Indiana Fever 2024

[cupcakesnake]

Saw the Storm game live and have thoughts:

-Never been to Indianapolis before. Roll up on a Sunday, when half the city is closed for Christian reasons, and then you get to Gainbridge Fieldhouse and it's absolutely bumping. People showing up in droves and things are as packed as any NBA game I've been to. Everyone stoked like it's a finals game.

- Fever are coming together. Way more cohesive identity that earlier in the season. They spent the whole game trying to get the transition machine and 3-point machine operational. Seattle prevented that in the first half, but when they got it up and running the game was over. Yes there was hot shooting, but you could see how functional the game plan was. This team is ready to go on a run.

- As good as CC is, it's crazy to see how obviously better she's going to be soon. A few of those bad passes are going to be assists. A few of those wild shots are going to be swishes. That's all it will take and we'll have a bonafide 20-10 point guard in the W.

- Seattle collapsed. They stopped getting back in transition, stopped rotating to shooters, and then got painfully conservative on offense. They have bucket getters galore, but there's a reason this offense is middle of the pack. Nneka fighting in the midrange, Diggins-Smith trying to unlock drives, Jewell Lloyd not delivering the good from the perimeter. It's a your turn my turn offense right now and not enough shooting to unlock obvious solutions.

- This team is all about Ezi Magbegor's backline defense right now. Indiana could not score inside when Ezi was there. She stonewalled the bigger, stronger Boston on multiple possessions. She ruined Indiana's short roll game. Indiana won this game by scoring the ball as far away from Ezi as they could.

- Skylar showed up to compete. She had a rough first half shooting the ball, but was super active and aggressive on both ends. She had a nice run in the 4th that got negated by Seattle's defense giving up on 3-point defense.

[theforumblue]

Lol. Thought this was funny

Read on Twitter

my god she's such a dork. It's honestly my favorite thing about her next to her insane skill. Like she's unintentionally funny as hell

The league should do a hard knocks style show next season during camp/preseason covering a few teams. I would love to see more candid footage of the Fever, especially AB and CC, just being goofballs

evidence #3943 on "why was kate martin the captain all 4 years and not CC?"

[MrDollarBills]

Lol. Thought this was funny

Read on Twitter

my god she's such a dork. It's honestly my favorite thing about her next to her insane skill. Like she's unintentionally funny as hell

The league should do a hard knocks style show next season during camp/preseason covering a few teams. I would love to see more candid footage of the Fever, especially AB and CC, just being goofballs

evidence #3943 on "why was kate martin the captain all 4 years and not CC?"

Oh yeah, I think we've answered that question

[MrDollarBills]

Saw the Storm game live and have thoughts:

-Never been to Indianapolis before. Roll up on a Sunday, when half the city is closed for Christian reasons, and then you get to Gainbridge Fieldhouse and it's absolutely bumping. People showing up in droves and things are as packed as any NBA game I've been to. Everyone stoked like it's a finals game.

- Fever are coming together. Way more cohesive identity that earlier in the season. They spent the whole game trying to get the transition machine and 3-point machine operational. Seattle prevented that in the first half, but when they got it up and running the game was over. Yes there was hot shooting, but you could see how functional the game plan was. This team is ready to go on a run.

- As good as CC is, it's crazy to see how obviously better she's going to be soon. A few of those bad passes are going to be assists. A few of those wild shots are going to be swishes. That's all it will take and we'll have a bonafide 20-10 point guard in the W.

- Seattle collapsed. They stopped getting back in transition, stopped rotating to shooters, and then got painfully conservative on offense. They have bucket getters galore, but there's a reason this offense is middle of the pack. Nneka fighting in the midrange, Diggins-Smith trying to unlock drives, Jewell Lloyd not delivering the good from the perimeter. It's a your turn my turn offense right now and not enough shooting to unlock obvious solutions.

- This team is all about Ezi Magbegor's backline defense right now. Indiana could not score inside when Ezi was there. She stonewalled the bigger, stronger Boston on multiple possessions. She ruined Indiana's short roll game. Indiana won this game by scoring the ball as far away from Ezi as they could.

- Skylar showed up to compete. She had a rough first half shooting the ball, but was super active and aggressive on both ends. She had a nice run in the 4th that got negated by Seattle's defense giving up on 3-point defense.

You echoed my same complaint about the Storm. They stopped rotating and were giving up wide open shots repeatedly. You can't do that and then get pissed when you get mollywhopped on your own floor.

Baffling decision as a team. You know Clark is going to penetrate and look for the shooters. Rotate quickly or stay at home and force a contested shot. Giving up the perimeter to the Fever is certainly a choice, especially with Ezi as your anchor.

