How can Caitlin Clark and the Fever get back to being a top-tier team?
Yahoo Sports' Nekias Duncan and Steve Jones Jr. react to the Indiana Fever's defeat against the Atlanta Dream and discuss what the Fever must do to continue winning games. Check out the full conversation on "The Dunker Spot" and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
Well, I mean, I think there was a conscious effort from the team to have more activity, to try more things, to execute more coverages, to try and do their work earlier.
And so it wasn't just, "Hey, we're only doing this."
We're gonna try different things.
You know, if we switch, we're gonna battle, we're gonna deny, we're gonna have short recover scenarios, we might trap every now and then.
So just a willingness to put more things on the table is what stood out to me over the course of the game.
And I think overall, the Fever are kind of in a unique sit- situation where if the defense is at a certain level that's not great, it's gonna be easy to read, it's gonna be easy to see, it's gonna dictate how they get out offensively.
It's gonna be tough.
But when they're able to get stops consecutively, play with energy, now push on the other end, they become what you think the Fever will be.
And I think the best part for Indiana is probably, one, holding the Dream under 40%, and then also having an offensive game where it wasn't necessarily a perfect world, 'cause the Dream defense is really good.
I think it was 30 made field goals, 16 assists.
But you have Caitlin Clark, impactful.
You had the start from Kelsey Mitchell that just kept going out throughout the game.
You have Aliyah Boston.
So it's a reminder of the top level that they have and what they can kinda produce on both ends of the floor.
And I think for them, part of the journey, I think, is, you know, defensively they're gonna have to play at a certain level, but they're gonna have to figure out how to win different types of games if they wanna hit that top tier of this W season.
And a- again, it's a very competitive league.
So you, you talk about a banger of a double header.
It was four teams that were either, are either solidly in your top five so far this season, or one of them was on the, like was supposed to be up there, not there, and one of them surprised you, maybe two.
Maybe three, actually, if you think about it.
But I think for me, it's just more the collective mindset to kinda just, hey, we're gonna pressure, we're gonna show help when we need to, we're gonna recover, we're gonna make the second effort, we're gonna make multiple efforts defensively.
If the Fever can just consistently stay within that range, they give themselves a, a different type of chance than when they're ab- when op- teams or offenses are able to kinda dictate terms and cause a little bit more chaos.
