As the Indiana Fever and its regular season has begun to move at a more manageable speed, they’ve also found some footing along the way. They’ve won three of their last five including their most recent W in the form of a 91-84 victory against the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night. Below I’ll touch on some of the areas of growth while also noting areas of focus as they approach a pivotal stretch of their season coming up.
Aliyah Boston and Her Dominance
While fans had plenty to be hopeful for coming into the 2024 campaign, few ranked closer to the top than Aliyah Boston’s sophomore season. Coming into the year as the reigning Rookie of the Year, she has shown plenty of flashes of the player that led her rookie class last season but with that dominance came the ability for teams to better suit themselves defensively against her as well.
But coming off of a performance against Atlanta on Thursday night where she tied a career-high
27 points, Boston feels like the ability to put together a solid performance in the ’24 season was
just what she needed:
“I think this was, just for me, a pretty good game because I think I’ve just been needing one like this where I feel I’m dominant and I’m getting to my spots. I’m really glad I’ve got my teammates out here that trusted me, gave me the ball and trusted me to make the shot.”
Indiana Fever forward Aliyah Boston
Boston started the game by scoring the team’s first seven points before pushing them to victory in the fourth when she scored eight straight midway through the quarter. In the win, she added a season-high 13 rebounds as well. Yet throughout the year, she has had an issue getting into a groove on offense. Boston held to 14 points or less in eight of their 14 games this season.
Aliyah Boston put on a show 👏 pic.twitter.com/tA3wCFbjI6
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) June 14, 2024
Averaging 11.8 ppg (points per game) and 7.4 rebounds per game, Boston will need to piggyback off of her most recent performance as they head into a five-game stretch where four of their opponents tout a losing record.
A Consistent Offensive Approach for the Indiana Fever
In their three most recent wins against Chicago, Washington and Atlanta, Indiana has found a consistent balance on offense between Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell. Coming into the season, those two had been considered as part of a trio that could lead the franchise’s revitalization and during their string of success have shown to be just that as each has led the team in scoring a multitude of games.
Thursday’s 91-84 win against Atlanta marked the most points scored in a game this season by Indiana. Mitchell, who started the season at an incline while coming back from an ankle injury, has slowly come into form when scoring in double figures in 11 of her last 12 games while currently averaging 15.4 ppg.
Her ability to create her shot and score at all points on the floor stands as a key piece to an offense that sits ninth in the league in terms of scoring while the rookie Clark continues to grow more comfortable with defenses.
Clark, who set a rookie record for most 3s made in a game with seven against Washington, has seen her offense ebb and flow this season but after tying her career-high against the Mystics with 30 points believes there is still more work to be done:
“It felt good to shoot the ball well. I feel like even my misses were right there. I felt like multiple were still going in and it’s nice to have a night like that. Overall, I felt like we shot the ball well. … I still feel like there’s so many ways that I can continue to be better. That probably goes for our whole team. We feel like there’s so many ways for us to improve and execute, especially down the stretch.”
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark
With Mitchell plus Clark continuing to iron out kinks on offense, the added complimentary piece of Boston’s inside presence gives Indiana a recipe for future success as they now head into a stretch of games against teams that sit in the top half of defensive ratings this season.
Defensive Clean Up
As so much of the Fever’s success hinges around finding ways to make their offense click, their defense currently has been arguably their biggest hiccup as they lead the league in points allowed with 89.4 ppg while also allowing 46.2% shooting from the field.
One of their bigger miscues on the defensive side of the ball has been the inability to slow down
the opposing team’s best guards as four of their last six losses have found them losing at the
hands of the opposition’s one or two.
And while there is more than just one solution to fix their defensive woes, finding more playing time for Lexie Hull, who drew a majority of the tougher defensive assignments last season at the guard spot is a consideration while rookie Celeste Taylor comes off of the heels of a Defensive Player of the Year nomination in the ACC as a senior.
Finding the right defensive lineup is key but takes time. What can be improved soon is the rate at which they turn the ball over. It is currently 13.8 per game and the ability for opponents to capitalize. Currently, their opponents have averaged 17.4 ppg off of turnovers this season. Indiana also gives up the second most second-chance points with 13.9 ppg.
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