Fever handle Liberty for second-straight win: Likes and Dislikes
The Fever have kept the Liberty away twice in the last month.
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Fever were back at home on Tuesday night to host the New York Liberty, a team they humiliated in the same arena less than one month ago.
Both teams have been playing well since that meeting. The Liberty are 7-1 in that span while the Fever have gone 4-2. Both teams are trending well and could meet in the first round of the playoffs.
Before the game, Fever head coach Stephanie White made a passionate statement about online fan behavior and her team. I have a story on that here, and you can watch the video here.
Likes and Dislikes from Fever vs Liberty.
Tony East
LIKE: Early offense, as usual
The Fever's top-rated offense continued to look like the top-rated offense in the first few minutes of the game. They hit three of their first four outside shots as they took a lead into the game's first stoppage.
All of the Fever's big three scored in that stretch, and Lexie Hull wiggled her way into five quick points. Role player contributions do so much for the Fever given how automatic their stars have been of late.
It took hardly over five minutes for the Fever to reach 17 points. It was going to be a tough night for the Liberty if they couldn't get any stops.
LIKE: First-quarter rebounding
After 10 minutes of play, there were two differences in the game: Three-point shooting and rebounding.
The Fever went 4/7 from deep in the first quarter, some of them being fairly difficult threes. Their run of shotmaking recently has been impressive. But their biggest edge came on the glass.
Indiana led 13-8 on the boards after one period, and their three offensive rebounds gave them needed extra possessions. Aliyah Boston and Makayla Timpson, the new starting frontcourt, were both active pulling in rebounds early.
The work of those two was important in the Fever's 29-23 lead after one quarter.
LIKE: Kelsey Mitchell
Perhaps the most consistent thing going for the Fever right now is Kelsey Mitchell's scoring.
She was hot in the first half, hitting eight of her 11 shots and all three of her outside shots. The Fever won her court time by 14 in the first 20 minutes. And Mitchell, of course, scored 20 points in the first half.
That continues her streak of scoring at least 20 points in every game since June 22. Mitchell has been undeniable for almost two months now.
LIKE: Caitlin Clark
Like Mitchell, Clark was spectacular in the first half. She had six assists at halftime, exactly 50% of her team's total, and routinely kept the offense humming with her pace and passing.
The scoring, and particularly the shooting, made it a dominant opening two quarters. Clark made four of her first five outside shots, including the first possession of the game, in the contest. She was 5/9 from the field with 18 points at halftime.
Clark and Mitchell had 38 combined points at the break. New York's starting five? They combined for 35. And the Fever were ahead 64-46 after two frames, hence the four likes, zero dislikes ratio so far.
DISLIKE: The start to the third quarter
Stop me if you've heard this one before: The Fever really struggled to hold their big lead.
The third quarter saw the Liberty take control of the pace of the game, and they surged as a result. Across the first three-ish minutes of the second half, New York went on a 11-2 run that cut their deficit from 18 to nine. The Fever's defense in that stretch was quite poor.
And that poor defense led to worse offense against a set defense. That feedback loop guided a long Liberty run.
LIKE: Responding
Recently, poor Fever stretches like the one above compound into something much worse. That happened in their most recent home game, a loss against the Las Vegas Aces.
This time, the Fever closed the third quarter well and kept their composure after their lead dropped to nine. Before the end of the third, they were up 20 at 87-67, and that was their edge when the buzzer sounded to end the frame.
It was a 19-8 Fever run across 5:48, giving them a big lead entering the final period.
DISLIKE: The late possession war
The Fever were playing well enough to keep a comfortable lead throughout the fourth quarter. But after a mostly solid game on the glass and taking care of the ball prior to the fourth quarter, they wobbled a bit in the possession war.
After seven minutes of fourth quarter play, they had three turnovers and just three rebounds in the period. New York, meanwhile, had over twice as many rebounds at the time and just one turnover.
This wasn't of major concern when it came to the result of the game. But it's something the Fever hope to clean up going forward.
LIKE: The reserves to close
Most of the Fever starters got a nice break to end this game as the team closed with a full-ish bench lineup with the result already decided. The final minutes were played by Ty Harris, Raven Johnson, Lexie Hull, Myisha Hines-Allen, and Monique Billings. The newly-signed Mercedes Russell even got in a minute of action.
That's because the Fever were up big, and they beat the Liberty 106-92. That brought the team's record to 21-12.
Thank you for reading. Fever-Wings, another potential playoff preview, on Friday, Sign up for that story to come straight to your email inbox.
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