Indiana Fever at midseason: What they've done well, where they can improve in playoff push

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever ’s regular season is just over halfway done, and they are firmly in the playoff race with the seventh-best record in the league (and a win over the WNBA 's top team, the New York Liberty, on Saturday ). That's a far cry from the Fever’s 2-9 start, when they began the season with 11 games in 20 days. Since then, the Fever are 7-4.

With practice time and rest now integrated into the schedule, there’s no doubt the Fever (9-13) have improved since they began the season.

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Where Indiana Fever have improved so far

Chemistry

The Fever’s chemistry on the court is night and day from when they first started the season.

Indiana only had two weeks to integrate No. 1 pick Caitlin Clark , a known risk-taker in her long-range, behind-the-back, no-look and cross-court passes, into the lineup. Clark, coming off a national championship appearance with Iowa, was working with new teammates and a new coaching staff.

It showed in Clark’s 10 turnovers in her first professional game — she lobbed passes that worked before with her college teammates, but her new teammates weren’t yet prepared for those passes to come her way. Although they knew she had elite court vision, they weren’t prepared for the ball to be in front of them, coming in between a small crack in the defense.

But those things were going to take some time.

Eventually, things started to click for the Fever, and they started to learn how to catch Clark’s intricate passes. Clark’s turnover numbers started going down, and her assist rate went up. She set the franchise single-game record for assists with 13 on June 23 against Chicago, then matched it on July 6 in the WNBA’s first rookie triple-double .

The chemistry between Clark and 2023 No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston, specifically, has been improving. Through the first 13 games of the season, ESPN reported Clark assisted Boston just 1.3 times per game. Since then, that number has grown to 4.0.

“You just have to be ready and I think sometimes too, when she's getting blitzed as much as she is, she'll find a way to get the passes,” Boston said. “So, just making sure that we're in her space, and then especially in transition, she's looking to get the ball out, looking to push and so we just have to keep running.”

With a young team (four of five starters have less than five years of experience), growing pains were to be expected. But they’re improving each day.

“We've made strides in a lot of different areas that not a lot of people can appreciate,” two-time All-Star Kelsey Mitchell said. “I think us as a group, everybody had expectations that everyone had the do's and don'ts — what can we do? What can’t we do? And I think that us 12 did a really good job of, from game to game, to learn each other as best as we possibly could, respect each other as best as we could, and build a good culture.”

3-point shooting

Last season, the Fever were in desperate need of another 3-point shooter. Indiana was basically one-dimensional beyond the arc, with Mitchell being the only player to have 100+ attempts from the 3-point line. And it was a stark difference: Mitchell took 256 3-point shots (at a 39% clip) and Victoria Vivians was second with 94 attempts (at 28.7%).

The Fever’s lack of 3-point shooting allowed opposing defenses to pack the paint, making Rookie of the Year Boston and second-year NaLyssa Smith less effective.

This year, they got what they needed.

Mitchell and Clark already have more than 100 attempts from the 3-point line this season, shooting 39.8% and 33.1%, respectively. The Fever also brought on Katie Lou Samuelson, a floor-stretching forward who can shoot (36.4% from beyond the arc this season).

The Fever’s improvement from 3 has forced defenses to actually guard beyond the arc. It’s opened up opportunities for Boston and Smith in the paint, and forced more player-to-player coverage from defenses when needed. Not to mention defenses now need to guard Clark from nearly half-court, as she can easily launch a 3 from the logo.

Where Indiana Fever need to improve

Rotation consistency

This one is more of a coaching issue. Outside of their starting five (for the most part), the Fever have not necessarily had a consistent bench rotation behind them.

For example: Samuelson played a total of four minutes in Indiana’s June 27 loss to Seattle on the road. Two games later against the Las Vegas Aces, she was in the starting lineup. Samuelson began the season as a starter, then was replaced by Kristy Wallace five games in. Her minutes had fluctuated from then until when she re-entered the starting lineup.

On the other side of that, Wallace was in the starting lineup and playing around 20 minutes a game until Samuelson replaced her against Las Vegas. The next game, Wallace played just five minutes against the Liberty.

The same goes with Lexie Hull on the defensive end: she can switch from a DNP – Coach’s Decision to a pivotal role player with 20 minutes . She played less than four minutes against Chicago on June 23, then 12 against Seattle on June 27. She had just five minutes against Phoenix, didn’t play against Las Vegas, then had 20 minutes against New York.

Hull was known as Indiana’s defensive mastermind in 2023, starting over half of the games and guarding the best opposing player. Now, it’s not even a given she will get into the game.

Yes, it’s a process to find what works and what doesn’t especially with a young team. And rotations can differ based on the opponent. But these rotations are varying wildly, and it could affect how the second team jells, as well as how it works with the first team.

Defense

General manager Lin Dunn called Indiana the "foul queens" following last season, and the Fever have tried to make it a point to improve defensively this year.

Still, the Fever hold the second-worst defensive rating in the league (by 0.2). Indiana’s defensive rating is 104.6, while Dallas’ rating is 104.8. Connecticut holds the league’s best defensive rating at 92.

The Fever are ninth in the league in allowing 17 points per game off of turnovers. Indiana also allows an average of 12.7 second-chance points and 12 fastbreak points per game — the most in the league.

“We've got to do a better job of team defense, which is we've got to be in help a lot more,” coach Christie Sides said. “Sometimes we get caught up trying to guard who our man is. We also got to do a better job of just keeping people in front of us. But those are things that we've been working on from day one, and we'll continue to get better at it.”

The Fever have some offensive firepower — they rank seventh in general offense — but they can’t be successful in hoping to outscore their opponents into oblivion. It seems as if there’s a benchmark the Fever need to hit for them to win games — Indiana is 9-0 when it holds opponents to 84 points or less, and 0-13 when they score 85+.

Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67 .

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Fever at midseason: What they've done well, where they can improve in playoff push