The Indiana Fever were on the brink of qualification, but made matters worse for themselves on Thursday night at the American Airlines Center against the Dallas Wings. The Wings beat Caitlin Clark and the Fever 91-85. Thankfully, the Fever caught a lucky break as they did not need to play another game to secure qualification, as the WNBA confirmed that they are heading to their third straight playoff following the Portland Fire’s loss to the Toronto Tempo the following day.
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Following the game between the two expansion franchises, the WNBA made their qualification official on X.
While the Fever have been among the favorites for the WNBA title since before the season started, not securing qualification with just a month remaining in the playoffs added unnecessary pressure on the team. Especially considering the New York Liberty, who are yet to secure qualification themselves, will bring in their A-game against the exhausted Fever side on Sunday night in Brooklyn.
However, catching a lucky break means the Fever players who have been on the road for a while won’t have to go all out against the Liberty.
Before this, the Fever certainly took advantage of playing 12 of their first 19 contests at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse and have since gained further momentum, which led to a five-game winning stretch this month. They now stand fourth in the table, and the key ingredient of the Fever’s dominance this season has obviously been their offense, powered by their historic backcourt duo of Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell.
While Clark started the season with on-and-off back issues, her return to full fitness during the course of the summer has made her one of the favorites for the MVP this season. With averages of 21.7 points, 8.3 assists, and 3.8 rebounds per game, Clark shut down all the critics, now directly competing for the biggest individual award against four-time winner A’ja Wilson and rookie Olivia Miles.
Meanwhile, Kelsey Mitchell is posting the best numbers of her career so far and is in the MVP conversation. With the opponents’ defenses usually targeting Clark, Mitchell has taken full advantage as an elite scorer, averaging 24.6 points, 2.7 assists, and 1.7 rebounds per game. Teammate Aliyah Boston went so far as to call Mitchell “really just the MVP,” praising her relentless daily work ethic.
Speaking of Boston and the Fever’s squad depth, that has shown up in box scores as well. Four Indiana players scored in double figures in the signature overtime victory against Angel Reese’s Atlanta Dream, with Clark posting 26 points and 9 assists, Mitchell and Makayla Timpson each adding 20, and Boston contributing 18 points and 14 rebounds.
While the Fever’s core looks completely locked in for the playoffs, they can finally take a breather after their tough road spell, which concludes on Sunday night following their game against the Chicago Sky. After that, they only have a home game against the already-eliminated Connecticut Sun on August 28, and they won’t be playing a single game until September 18, when they travel back to Canada to face the Toronto Tempo.
This is because the FIBA Women’s World Cup officially begins next month, and while Clark and Boston are in the Team USA squad, their workload won’t be that high, considering the number of stars head coach Kara Lawson has in every position. Regardless, with the berth locked up, the focus now shifts to seeding and chasing home-court advantage, so they have the best possible chance to win the coveted prize the franchise has been chasing for 14 years.
Can the Indiana Fever win it all?
Now that the Fever are officially qualified for the playoffs, the next obvious question is whether they are capable of going all the way and achieving lifelong glory. If we go by their current record, the Fever are 24-13 this season, and 7-3 in their last 10 games. A perfectly fine record, mostly steered through their otherworldly offensive prowess. But the postseason requires teams to go above and beyond their capabilities at times, and the Fever need to stay wary and learn from their mistakes.
The Fever lost two games to the Dallas Wings and the Atlanta Dream this season, and have also lost against the Minnesota Lynx, Golden State Valkyries, Las Vegas Aces, and the New York Liberty. All of these teams are expected to be in the playoffs, which can make Stephanie White’s job harder when planning.
The Fever will once again look towards their backcourt duo of Clark and Mitchell, on whom they are heavily reliant. And why wouldn’t they be? Clark and Mitchell’s scoring contributes directly to the fact that the Fever is the number one-ranked offense in the league with an ORTG of 116. They also have the third-best net rating at +6.4.
However, the Fever’s elite offense has overshadowed their historically poor defense, regularly conceding 90 points or more, naturally making their games go down to the wire. While they were able to escape this flaw in the regular season, they will have a hard time in the playoffs if they face the Lynx, as Cheryl Reeve’s squad represents the pinnacle of defensive discipline.
Meanwhile, the Liberty’s postseason experience can change the complexion of a game before it even starts, with Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu leading the charge. And if not defense, the Aces will fight fire with fire as the league’s most devastating combination of interior dominance and perimeter execution, powered by A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young.
Last season, the Fever managed to make a deep run in the playoffs, losing to the eventual champions, the Aces, in the semifinals. They reached that point without the help of Clark, who was already out for the season. In the end, Clark’s fully fit presence might turn out to be the game-changer the Fever needed all along in the playoffs as they strive to win the WNBA championship for the first time since 2012.