Defense to be a Focal Point for Injured Fever
May 30, 2025 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Indiana Fever News Release
The Fever defense appeared to be a legit force through the first five games of the season. Entering Friday's matchup with the Sun, Indiana owned a top-3 defense in the league and a defensive rating of 93.9.
The offense was flowing, too. The Fever posted a top-6 offense even after losing Caitlin Clark's playmaking touch due to a quad injury.
But the previously winless Sun exploded for 85 points at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday - their second-largest point total this season - and guards Sydney Colson and Sophie Cunninham left the contest with injuries, leaving the Fever with eight active players and leading to an 85-83 loss for Indiana.
Even so, coach Stephanie White knows her team is capable of defensive levels far and above what the on-court product has shown through this early stage of the season.
"On the defensive end of the floor in particular, we're going to be a work in progress," White said before Indiana's clash with her former team. "Offensively, we've had pieces of our rotation out of the lineup at multiple times throughout the course of this young season already, so we know we're going to be a work in progress offensively."
Aliyah Boston's talent in reading an opponent's tendencies and racking up blocked shots has the ability to lift the Fever defense to an elite level. Coupled with the perimeter prowess of Lexie Hull, the Fever are primed to take a leap on the defensive side of the ball.
Boston blocks more shots than anyone in the league aside from A'ja Wilson and is separated from Wilson for the top shot-blocker in the WNBA by just 0.1 blocks per game. With Boston as a defensive anchor in the paint and Hull on the perimeter, the Fever remain steady against waves of opponent offense.
Indiana will need to fall back on that defensive identity as injuries plague its offensive game.
"We're hitting adversity right now," White said postgame. "It's challenging, and it's still a great opportunity for us, because it's not going to be perfect. It's early enough in the season that we've got a chance to really find a gut check moment in who we're going to be through adversity."
The Fever recorded 15 turnovers that led to 30 Sun points on Friday - a moment that spotlighted the group's hesitancy, according to DeWanna Bonner. The newness of the Fever squad and their inability to hit a rhythm through early season adversity inflates those turnover numbers and threatens to derail morale.
But the Fever have been through adversity, had their grit tested, and their morale kept them together.
"It's basketball," Bonner said. "Those things happen. Unfortunately, it's happening to us...[We're] still figuring it out. We're just going to just keep starting over every day. So that's kind of where we are, but I don't think it's deflating. It's basketball."
Indiana takes the floor at Gainbridge Fieldhouse again on Tuesday, June 3 at 7:00 PM for a rematch with the Washington Mystics.
Women's National Basketball Association Stories from May 30, 2025
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