Can Fever still be a contender this season? 'You see it in spurts,' but that's not enough

Indianapolis Star

4 days ago

BROOKLYN – For nearly three quarters, the Indiana Fever were in a rhythm.
They were going shot-for-shot with the New York Liberty, the reigning champions and one of the best teams in the league. They had seven steals and forced 11 turnovers by halftime, leading by as many as seven points in the third quarter.
Then, as quickly as they had it, they lost it.
Starting around the three-minute mark of the third quarter, New York went on a 29-8 run over nine minutes of game time. They limited the Fever to just two field goals during that stretch, all while easily creating space for their own shots.
'I feel like they didn't really feel us in the second half like they felt us in the first half,' Fever forward Natasha Howard said after Tuesday's 98-84 loss. 'We let them take quick shots, and that let them get easy buckets on the offensive end, and we really didn't pay attention to the personnel, we really struggled with that. But New York is a really good team, a championship team for a reason.'
These second-half breakdowns have become an unfortunate theme for the Fever. They'll start strong in the first half, bring a lead into halftime, build it up midway through the third quarter, then fall apart.
It happened in San Francisco, when a 13-point third-quarter lead turned into an 11-point loss on June 19; again in Las Vegas, when an eight-point lead in the third turned into a seven-point loss on June 22; and a third time against Los Angeles on June 26, as a 10-point third quarter lead pivoted to a 10-point loss.
Amid roster changes and injuries, the Fever can't seem to consistently put a full 40-minute game together. They've had some big wins, including the Commissioner's Cup over Minnesota (which doesn't count in league standings) and their first win over Las Vegas since 2019 on July 3, but that doesn't cover for the games where they have the win in their grasp, then flail.
'The difference in championship-caliber teams are those two or three minutes in a ballgame,' Fever coach Stephanie White said. 'You can't have the miscommunications, you can't have the breakdowns, you can't have the poor shot selection, playing outside yourself. Whatever it may be. Games and series are won and lost in those small margins.'
So, that begs the question: after a lot of preseason hype, are the Fever actually championship contenders?
Ahead of the season, national media had the Fever high on their championship boards. Taking into account the acquisitions Indiana made, like 16-year veteran DeWanna Bonner and three-time champion Natasha Howard, and the talent they were able to retain in eight-year veteran Kelsey Mitchell, a lot of people thought Indiana could contend alongside New York and Minnesota.
That was even something star Caitlin Clark characterized as success for the Fever this season: 'a championship.'
For multiple reasons, those talks have cooled since the season has gone on. Clark, who was in preseason MVP talks, has missed 11 games so far this season with various muscle injuries. Bonner only played nine games for the Fever before requesting a trade, and she was waived less than halfway through the season.
'That's for everybody else to discuss if we were really going to be a contender or not,' White said. 'Certainly, there's no substitute for experience, and Tash and Syd (Colson) are the ones that have championship-caliber experience. I do think the disruption, and players playing in different positions because of that disruption, hasn't allowed the continuity as much as we like, but you see it in spurts.'
The Fever have only had four games where they had their entire roster — including Aari McDonald, a midseason signee after Bonner was waived — so far this season. And it may be a while, if at all this season, that they'll have their full roster back, depending on the severity of Clark's right groin injury.
The standard for a successful year for the Fever may have wavered since the beginning of the season. Right now, at 12-12, they're tied for sixth in the standings and in the fight to keep a playoff spot.
Still, they know the margin of error is low. And, injuries aside, they know they need to improve.
'I don't think we have wiggle room to figure out anything else,' said Mitchell, who scored a game-high 29 points Tuesday. 'It's a gut-check game every game. Everybody's trying to make the playoffs, everybody's trying to be a contender for something, and I think it all comes down to who's going to be the tougher team for 40 minutes.'