August 12, 2024
Locked On Women’s Basketball: Playoffs on high Fever alert
By The Next
Despite inconsistencies, Fever eyeing first WNBA playoff appearance since 2016
On today’s episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, host Missy Heidrick is joined by The Next’s Indiana Fever beat reporter Tony East to talk about the Fever’s quest to return to the WNBA playoffs. The Indiana Fever last appeared in the post-season in 2016. Since then, the team has yet to finish a WNBA season with a win-loss percentage over 38.2%. Now, with back-to-back No. 1 draft picks on their roster, in the form of Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark, the Indiana Fever are showing signs of life heading into the back half of the season for the first time in seven seasons.
Continue reading with a subscription to The Next
Get unlimited access to women’s basketball coverage and help support our hardworking staff of writers, editors, and photographers by subscribing today.
Already a member?
Login
“They went on the road at the very end of June,” East said. “They beat Phoenix, [who] was the best team they’d beaten to that point. And I thought, okay, maybe this is turning point, right? They got some wins against the bad teams before they beat a good team. And then a week later, they beat New York! Whoa! That’s even more of a signature win. Wow, this team’s playing really good. And then right after that, they beat Phoenix again. And then they beat Minnesota! Holy cow, maybe this Fever team’s like, pretty good and a tough out. And in between those games that I just described, they lost at home to Washington, and then they went into Dallas to give 101 points to the worst team in the league. And it’s like, what? What just happened? Like, how is that a stretch of results that happened? So it’s really hard for me to kind of grip what this team is.”
Get 24/7 soccer coverage with The Equalizer
The Next is partnering with The Equalizer to bring more women’s sports stories to your inbox. Subscribers to The Next receive 50% off their subscription to The Equalizer for 24/7 coverage of women’s soccer.
“They’ll be happy, and they should be, that they have a little bit of cushion ahead of the [Atlanta Dream, the ninth placed team], right? So, like they can’t coast, the Dream are good, but if they play .500 ball the rest of season, they’re probably gonna make the playoffs. That’s great, but they, if they had just cleaned up against two teams they should have beat, they’d have a ton of cushion heading into this final stretch of the season. So on one hand, I think they can smile and say, yep, we’re really clicking on offense, probably in the top half of the league offensively. That’s great. Another hand, they can say, hey, our defensive progress isn’t really happening. If the Dallas Wings didn’t have, like, the most injury riddled season ever, we’d be the worst defensive team in the league,” he continued.
Then, they discussed how the Indiana Fever have struggled with consistency, and where that may be coming from, and how to address it when they return to play on Aug. 16 against the Mercury.
“It’s going to be almost a month before they’re going to play [again], and they give up 101 and they lose at Dallas,” Heidrick said. “… You give up 101, yet you score 93, most people are going to feel pretty darn good about the 93, it’s the 101 that’s a problem. Seems to me that it’s kind of the old adage with, things are going great and we’re clicking offensively, then the defense dials in. If things aren’t going as well on the offensive end, then you lose that focus. And I think that’s maybe, to me, where … you feel like the pendulum swings really far one way and then the other. And that would be my question, probably, to Christie Sides: how do you get this team to be able to be focused no matter what, knowing you got to get people shut down? It just seems the lapses may be more on the defensive side, obviously, than the offensive side.”
Add Locked On Women’s Basketball to your daily routine
Here at The Next, in addition to the 24/7/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.
“They are 0-14 when they give up over 86 points, and 11-1 in every other game, right?” East explained. “86 isn’t even like that good, but like, if that bar is all you have to clear? You can win games doing that. So it’s just so obvious when you break it down like that. Just get some stops, get three more stops every game. That sounds so easy, and it’s not right? If every team could get three more stops every game they would do it. But that’s the line between them being like this consistently 17-13, right now, kind of team, and where they are.”
Tune in to hear more about the Fever and a recap of Team USA’s gold medal performance at the Paris Olympics, which wrapped up on Sunday. Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about the WNBA, women’s college basketball, basketball history and much more!
