Forward of Wednesday evening’s match-up between the Connecticut Solar and the Indiana Fever, Solar head coach Stephanie White praised Indiana for his or her progress this season.
The 2 groups have confronted off thrice already this 12 months — Connecticut rising victorious all thrice — however White famous that the staff they’re going through immediately is a very totally different staff than the one they performed in Could and June.
“Anytime you’re a younger staff that’s that’s actually rising into your self, the understanding of each other, the timing, the tempo, the connectedness simply wasn’t fairly there early,” White stated of Indiana. “It’s there now.”
The Fever started their season 1-8 and appeared destined for the lottery. However, they turned issues round in mid-June, and have gained 11 of their final 17 video games. They now, ave a 2.5 recreation over the Sky for the #7 seed. If the playoffs began immediately, the Fever and Solar would face off.
White — the 2023 WNBA Coach of the Yr — attributed the Fever’s progress to their improved chemistry and comfortability with each other, and specifically, with Caitlin Clark. Clark is averaging a league-best 8.2 assists per recreation, and set an all-time WNBA report for many assists in a recreation again in July.
“All people on the ground understands how, when and the place Caitlin Clark can get them the ball. And they also get there,” White stated. “Kelsey Mitchell’s clearly taking part in at one other stage now, and so it offers you one other participant on the ground that you need to be conscious of, on and off ball in isolation and in two-man.”
Mitchell has been the league’s main scorer in August thus far, averaging 26.3 factors per recreation. Aliyah Boston has recovered from a sluggish begin to the season and is now averaging 13.9 factors and 9.2 rebounds per recreation. Each Mitchell and Boston have performed properly off of Clark, and the wins have adopted.
“They make faster reads, and play with much more rhythm, higher timing, and a number of weapons on the ground,” White stated.
In consequence, the Fever look harmful. On a current episode of her podcast, “A contact extra,” WNBA legend Sue Chicken stated that the Fever are a staff that nobody will need to see within the playoffs.
“In 2018 and 2020, the years we gained, that was our complete mantra – tempo, tempo, tempo, tempo,” Chicken stated. “And what I see in Caitlin, what I see in Kelsey Mitchell, they’re simply ramming it down individuals’s throats. And it’s actually onerous – it could have your head spinning.”
In her pregame presser on Wednesday evening, White appeared to echo that sentiment.
“It’s a staff that’s taking part in with plenty of confidence,” White stated. “They don’t concern anybody. They simply exit and so they play and benefit from the recreation — that’s a troublesome matchup.”