Fever's hot, award-filled summer continues amid playoff berth

The Indiana Fever (17-16) clinched a spot in the 2024 WNBA playoffs on Tuesday night, ending an eight-year drought .

On Wednesday, both rookie guard Caitlin Clark and head coach Christie Sides added to their collection of individual accolades.

Sides is in her second year at the helm in Indiana and led the group to a 5-1 mark in August coming out of the break from the Paris Summer Olympics.

According to a release , the Fever led the WNBA in scoring (89.7 points per game), three-pointers made (72) and offensive rating (110.7) during the month.

Indiana returned from the Olympics break by defeating the Phoenix Mercury 98-89 on Aug. 16 to complete a regular-season series sweep against the three-time champions for the first time since 2015. The release also highlighted the Fever's 84-80 win against the Connecticut Sun on Aug. 28 (their first triumph against the Sun since 2021) and Friday's 19-point victory over Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky where Clark and company scored a season-high 100 points.

Indiana began September by beating the Dallas Wings 100-93 on Sunday to extend its winning streak to four games (tying a season high). Sides' crew opens its six-game homestand on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Sparks and will wrap up the regular season on Sept. 19 against the Washington Mystics on the road.

Clark was not only named the WNBA Rookie of the Month for the third time on Wednesday but earned the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award as well. The 22-year-old also won the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the second time on Tuesday.

Per a release , Clark led the WNBA in assists in August and paces the Association in dimes per contest as well (8.4). She showed what made her arguably the best women's college basketball player of all time at Iowa by posting at least 19 points, five assists and four rebounds in all six of the Fever's games last month.

Clark leads all rookies in points (18.7), steals (1.4) and minutes per game (35.4), while ranking first in free-throw percentage (89.7) too. During Sunday's win against the Wings, she became just the seventh rookie in league history to register at least 600 points and also is now the highest-scoring first-year pro in Fever history at 617 points.

With Hall of Fame forward Tamika Catchings as the primary star, the Fever made the playoffs in 12 straight seasons from 2005 to 2016 and won a title in 2012 but haven't been back to the postseason since she retired. After last season's 13-27 mark and a 1-8 start this year, it's been a huge second-half turnaround for the Fever, and they appear to be a dangerous out heading into the playoffs.