Chloe PetersonIndianapolis Star
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ATLANTA — In the course of just 11 days, the Indiana Fever's season outlook changed entirely.
Going into a game against the Connecticut Sun, then the WNBA's best, on the road on June 10, the Fever were exhausted. They suffered a third loss to Connecticut, this time in near-blowout fashion, 89-72, which dropped them down to 3-10 on the season. Coach Christie Sides criticized the effort of four of her starters.
At that point, the Fever seemed directionless. They were on track to miss the playoffs for the eighth consecutive year, putting them in the lottery, and a discussion of if Indiana could ever rebuild enough to dig out of this hole.
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But with an easier stretch of schedule coming up, the Fever have rallied. They looked at what was working, what wasn't, and fixed what they needed to.
And they haven't lost since. With a 91-79 win over the Atlanta Dream on Friday night, the Fever have won four in a row for the first time since 2015 — when Fever legend Tamika Catchings was still on the roster. The Fever (7-10) have their feet firmly in the playoff race.
"We just stayed the course," forward NaLyssa Smith said. "There was a lot of times it was frustrating, nobody likes losing. But we poured in, like we always say, we believed in each other."
Schematically, what changed? They started running their offense through the post.
It started when Sides left second-year center Aliyah Boston in the second half of that blowout loss in Connecticut and benched the rest of the Fever starters. Sides said it was to increase Boston's confidence (she proceeded to be named Eastern Conference Player of the Week), but it also shifted Indiana's offense to going through the post.
And it worked. Boston and four reserves took a 25+ deficit and cut it to 17 by the end of the game, outscoring Connecticut in the fourth quarter. Seeing the second team jell with Boston was crucial for Sides, especially going into a homestand against with winnable games.
Putting the offense through Boston and Smith, getting the ball in the paint every possession, changed how this Fever team worked.
They had 42 points in the paint against the Dream on June 13, 50 against the Sky, 38 against the Mystics, and 48 in the Dream rematch in Atlanta on Friday night. Each time, the Fever outscored their opponent in the paint — despite Atlanta having 14-year veteran Tina Charles and Chicago having rookies Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese, all of whom are strong paint protectors.
Charles scored a season-high 24 points on Friday, but she was the only Dream player to shoot over 45% from the field. In contrast, the Fever shot 56.9% from the field Friday night. Boston shot a perfect 5-for-5 from the field for 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Smith went 10-of-17 for a team-high 21 points, along with nine rebounds.
The Fever have figured it out: When their bigs can get space in the paint, they're effective. It also opens up the floor for the Fever's 3-point shooters, including rookie Caitlin Clark and vet Kelsey Mitchell, when teams need to decide who they want to guard.
"We want to be able to play inside out, we want to get our post touches, and the more we can do that the better for Lys and AB," said Clark, who had seven assists Friday night. "They've been obviously very efficient, super efficient tonight. That's the highest percentage shot in basketball, that's a shot you want to get."
There's also the chemistry aspect. This team had just two weeks of training camp together before starting the season, then had minimal time to practice with 11 games in 20 days. Following that stretch, they've had more and more time to practice and learn each other's tendencies.
"We're just building chemistry," Sides said. "Timing is everything, because there's ways when people screen and roll, you got to kind of know what they like to do, screen and pop. It's really about just just playing together and having an experience, and they're kind of figuring that out."
This Fever team, with a cast of the 2024 and 2023 No. 1 picks, the 2022 No. 2 pick and the 2018 No. 2 pick, has the elements to be a successful and threatening team in the WNBA. And when they all get enough time to play together, they are showing they can be dangerous.