Skylar was out there scrapping. I enjoy the fact that she plays with a chip on her shoulder.

[Ice Man]

Thanks for the game report. I remembered that you were there and was expecting such a report. It sounded like the stadium was LOUD.

Yeah, Ezi is a game changer inside. Fortunately, I as have been writing, the Fever has become a pace-and-space team, so it wasn't trapped into making post passes to Boston and Smith and watching them get stuffed.

On a different note, I've been wondering why teams no longer pick up Clark in the backcourt. When she's free in the backcourt, she can survey her runners at leisure and pick the opponent apart in the fast break. It seems such an obvious mistake to leave her alone. Sue Bird was talking about that the other day. Her explanation did not convince me, that being that pressing the backcourt takes work and in the mid-season teams like to conserve their energy. Huh? The most any team plays the Fever is 4x per year, and you can alternate guards who do the pressing. Politely, that explanation doesn't work.

I did believe her, though, when she said that no opponent will give Clark that much space and time when the playoffs start.

[MrDollarBills]

Thanks for the game report. I remembered that you were there and was expecting such a report. It sounded like the stadium was LOUD.

Yeah, Ezi is a game changer inside. Fortunately, I as have been writing, the Fever has become a pace-and-space team, so it wasn't trapped into making post passes to Boston and Smith and watching them get stuffed.

On a different note, I've been wondering why teams no longer pick up Clark in the backcourt. When she's free in the backcourt, she can survey her runners at leisure and pick the opponent apart in the fast break. It seems such an obvious mistake to leave her alone. Sue Bird was talking about that the other day. Her explanation did not convince me, that being that pressing the backcourt takes work and in the mid-season teams like to conserve their energy. Huh? The most any team plays the Fever is 4x per year, and you can alternate guards who do the pressing. Politely, that explanation doesn't work.

I did believe her, though, when she said that no opponent will give Clark that much space and time when the playoffs start.

Pressing her would be a good idea to disrupt Indiana's shot clock time, but if she beats her defender off the dribble in the backcourt, which is a high possibility, it's pretty much a wrap for the defense on that possession.

Honestly? I would focus on taking away Clark's biggest strength: her ability to make everyone around her better

If she drops 40 on my PG I don't care. I'm not giving up open threes and lay ups off dribble penetration.

[tmorgan]

The Taurasi and Bird narrative:

1) First, it was “she’s gonna find out how tough this league is”. And that was true, for the first month.

2) Now it’s gonna be “she’s gonna find out how tough the playoffs are”. Which may be true, this first time around.

Still coming off as salty old turds, though.

[MrDollarBills]

The Taurasi and Bird narrative:

1) First, it was “she’s gonna find out how tough this league is”. And that was true, for the first month.

2) Now it’s gonna be “she’s gonna find out how tough the playoffs are”. Which may be true, this first time around.

Still coming off as salty old turds, though.

I think they were just being honest though.

The league is tough. No lies being told there.

If the current playoff seedings hold, that Sun vs Fever first round series is going to be super physical and she's gonna have to keep her head straight because Connecticut is going to test her on both ends.

[MrDollarBills]

Read this article

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/wnba/news/caitlin-clark-stats-fever-teammates-better-kim-mulkey/c14a372b1b0335e9dabde9d5

The author breaks down The Fever's individual eFG% with CC on and off the court. The differential is staggering

She's by far the best passer in the sport

[hermes]

If she drops 40 on my PG I don't care. I'm not giving up open threes and lay ups off dribble penetration.

this worked a few times in college against good teams. other teams would do a good job of limiting caitlin's teammates and she eventually decided it had to be her and she went supernova hanging 40+ on teams - but iowa would lose because she couldn't do it all herself (and also because the defense wasn't there)

those supernova games mostly happened in her sophomore and junior seasons. she eventually figured it out (people started pointing out that iowa's record when she scored 40+ was terrible) and made more of an effort to keep everyone involved on her team. there were times in her senior year where she could have gone supernova to bring them back into a game but she didn't do it. you could kind of tell she was explicitly not looking to shoot and rack up a bunch more points in a loss

she hasn't had a supernova game yet in the wnba i don't think. might not ever happen, her teammates in indy are better and less likely to defer to her being the only option. but yeah if i was the opposing team, i'd try shutting everyone down but clark. might not work because it would be hard (mitchell and boston are good) and because clark probably watches for that kind of thing now and won't let it happen

[MrDollarBills]

If she drops 40 on my PG I don't care. I'm not giving up open threes and lay ups off dribble penetration.

