The Indiana Fever (8-13) aren’t essentially on hearth, however they’re changing into higher and it’s a pleasure to look at a crew that was making preventable errors now transfer the ball and rating successfully. The protection nonetheless wants enchancment, however the effort is lastly there. Simply take a look at the vitality within the Fever locker room after the win over the Phoenix Mercury:
All-Stars abound
Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell have made the 2024 WNBA All-Star crew. You’d suppose {that a} crew with three All-Stars can be on the prime of the league or someplace round it. The Fever, nonetheless, are on the ninth spot within the standings, with eight wins and 13 losses. After a tough begin to the season, the Fever are enjoying significantly better. All-Star snubs apart, Indiana may have extra gamers take the court docket in Phoenix than the Seattle Storm (13-6) and the identical quantity because the New York Liberty (17-3), Connecticut Solar (16-4) and Mercury (10-10). Had been the alternatives unjustified or unreasonable?
Clark is one probably the most marketable WNBA gamers ever, a scores mover and any individual who will get followers into arenas. And past that, she’s an unimaginable participant who fully validates the hype. Per Fever’s press launch, we’ll let her stats communicate for themselves:
Clark earned her first WNBA All-Star choice after averaging 16.2 factors, 6.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 34.2 minutes per contest and has began in all 20 video games this season. The 2024 No. 1 general draft decide leads all rookies in factors per recreation, assists per recreation, minutes per recreation, area objectives made, 3-point area objectives made and is third within the WNBA in assists per recreation. Clark received WNBA Rookie of the Month in Could and already owns the franchise rookie-record for many assists in a debut season. In Clark’s nineteenth profession recreation, she turned the quickest participant in WNBA historical past to report not less than 300 factors, 100 rebounds and 100 assists.
Aliyah Boston? She was the WNBA’s Japanese Convention Participant of the Week for the week of June 10 to 16 and is among the finest bigs within the league. After blocking out the skin noise by briefly quitting social media, she vastly improved her play and, extra importantly, elevated her depth.
After which there’s Kelsey Mitchell…
Mitchell’s milestone
Throughout the July 2 loss to the Las Vegas Aces, Mitchell made her five hundredth 3-pointer of her WNBA profession. At age 28, the capturing guard joined the elite group of 18 professional ballers who’ve drained not less than 500 3s within the W. This yr, she’ll positively transfer as much as seventeenth on the all-time listing, as it can take simply 11 3s to take over Leilani Mitchell’s and Allie Quigley’s spots. Reaching Maya Moore’s 530, Renee Montgomery’s 532 and Ivory Latta’s 536 is also a chance, which might imply Mitchell may end the season 14th on the all-time listing. At age 28, that’s fairly an achievement, even for a participant who was chosen No. 2 general within the 2018 WNBA Draft.
Together with her second All-Star look in a row, Mitchell is steadily constructing a Corridor of Fame resume. Statistically, she has taken a slight step again, averaging two factors fewer per recreation with lowered passing. However, she’s enjoying subsequent to a world-class level guard in Clark, which has helped her rating extra effectively than final season. For the second time in her profession, she is making over 40 % of her long-distance pictures. Having her play subsequent to Clark creates defensive points for the Fever and places a heavier burden on Kristy Wallace on that finish, however they need to be wonderful once they can outscore the opposing backcourt.
What’s subsequent for the Fever?
We’ll see how far Indiana’s All-Stars can take them throughout the three-game homestand that begins this weekend and continues into subsequent week. On Saturday, July 6, they host the Liberty (1 p.m. ET, CBS). Subsequent Wednesday, July 10, the Washington Mystics come to city (12 p.m. ET, League Cross). Then, the Mercury go to on Friday, July 12 (7:30 p.m. ET, ION).
The gutsy win over the Mercury this week proved that the Fever are rising up and jelling. The loss towards the Aces was predictable, if not inevitable, so let’s hope that Fever will get again on observe throughout their subsequent contests.
