IT’S BEEN A SEASON of highs and lows for the Indiana Fever thus far. But, coming off a recent Commissioner’s Cup title, a feat done without one of their integral pieces in Caitlin Clark, plus recent regular season success, they’re now hoping that momentum will push them into a strong finish to the first half of the schedule.
The Commissioner’s Cup, an annual in-season tournament for all WNBA teams, began June 1 and spanned until June 17, with a team from the Western and Eastern Conferences vying for a spot in the title game at the beginning of July.
For the Fever, their success in Cup play was a substantial part of the wins stacked up throughout June when they began tourney play with a 9-point win against the Washington Mystics before dismantling Chicago on the road in their next matchup.
In their final three contests, they went 2-1 overall with their lone loss coming against the Atlanta Dream, but from the vantage point of guard Kelsey Mitchell, their success relies on the team’s unselfish nature.
“I think we’ve got a team full of givers. … That’s what our team is about. We gut check all the time and we’re resilient,” guard Kelsey Mitchell said following their 74-59 Commissioner’s Championship win.
Mitchell continued by reflecting on their journey towards accomplishing a goal in spite of in-season challenges.
“You can use our team as an example of resiliency because we’ve had so many ups and downs. … To have so much going on, to stay consistent for each other, it was beautiful and it felt really amazing,” she said.
Against the Minnesota Lynx, a team that sits atop the league with the best record currently and came into the preseason as a championship favorite, the Fever fell behind early in the first half before a strong second half defensively spurred them to a 74-59 victory.
Their ability to play without Clark is a strong sign of things to come after she’s been saddled with quad and groin injuries early on this season, and in those matchups so far, they’ve gone 4-5 overall with three of their last four coming away as wins.
Two of their most recent victories have come at the hands of some of the league’s top teams as well, defeating Minnesota and Las Vegas, showing that Indiana is primed to run with teams by way of not just scoring, but defense as well.
Against Minnesota, Indiana held them to 35 percent shooting from the field while forcing 16 turnovers, while limiting Vegas days later to 26 percent shooting and racking up 17 takeaways.
Speaking after their 81-54 win against Las Vegas, head coach Stephanie White commended her team’s buy-in on the defensive side of the ball.
“To see it come together is rewarding,” White said. “I think our players feel that sense of the reward that comes with being relentless on the floor, the activity level it takes, trusting you can go all out, and trusting those guys coming off the bench. It’s rewarding to put back-to-back games together. … To put games together like this defensively says a lot about this group, and I’m just proud of them.”
And while they currently sit 9-9 overall, a seventh spot in the league standings, they’ve done so by weathering not just injuries to Clark but have also seen missed time by Sophie Cunningham, Sydney Colson, and Damiris Dantas. Furthermore, their free agent acquisition of DeWanna Bonner, a six-time All-Star, departed from Indiana in June.
Despite it all, they’ve been able to lean on two-time All-Star Aliyah Boston.
Boston, who has been held to single-digit scoring in just three games this season, is averaging 16.6 points per game on 59.7 percent shooting from the field and has followed that up with 8.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per contest as well.
After their recent road win against Dallas, Boston touched on what has garnered her the most success this season.
“For me, it’s just playing off of my teammates,” Boston said. “When you have guards like we do that require so much attention on pin downs and screens. I’m just making sure that I’m available for them. They do a great job of getting me the ball, and for me, it’s about taking every shot with confidence because we’ve been working on it.”
Indiana heads into the All-Star break with four games remaining until they host festivities on July 18 and 19, where they will tout three Fever players in Boston, Clark, and Mitchell as representatives for the All-Star team.
