A busy schedule of Sunday games starts the final week of the WNBA season, and this visit by the Dallas Wings to play the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse has very different meanings for the two teams.
For the Fever, it's a chance to reassess and try to clean up some issues before the playoffs start. They're coming off back-to-back home losses against the Las Vegas Aces at home, and the sequence gave Caitlin Clark and company a preview of what physical playoff basketball is going to be like.
Dallas, however, is on a different page entirely. They're playing out the string, and they come into this one with a seven-game losing streak. Their last victory came against the Minnesota Lynx back at the end of August, so it's been a while since the Wings have had much to celebrate.
The Wings have had a tough go of it this year. Their season has featured several disappointing losing streaks, including an 11-gamer to go with their current seven-game streak. It's a trend they'd love to end against Indiana so they can finish out the season on a strong note, but it will be an uphill battle for sure.
Bright spots have been few and far between, but the Wings played Seattle tough in their last game as they dropped an 83-81 decision. Center Teaira McCowan stepped up as a primary scorer in that one, scoring 23 points to go with 15 rebounds as Dallas forced Seattle to come back from several big leads.
The Wings most reliable player has been Arike Ogunbowale. Her last couple of games have been on the quiet side, but before that she averaged over 20 points a game, and her current scoring average is 22.1 per game. They'll need her to go off against Indiana in this one, and she'll need help from McCowan and other secondary scorers to have a realistic chance, too.
Indiana Fever Team Review
For the Fever, much of this season has been an ongoing celebration. It started out on the rough side, as Indiana played a brutal early schedule that was basically designed to get Caitlin Clark as much exposure and game screen time as possible.
Once the Fever survived that stretch, though, big things began to happen. Clark emerged as a budding superstar, and shortly after that she and teammates Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston became a viable Big Three.
The Vegas games could be viewed as a bit of a rough patch, but in the big picture it was probably a good thing for the young Fever to get a preliminary taste of playoff basketball.
They definitely have some things to clean up, most prominently sloppy defense and ball handling, but Indiana was able to briefly tie the Aces in that second game before dropping a 78-74 decision, so progress was definitely made.
Who to Watch
Dallas Wings
It's tough to go with anyone other than Ogunbowale here, but the Fever will undoubtedly be focused on defending her, so McCowan will need to step up. She has the size to score on Aliyah Boston and give Dallas an inside presence, so she'll be a key figure.
Indiana Fever
It's always hard to pinpoint anyone other than Caitlin Clark for a Fever game, but if you're looking for options, focus on Kelsey Mitchell. She's been Indiana's most consistent player of late, and the Fever have come to rely on her steadiness. She's shown a great inside-out game recently, and when she gets the ball and turns the corner to get to the rim, good things invariable happen for Indiana.
This article was originally written by Bob McCullough
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