It’s always fun to watch two elite teams go play-for-play. On Tuesday night, the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx faced off and had one of the best games of the WNBAseason. In the end, the seafoam proved to be too much to handle as they got some revenge for their Commissioner’s Cup loss.
The opponent today is trying to push their way into the playoff standings. The Indiana Fever are currently in ninth place and trying to make their first playoff appearance in nine years. They didn’t help their cause after losing to the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday evening in Vegas.
The Fever have figured some things out. Since their last loss to the Liberty on June 2, they’ve averaged 105.3 points per 100 possessions, third best in the W. A lot of that is due to the improved play of Caitlin Clark. All eyes have been on Indiana’s needle mover and she has kept the party going by averaging a league best 7.9 assists per game over her last ten contests. She’s found her three point shot to the tune of 38.5% from downtown. However, there’s one big bugaboo hurting her right now. The turnovers have been through the roof, and she’s going to need to cut down on that immensely. To be fair, some of that is due to her teammates fumbling spectacular passes. But still. Her pro journey has gotten off to a good start and she’s one of the early leaders for Rookie of the Year.
Clark and the Fever will have to deal with Sabrina Ionescu. Sab is still under the weather, but she’s fighting through it. Ionescu’s ability to get downhill has been essential, and against a Fever defense that has had plenty of trouble getting stops (worst in the league in defensive rating), they’ll have to figure things out in a big way. The Fever are also last in opponent’s turnover rate and the combination of not getting stops + fouling too much + not getting out in transition is bad business.