went to the line with 47.1 left and made both.

Those two putbacks are the whole game in miniature. Los Angeles actually shot a better percentage from the field, 54 to 53. Dallas simply took 10 more shots, because it grabbed 13 offensive rebounds to the Sparks' eight and turned the ball over five fewer times. In a game where neither defense could stop much, extra possessions were the only currency that mattered.

Stats That Matter

• 30-25: Dallas' assist advantage, on 41 made field goals. The Wings have now reached 25 assists four times this season.
• 77-67: Field-goal attempts in favor of the Wings, the number that decided this game.
• 13-8: Dallas' edge on the offensive glass.
• 27-18: The Wings' fourth-quarter margin, after three quarters that left them down one.
• 17-12: Sparks turnovers vs. Wings turnovers, which led to a 17-15 Dallas edge in points off them.

Where Everybody Stands

Dallas is 7-3 and 4-1 on the road, with six wins in its last seven games. That is also the franchise's best 10-game start since the move from Tulsa for the 2016 season, so there is some actual history attached to this run. The test gets harder right away with a Tuesday game at Minnesota.

Los Angeles falls to 4-6 and an ugly 1-5 at home, against a 3-1 mark on the road. This was the Sparks' third straight loss, and getting Plum back did not fix the defensive leaks. Portland comes to town on Sunday, and that game suddenly feels pretty important for a team that keeps playing better in other people's buildings.

Two Leads, One Script

Every great buddy-cop movie needs a talker and a closer, and Dallas has quietly figured out that it does not much matter which of its two stars plays which role on a given night. On Friday, Bueckers did the setup work and Ogunbowale delivered the punch lines, and a franchise record ended up shared between them. Add Shepard doing all the unglamorous work in the background and the Wings have the rare sequel that might be better than the original. The Sparks, for their part, got a great performance from Plum and a loss anyway, which is starting to feel like a recurring plot point in Los Angeles.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press.