this worked a few times in college against good teams. other teams would do a good job of limiting caitlin's teammates and she eventually decided it had to be her and she went supernova hanging 40+ on teams - but iowa would lose because she couldn't do it all herself (and also because the defense wasn't there)

those supernova games mostly happened in her sophomore and junior seasons. she eventually figured it out (people started pointing out that iowa's record when she scored 40+ was terrible) and made more of an effort to keep everyone involved on her team. there were times in her senior year where she could have gone supernova to bring them back into a game but she didn't do it. you could kind of tell she was explicitly not looking to shoot and rack up a bunch more points in a loss

she hasn't had a supernova game yet in the wnba i don't think. might not ever happen, her teammates in indy are better and less likely to defer to her being the only option. but yeah if i was the opposing team, i'd try shutting everyone down but clark. might not work because it would be hard (mitchell and boston are good) and because clark probably watches for that kind of thing now and won't let it happen

I think she's going to have supernova games, definitely. May not happen this season though as I think she needs to develop her mid range bag to become a 3 level scorer.

To your point, if I can limit her teammates to a combined 35pts, the Fever are cooked. Easier said than done when Kelsey Mitchell and AB are out there though.

But I would focus not letting her pick my defense apart. That's how Seattle got smacked

[ellobo]

Thanks for the game report. I remembered that you were there and was expecting such a report. It sounded like the stadium was LOUD.

Yeah, Ezi is a game changer inside. Fortunately, I as have been writing, the Fever has become a pace-and-space team, so it wasn't trapped into making post passes to Boston and Smith and watching them get stuffed.

On a different note, I've been wondering why teams no longer pick up Clark in the backcourt. When she's free in the backcourt, she can survey her runners at leisure and pick the opponent apart in the fast break. It seems such an obvious mistake to leave her alone. Sue Bird was talking about that the other day. Her explanation did not convince me, that being that pressing the backcourt takes work and in the mid-season teams like to conserve their energy. Huh? The most any team plays the Fever is 4x per year, and you can alternate guards who do the pressing. Politely, that explanation doesn't work.

I did believe her, though, when she said that no opponent will give Clark that much space and time when the playoffs start.

Pressing her would be a good idea to disrupt Indiana's shot clock time, but if she beats her defender off the dribble in the backcourt, which is a high possibility, it's pretty much a wrap for the defense on that possession.

Honestly? I would focus on taking away Clark's biggest strength: her ability to make everyone around her better

If she drops 40 on my PG I don't care. I'm not giving up open threes and lay ups off dribble penetration.

She's been pushing the ball so quickly up the defense's back I think teams are concerned with getting five players back and building a wall. I saw a statistic today that opponents' offensive rebound percentage against the Fever is much higher when Clark is off the court. When she's on the court, they are more concerned with getting back in transition.

Clark has done a really good job adjusting to different defensive coverages so teams have backed off on things like constant blitzes and full court pressure. Not that teams won't do those things and mix it up, but they're not trying to beat her schematically as much as just having to execute defensively. Boston adapting to a secondary playmaking role and Mitchell being active and making great reads off ball have helped a lot.

The next defensive adjustment that teams are going to make is overplaying Boston without the ball whenever they double or help on Clark. Let someone else have to be the outlet and make a play when they get the ball out of Clark's hands.

[ellobo]

Read this article

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/wnba/news/caitlin-clark-stats-fever-teammates-better-kim-mulkey/c14a372b1b0335e9dabde9d5

The author breaks down The Fever's individual eFG% with CC on and off the court. The differential is staggering

She's by far the best passer in the sport

The numbers that stood out to me from that article are the number of assists for layups. There are a bunch of players clustered between 72 and 81 on the season, and Clark is at 121.

[Ice Man]

Pressing her would be a good idea to disrupt Indiana's shot clock time, but if she beats her defender off the dribble in the backcourt, which is a high possibility, it's pretty much a wrap for the defense on that possession.

It's a risk, but it seems unlikely lead to a worse outcome than what is now happening, which is that Clark is in her extreme comfort zone.

I will say this. If Christie Sides faced a team that had a player like Caitlin Clark, and Christie left that player alone in the backcourt, and that player did to Christie's team what Caitlin just did to Phoenix and Seattle, there would be 10 YouTube videos calling for her firing. So it's only fair to at least ask questions of the opposing coaches. Because people would do more to Christie Sides than just ask questions.
x

[Ice Man]

The numbers that stood out to me from that article are the number of assists for layups. There are a bunch of players clustered between 72 and 81 on the season, and Clark is at 121.

Nobody passes for layups like she does. Men or women.

