As Caitlin Clark & Co. make their way towards Gainbridge Fieldhouse, they would have a bittersweet taste from their Vegas trip. They secured the first game in a commanding fashion, but the very next game was a total blowout. However, being back home oddly instils hope for yet another Fever win in the hearts of the fans. But as WNBA analyst Alicia Jay puts it, one Fever starter needs to rise to the occasion.

During the We Need to Talk podcast, Jay raised questions about why Aliyah Boston was not utilized to her full extent in game 2 vs the Aces. She has shifted into more of a full-time shadow on Wilson instead of playing her usual style. As Jay notes, that adjustment is unintentionally making life tougher for the 2023 ROTY.

“I was rather disappointed in the way that they used Aliyah Boston. They need to get that ball to her more. Aliyah is a key player on that team. I’m trying to see her stat line – she got only 10 points,” said the WNBA analyst. Boston in game 2 went for 10 points and 13 rebounds on 5 of 9 shooting. In game 1, her contribution was even lower, dropping 6 points with 11 rebounds on 3 of 9 shooting.

Jay did not expect such a level of performance from an all-star, rookie of the year-winning player. And for that, she blames Stephanie White. “They need to make sure that she’s more effective because she just didn’t have as many opportunities as she should have in that game,” Jay said. But there has been a shift in White’s approach in the playoffs.

Earlier in the year, Aliyah Boston was at the center of everything Indiana did on offense. The Fever head coach frequently pointed to her as the team’s main playmaker, and her stat lines in the regular season backed it up. She was averaging 15 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in the regular season.

In this series, though, her responsibilities have shifted. Rather than serving as the offensive anchor, she has been asked to focus more on containing A’ja Wilson. That job has taken priority over her usual role as the Fever’s engine inside the paint, making life harder for her team’s offense.

The postseason numbers tell the story. Boston is currently making 10.6 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 4.4 assists. The brunt of those offensive duties is now falling on Kelsey Mitchell. However, Aces tapped into this weakness in Game 2, not letting Mitchell play her natural game.

This is where the WNBA reporter feels White should make a strategy change for a better Fever postseason result. “And so when you go into a game three knowing that they know how to play Kelsey Mitchell, they know how to [play] her, you really have to utilize all of the players that you have, and Aliyah Boston is a huge factor in this, that they need to make sure that she gets her points moving forward,” said Jay.

Interestingly, these shots at Stephanie White come at a time when Fever’s playoff run is under an unfortunate fact. The Fever head coach, in all her years of coaching, has never won a best-of-five series if her team has won the first game. Under White, her teams stumbled out after winning game one in the 2024 WNBA Semifinals (Connecticut Sun vs Minnesota), the 2023 WNBA Semifinals (Connecticut Sun vs New York), and the 2015 WNBA Finals (Indiana Fever vs Minnesota).

Is history bound to repeat itself, or is the streak meant to be broken? If you are a Fever fan, you would desperately pray for the latter. However, there is another factor in this series that is troubling both Boston and her teammates.

Caitlin Clark’s teammate shares a major woe in this series

The Indiana Fever insists the officials are allowing excessive physical play in this series. Boston spoke up first, saying, “Yeah, I mean, it’s how you look at it. Honestly, by some of the fouls and the way it was going, it looks like we were almost too physical, but yet at the same time, I feel like we have to be able to get that on the other end.”

White supported her, arguing that constant whistles broke Indiana’s rhythm and gave Las Vegas too many free throws. Interestingly, the Las Vegas Aces’ head coach shared her plight. Becky Hammon states that the game became overly physical and claims that her assistants with NBA backgrounds would never see this physicality there.

So when officials in the WNBA are letting physicality run amok in a postseason game, these competitive women will utilize it. However, this is affecting Indiana more than Las Vegas, as they are running on a thin roster marred with injuries. Will things change for the better for Caitlin Clark & Co.? The answer to that will come forward in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where the teams will meet for Game 3.