Fever crushed by Mystics as they lose ground in playoff race: L̶i̶k̶e̶s̶ and Dislikes
The Fever were crushed on their home court.
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Fever were back at home for the first time since August 28 on Sunday night, hosting the Washington Mystics in a big pre-playoff battle.
The Fever had some tiebreakers at stake and could secure a better record than the Mystics with a win. Washington plays at the second-slowest pace in the WNBA and has a strong defense, a grindy style. They're strong on the boards. It's not an easy matchup for the Fever.
Whoever controlled the tempo of the game would have a big advantage. L̶i̶k̶e̶s̶ and Dislikes from Fever vs Mystics.
Tony East
DISLIKE: Early defense, especially from three
The Mystics made their first four shots from beyond the arc and found some success in the paint along the way. Their drives were getting deep into the paint, and the Fever's defensive rotations were a mess.
Almost exactly halfway through the first quarter, Shakira Austin missed a triple. It was the first time that Washington didn't find the net from deep, and the Fever were down six at the time.
Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, Lexie Hull, and Kelsey Mitchell had all scored at the cup early, but the Fever's defense and inability to hit a three themselves (started 0/7 from deep) were painful in the opening minutes.
(This didn't change for the rest of the first quarter)
DISLIKE: Losing the style battle
In the first quarter, the Mystics missed just five shots, and they grabbed an offensive rebound on two of them. The Fever were clearly frustrated with their defensive level and appeared to be talking about defensive technique in the huddle after the quarter.
The Mystics' slower pace was working. Their halfcourt offense couldn't be stopped, and taking the ball out of the net put the Fever in the halfcourt often. Without being able to knock down jumpers themselves, the Fever were helpless.
It was 34-19 after one frame. The Fever needed to find their speed in the second quarter.
DISLIKE: Offensive flow
Almost all of the Fever's first quarter struggles remained in the second. They couldn't score and reached 2/14 from deep with about four minutes until halftime. Their finishing inside the arc wasn't much better.
And defensively, they continued to struggle in slowing down the Mystics. Washington was shooting 64% from the field deep into the first half, taking a 20-point lead just over halfway through the second quarter.
Almost every 50-50 ball went the Mystics way. It was a dominant performance from the visitors to that point, and the Fever didn't appear to have any solutions with halftime nearing.
DISLIKE: Halftime ugliness, by the numbers
The first half was comfortably the Fever's worst half of the season. They scored just 30 points, tied for their fewest in any half.
The first time they only scored 30, they gave up 40. This time? 51.
Some other numbers:
-Players outside of Clark and Mitchell were 2/14
-Clark and Mitchell had 24 of the 30 points, but were 7/23
-The Fever shot 9/37, under 25%
-The Mystics shot more than 40% better than the FEver in the first half (64.7%)
-Sonia Citron, Shakira Austin, and Kiki Irafen alone outscored the Fever 31-30
-The Mystics had more defensive rebounds than the Fever had total rebounds
It was an awful, awful half for the Fever.
DISLIKE: Game flow
This game had 20 fouls called in the first two quarters, so about 10 per quarter. Even that felt like quite a few, but not too abnormal.
The third quarter was a whistle fest. There were 12 fouls called in the first six minutes of the quarter – yes, two per minute. That made for a slow, ugly game.
The Fever actually found some footing in this stretch, cutting their deficit down to 14 and scoring much more effectively than they did in the first half. But the game's flow made a quick, momentum-shifting run impossible.
(Final third quarter foul tally: 15 total)
DISLIKE: Defense, even with points coming
The Fever, after scoring 30 points in the first half, scored 31 in the third quarter. They finally found some offensive balance and flow thanks to strong quarters from Clark, Raven Johnson, and Makayla Timpson.
And yet, they conceded 26 and hardly cut into their deficit. The game's flow made a lengthy surge difficult, as did their fouling troubles. And the altered rotation (more Johnson, less Hull and Sophie Cunningham) was helping in some ways but hurting in more.
Boston's foul trouble was a challenge, too. It was 77-61 after three frames.
DISLIKE: Poor start to fourth quarter
After getting the game as close as 14 – still a large deficit, but a plausible comeback – the Fever stumbled again to start the fourth quarter and quickly fell behind by 21 points.
Much of the air was out of the building. The Mystics had control of the game with their style and speed. The Fever were searching for answers but found none. The start to the fourth quarter continued a challenging night.
DISLIKE: Standings consequences
The Fever were crushed in this game, and it was a pivotal one.
The Fever now do not control their own destiny for homecourt advantage in the first-round of the playoffs. They'll need Atlanta to lose at least one of their last two games if they want to host their opening series. And the Fever also now lose the head-to-head tiebreaker with Washington, who is just one game behind them in the standings.
Things are fluid with how tight the standings are. But this was an important outing for the Fever and their seeding, yet they played horribly. It could prove costly.
The Fever are now in fifth place alone at 27-14. Their final two games are against the currently first-place Minnesota Lynx.
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