'They're gassed:' Indiana Fever blown out by NY Liberty, again
'They're gassed:' Indiana Fever blown out by NY Liberty, again
The Indiana Fever completed their grueling start to the season with a 104-68 drubbing by the New York Liberty Sunday; 11 games in 20 days complete. Now they're off for the next two days.
If you Google “scheduled loss,” the top result might as well be the Indiana Fever game Sunday evening in Brooklyn.
This team was up against it.
Young, inexperienced and forced to play a brutal schedule.
As other teams had played between six and nine games — and the back-to-back champion Las Vegas have played six times — the Fever finished off their 11th game in 20 days.
Even worse, the level of opponent has been high.
The Fever finished had the No. 1 draft pick for a reason the past few seasons — a lot of losses — and yet they were scheduled to have more nationally TV games than any other team. And yet this schedule made things even more difficult — in addition to the league’s condensed schedule due to the Paris Olympics.
The Liberty had their way, raced ahead 31-13 at the end of the first period and cruised to a 104-68 wire-to-wire win. It was Indiana’s third time playing New York in their first 11 games. Even more, they played the undefeated Connecticut Sun (8-0) twice in their first four games, including in the season opener.
The Fever dropped to 2-9 in the season after nothing went right.
"This isn't a good matchup for us,” head coach Christie Sides said postgame. “It's probably the worst team we could've played on a back-to-back with how we're feeling and how are legs are. ... Their legs are shot, they're gassed, so everything was a little short.
The Fever shot 37%, including 25% from downtown. They were down by 31 entering the fourth before ultimately losing by 36 points. They also yielded 102 points to the Liberty in their first meeting of the season.
Kelsey Mitchell led the Fever with 21 points and NaLyssa Smith, starting in her third straight game for the injured Temi Fagbenle, added 17 points and eight rebounds.
It was a rough game for Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, the last two No. 1 picks in the WNBA draft. Clark finished with three points on 1-of-10 shooting and Boston had five points on 1-of-4 shooting. Even worse, both players went to the locker room in the fourth quarter with injuries — left ear pain for Clark and a left ankle injury for Boston.
No additional update was shared postgame.
Watch what Sides, Mitchell and Smith had to say postgame at the Barclays Center before they returned home for a much-deserved four days between games — including two straight off days.
And here’s Clark and Sides answering questions from reporters pregame.