[MrDollarBills]

Watch on YouTube

[Ghetto Gospel]

The next defensive adjustment that teams are going to make is overplaying Boston without the ball whenever they double or help on Clark. Let someone else have to be the outlet and make a play when they get the ball out of Clark's hands.

i thought what the mercury tried to do a couple of games back when they put cop on caitlin and tash on boston was interesting

it killed their pnr offense and told the fever that yeah you're going to play through boston post-ups or caitlin iso on a good defender which is going to be a good result for the defense generally. i think when teams mix that with a little bit of zone which i frequently see the fever struggle with in the half-court, they can really slow this offense down.

the biggest problem is teams locking in for 40 minutes on defense and getting back in transition. it just won't happen with players constantly needing to chirp at refs, complaining, falling to the floor to foul-bait, etc. i think if a team were to lock in (huge if, probably not happening), their offense seems kind of stoppable in the half-court

[ellobo]

The next defensive adjustment that teams are going to make is overplaying Boston without the ball whenever they double or help on Clark. Let someone else have to be the outlet and make a play when they get the ball out of Clark's hands.

i thought what the mercury tried to do a couple of games back when they put cop on caitlin and tash on boston was interesting

it killed their pnr offense and told the fever that yeah you're going to play through boston post-ups or caitlin iso on a good defender which is going to be a good result for the defense generally. i think when teams mix that with a little bit of zone which i frequently see the fever struggle with in the half-court, they can really slow this offense down.

the biggest problem is teams locking in for 40 minutes on defense and getting back in transition. it just won't happen with players constantly needing to chirp at refs, complaining, falling to the floor to foul-bait, etc. i think if a team were to lock in (huge if, probably not happening), their offense seems kind of stoppable in the half-court

Natasha Cloud has an unusual ability to guard bigs, and reportedly lobbies the coach to be able guard the post. But the Fever are 3-0 against the Mercury and Clark is averaging 21.3ppg/11.7apg/6.7rpg in the three games. Plus, Boston is averaging 17.3ppg/10.0rpg/4.3apg against the Mercury.

[Ghetto Gospel]

The next defensive adjustment that teams are going to make is overplaying Boston without the ball whenever they double or help on Clark. Let someone else have to be the outlet and make a play when they get the ball out of Clark's hands.

i thought what the mercury tried to do a couple of games back when they put cop on caitlin and tash on boston was interesting

it killed their pnr offense and told the fever that yeah you're going to play through boston post-ups or caitlin iso on a good defender which is going to be a good result for the defense generally. i think when teams mix that with a little bit of zone which i frequently see the fever struggle with in the half-court, they can really slow this offense down.

the biggest problem is teams locking in for 40 minutes on defense and getting back in transition. it just won't happen with players constantly needing to chirp at refs, complaining, falling to the floor to foul-bait, etc. i think if a team were to lock in (huge if, probably not happening), their offense seems kind of stoppable in the half-court

Natasha Cloud has an unusual ability to guard bigs, and reportedly lobbies the coach to be able guard the post. But the Fever are 3-0 against the Mercury and Clark is averaging 21.3ppg/11.7apg/6.7rpg in the three games. Plus, Boston is averaging 17.3ppg/10.0rpg/4.3apg against the Mercury.

i think it's a transition problem for the mercury vs a half-court problem but yeah, the fever have been cooking the mercury. they got out to early leads in the last couple of games running them off the court in the 1st quarter but when the mercury have been able to slow the game down to a half-court game, i think they actually do kind of alright in their half-court defensive sets

[MrDollarBills]

The next defensive adjustment that teams are going to make is overplaying Boston without the ball whenever they double or help on Clark. Let someone else have to be the outlet and make a play when they get the ball out of Clark's hands.

i thought what the mercury tried to do a couple of games back when they put cop on caitlin and tash on boston was interesting

it killed their pnr offense and told the fever that yeah you're going to play through boston post-ups or caitlin iso on a good defender which is going to be a good result for the defense generally. i think when teams mix that with a little bit of zone which i frequently see the fever struggle with in the half-court, they can really slow this offense down.

the biggest problem is teams locking in for 40 minutes on defense and getting back in transition. it just won't happen with players constantly needing to chirp at refs, complaining, falling to the floor to foul-bait, etc. i think if a team were to lock in (huge if, probably not happening), their offense seems kind of stoppable in the half-court

Natasha Cloud has an unusual ability to guard bigs, and reportedly lobbies the coach to be able guard the post. But the Fever are 3-0 against the Mercury and Clark is averaging 21.3ppg/11.7apg/6.7rpg in the three games. Plus, Boston is averaging 17.3ppg/10.0rpg/4.3apg against the Mercury.

Cloud is one of my favorite players for that reason. The kid is fearless.