“There’s selfishness in this locker room. You gotta look in the mirror and be accountable for how you played,” was Jose Fernandez’s statement after the Dallas Wings’ loss to Minnesota. The statement was deemed a warning sign in his locker room. Instead, it became one of the hottest debate topics in the media rooms, even prompting WNBA legend Cynthia Cooper to lash out at Fernandez for his outraged reaction. Now, after Wings’ latest win against the Washington Mystics, Fernandez has doubled down on Cooper’s comments.

Speaking on the WNBA on Prime show regarding Fernandez’s comments, Cooper initially started a rant in Italian before making her feelings clear. “I wanna say they have 11 assists in the first quarter. How’re you gonna be selfish? 11 on 12 baskets. 22 for the game,” Cooper had said. “Accountability is for everyone. Everyone – staff, players, let’s be accountable.” Quite naturally, Fernandez wasn’t looking to let that slip when his team won against the Mystics.

“Some people out there in the media wanna talk to me in another language,” Fernandez said. “They’re welcome to come to Dallas and watch us practice. Maybe even go over the things that we run on the offensive end. Send out an invite.”

In her assessment, four-time WNBA champion Cynthia Cooper cited the assist factor, 11 in the first quarter and 22 in the game, as an aspect that diminishes Fernandez’s locker-room callout. But that isn’t as clear as it seems.

The Wings might have tipped off the first quarter with 11 assists, but they had just 6 in the entire second half. With a lack of substantial ball movement, the offensive production dipped, and eventually the Wings blew out an 8-point lead they had entering the second half.

“We finished the halftime; we had 16,” Fernandez had said. “What did we finish with? 22. So, we go from 16 assists in the first half, 11 in the first quarter, to six in the second. Go back and watch the game. The ball didn’t move as it should.”

On the surface level, Cooper might have a valid point to call out Fernandez for his stern words against the locker room. But the technical aspect reinforces that the Wings did fumble the ball during the game. Now, the tonality of Fernandez’s press conference can always be a topic of debate.

But a clear-cut and blunt approach has always been Jose Fernandez’s style. He doesn’t sugarcoat his words when expressing his feelings, irrespective of the stature of the person ahead of him. And it was quite evident from his cheeky reply that he had for Cynthia Cooper in the latest Dallas press conference.

Nevertheless, Jose Fernandez’s critical approach did work in the very next game. The team emphasized ball movement, which eventually helped them to a 69-92 win against the Mystics. The Wings recorded 30 assists and, even more impressively, gave away just 8 turnovers.

Even franchise cornerstone Paige Bueckers heaped praise on the team’s performance in the game. “We played selflessly tonight,” she said. “And we scored 92 points. We moved the ball really well…It was a really good response from our team.” But for the Wings’ head coach, the ball movement is still a work in progress for his team.

Jose Fernandez Pinpoints Rebounding and Defense Rather Than Ball Movement While Crediting Mystics’ Win

The Washington Mystics game marked the return of the Dallas Wings to the winning column. A 23-point blowout win was some way to establish their dominance after straight defeats to Atlanta and Minnesota. But for Jose Fernandez, the improvement he wanted to see with his team’s ball movement was still missing.

“The offensive end hasn’t been the problem,” Fernandez said. “We talked about some of the third quarter and the fourth quarter ball sticking and not moving. That was totally different from what we wanted to get the ball to. But this game was won because of how we defended and rebounded. This game was won because of the commitment to us in the last two days, practicing to shoot.”

Fernandez’s assessment is backed to the hilt. The Mystics’ game was definitely one of the most notable performances for the Wings in the season. Restricting a team that has Kiki Iriafen and Shakira Austin to less than 70 points is definitely a tough job.

And the Wings did it with ease. As for the ball movement, it is progressing quite well for the team. They are playing closely and doing quite well with the ball security. But it should be noted that the Mystics weren’t particularly efficient in protecting their rim in the game. They even allowed Jose Fernandez’s team to take 70 shots at the basket, an exceedingly high number.

It will be interesting to see if the Wings can replicate a similar performance against even more efficient defenses. The team won’t have to wait long to test themselves. Their next game is against the Chicago Sky, a team that has lost just once this season and has given up 90+ points just once. The tip-off is on May 20 at the Wintrust Arena.