Fever return from road trip needing wins — and a little good fortune for once
Despite injuries, setbacks, and even a coach tearing his Achilles, Indiana controls its own path to the postseason: win and they’re in.
It was already go time for the Indiana Fever — but now more than ever before.
With three games left, they are one of four teams fighting for the final three playoff spots. Their next two opponents (vs. Chicago, at Washington) are already eliminated from contention, and their regular-season finale is at home against Minnesota — though the Lynx (32-8) could be resting players by then.
Currently sitting in eighth place (the final playoff spot), Indiana is one game ahead of Los Angeles, which owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.
However, the Sparks face a daunting finish: at Atlanta (twice), vs. Dallas, at Phoenix, and vs. Las Vegas. Four of those five are against top-four teams.
Just ahead of Indiana in seventh is Seattle, which has only two games left — both at home against New York and Golden State. The Fever hold the tiebreaker over the Storm.
The math is simple: Win and they’re in.
The Fever returned overnight, landing just before sunrise Wednesday, and were given the day off. But only one thing is on their minds:
The Chicago Sky on Friday.
“Focus on the one on Friday,” guard Lexie Hull said Tuesday after a 85-79 loss in Phoenix.
“Yeah,” added Kelsey Mitchell. “That's exactly what she (Stephanie White) told us, actually.
“All we can do is control what we control, and that's Friday. Lord willing, we prepare the right way, we show up as a group leading up to Friday. … I believe in our group, I believe in every person in our locker room, I believe in our coaching staff — and I think that Friday is the most important for us so that's all we can focus on right now.”
The Fever are 21-20, already with one more win than last season despite enduring unprecedented turmoil: DeWanna Bonner wanted out a month into the season, Caitlin Clark has been limited to 13 games due to injury, three players suffered season-ending injuries, and even short-term replacements have gone down.
And earlier this week in Phoenix — where Clark, Sydney Colson, and Aari McDonald all got hurt during the last visit — add one more to the list.