Caitlin Clark on the Fever’s turnovers in the first half against Dream
“A lot of them were definitely unforced, like the leg dribble or a backcourt violation that wasn’t a backcourt violation, you all saw that.”
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Fever returned to winning ways on Sunday afternoon, taking a 104-100 overtime win over the Atlanta Dream.
The Fever are currently ranked sixth in the WNBA standings at 19-17 and have four games left in the regular season.
“I am proud of us.” How Fever flipped the script for Dream and gave him a comeback OT win.
‘Destructive’: Caitlin Clark on Angel Reese’s season-ending wrist injury
Here are three observations:
Indiana Fever wins first overtime duel of the season
You would never believe that the Fever were 16 points behind at one point in the second half.
After Indiana fought back in the fourth quarter and tied the score, the team successfully fended off Atlanta’s final shot by Allisha Gray in regulation time, forcing the Fever’s first overtime of the season.
After trading baskets for most of the overtime period, Indiana finally took the lead with 1 1/2 minutes left on a hook shot by Aliyah Boston. Indiana then successfully blocked shots by Rhyne Howard (36 points) and Tina Charles (17 points), and two free throws by Caitlin Clark sealed the game.
With this win, Indiana is now 4-0 against Atlanta this season and gives the Fever their second sweep of the season (Phoenix Mercury, 3-0).
Ball losses dominate the first half
Indiana didn’t really get into a rhythm in the first half, perhaps because they didn’t have good control of the ball. Indiana lost the ball 12 times in the first half; five in the first quarter and seven in the second.
Some of them were due to small mistakes – including when Clark tried to throw the ball over her head to NaLyssa Smith in the box and the Dream snatched it out of the air.
Coach Christie Sides called several timeouts in the second quarter as the Fever struggled, including two in a 40-second span. Kelsey Mitchell lost the ball twice in a row after a timeout in the 6th minute of the second quarter, prompting Sides to call a
That second timeout helped both Mitchell and the rest of the Fever. Mitchell didn’t lose the ball again for the rest of the second quarter and only had two more turnovers the rest of the game.
Fortunately for the Fever, the Dreams were unable to capitalize on most of the Fever’s turnovers. Atlanta only scored seven points from the Fever’s 12 turnovers in the first half, so most of those turnovers resulted in scoreless offense.
In the second half, Indiana had only three turnovers
The fever subsides but then recovers in the third quarter
The start of the third quarter was not a memorable moment for Indiana – some defensive errors gave Atlanta an 8-0 run and extended the lead to 12 points. At one point in the third quarter, the Fever were even behind by 16 points.
It was similar to the Fever’s third quarter disappointment on Friday night, when Minnesota used a 29-point third quarter to pull off an 11-point win over the Fever. Indiana couldn’t recover in that quarter, allowing Minnesota to score 17 more points than them.
But this time the fever didn’t stop there.
Indiana went on an 11-0 run midway through the third quarter, forcing Atlanta to commit three turnovers during that period. Mitchell and Aliyah Boston each scored four points during that period – Mitchell’s first points since the first quarter.
The Fever’s run revived Fever fans who had sat mostly silent for the first part of the third quarter. A 3-pointer by Clark at the end of the quarter brought the fans to their feet.
How many points did Caitlin Clark score?
Clark scored 26 points, including two crucial free throws in overtime, making 7 of 17 shots. She added 12 assists and five rebounds.
What is the Indiana Fever record?
The Fever are currently ranked sixth in the WNBA standings at 19-17 and have four games left in the regular season.
