SAN FRANCISCO – Shot clock issues were the least of the Fever’s problems Sunday night.
Indiana’s game against Golden State was significantly delayed just two minutes into the game as the shot clock continued to malfunction because of a power outage in the area. Play stopped for over 20 minutes as officials tried to fix it, and they eventually just brought out temporary shot clocks on the baseline floor.
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There were some more small malfunctions throughout the first half, leading to five stoppages in play in a first half that ended up lasting 92 minutes.
Coupled with four called timeouts and four reviews, the first half was as stop-and-go as it could be. But that’s not what plagued Indiana in Sunday’s 75-63 loss.
“I don’t think (the shot clock’s) a part of it,” said Aerial Powers, who led the Fever with 17 points. “It was our defense. No excuses with the shot clock, no matter what. They had to play against it too. It wasn’t just on us. So no excuses there. We just had some defensive mishaps, for sure.”
Golden State shot 7-of-8 from the field in the first quarter, getting 21 of their first 25 points from beyond the arc as they exploited Indiana’s zone defense.
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Indiana couldn’t effectively play zone with Golden State’s quick passes, as the Valkyries got the ball out to their teammates to shoot before the Fever defense could make their adjustments to cover.
“Their passes are on time and on target, so you can’t make a lot of defensive mistakes,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “And I felt like we over-helped. We were trying to not allow catch and shoot 3s. We didn’t want to over-help on drivers. We over-helped, we over-rotated. The timing on our rotations wasn’t very good, and we gave them wide open catch and shoot 3s.”
Golden State ended up shooting 12-of-19 from 3-point range and over 50% from the field. Indiana’s defensive miscues also contributed to its lack of offensive production.
The Fever thrive on rebounding the ball and kicking it out in transition for quick buckets. That’s how they put together runs. When they’re having to inbound the ball after a basket half the time, that allows Golden State’s defense to set and be prepared for Indiana’s offensive schemes.
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“I just felt like we weren’t aggressive,” White said. “We were very tentative offensively. We didn’t play with any kind of pace. So even when we had opportunities to run in transition, we were jogging the ball up the floor. We allowed them to set their defense, and they’re one of the best defensive teams in the league, and you can’t allow them to do that.”
The Fever just didn’t have the readiness they needed, White said. And that’s especially brutal in a game that’s so crucial in the playoff standings.
There are 1.5 games separating sixth place through eighth place — the Storm, Valkyries and Fever — in the standings. A single win or a single loss can send those teams up or down multiple spots on any given night.
This game was crucial for the Fever, as it was a chance for them to create some space in the standings. It was also a final chance to avoid being swept by an expansion team.
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But on Sunday night, it was the Fever that dropped multiple spots. Indiana (21-19) went from sixth to eighth in the standings with the loss, falling behind both Seattle (22-19) and Golden State (21-18) by half a game. Indiana is still two full games ahead of ninth place Los Angeles (18-20), the final team fighting for a playoff spot.
The Fever have four games left to try and solidify their playoff spot, and there are some winnable games in that schedule. Next up is Phoenix, which Indiana is 1-1 with this season. After that is Chicago, a team Indiana has beaten four times this season and is already eliminated from playoff contention. Washington also won’t be in the playoffs, and Minnesota will likely rest their top players in the final regular-season game as it has already clinched the top seed.
Indiana doesn’t need to win all of those games to make it into the playoffs. The Fever’s magic number, which includes Indiana wins and Sparks losses, is four. Any combination of that, whether it’s four Fever wins, three Fever wins and one Sparks loss, or zero Fever wins and four Sparks losses, would get Indiana into the playoffs.
The Fever should want to control their destiny as much as possible. And that comes with winning as many of the final four as they can.
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“That’s one thing Steph said in the locker room, every game we play from now on is a playoff game,” Fever forward Natasha Howard said postgame. “We’re trying to stay in that playoff race and play in the postseason. And our main thing is that we focus on the scouting report of whoever we got next.”
Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at capeterson@gannett.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Fever loss puts WNBA playoffs positioning in limbo with 4 games left
