FILM STUDY: Breaking Down Grace Berger's Efficient Scoring Night Against the Sparks
Grace Berger was a mid-range assassin throughout her five years in Bloomington.
Every year that she played for Indiana and coach Teri Moren, Berger shot at least 45% or better on two-pointers, and the Hoosiers often relied on her in crunch time to self-create buckets inside the arc.
Flash forward a couple of months, and she's doing the same for the Indiana Fever just about an hour from campus.
On Thursday, Berger had her most efficient game in the WNBA to date, scoring 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting in just under 20 minutes of play.
Despite not subbing in until the second quarter of the Fever's 81-68 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, Berger played the entirety of the fourth quarter. The rookie guard provided enough of a spark in her limited time that Fever coach Christie Sides decided she had to keep Berger out there as the team attempted a comeback that ultimately fell short.
It's the third time in the past five games that Berger has scored nine or more points, starting with her career high 15-point performance against the New York Liberty.
Berger's scoring game is based on feel and change of pace rather than size or explosiveness. She lacks the first step to blow by opponents from a standstill, and she lacks the vertical ability necessary to finish through traffic at the rim. But when it comes to creating space and finishing from the mid-range, almost no one is better than Berger.
Watch here how she freezes her on-ball defender with a nasty in-and-out dribble, only to punish the recovering defender with a smooth pump fake to open up space for the jumper.
Berger loves to use little pass fakes and shot fakes to manipulate defenders out of her way, whether it's in isolation like in the clip above, or against a scrambling defense closing out wildly to her.
In the next clip, the Sparks' defense has been bent, so they recover with an X-Out where the defender from the near corner closes out to Berger, while the defender rotating over sprints to the corner. Berger reads this perfectly and throws a pass fake to move her defender on the X-Out and glide in for an uncontested layup.
Berger is always under control when operating in that 10-to-15 foot area away from the bucket. Her handle and ability to read the defense has resulted in Sides and the Fever coaching staff gradually entrusting her with more and more on-ball responsibilities.
One of her five buckets on Thursday even came off a sideline out-of-bounds play that was designed specifically for her.
Pick-and-roll scoring has been the go-to for Berger with the Fever. It allows her to access her mid-range shooting touch, sublime handle and excellent interior passing on the court.
With her minimal three-point volume, teams have countered Berger by ducking under ball screens, betting that she won't take the pull-up threes they're giving her. Willingness to fire from three is something Berger needs to work on. She displayed increased aggression on Thursday, as one of her two misses was an off-the-dribble three the defense conceded to her after going under a screen.
But even if Berger never becomes a high frequency three-point shooter, she still finds ways to punish defenses with her on-ball craft and guile. On this next play, when Berger sees Layshia Clarendon go under the ball screen, she purposefully slows down and hangs for a moment as she crosses over from right to left.
Berger goes to that hang crossover in order to relax Clarendon and bait her into getting more upright in her stance. The result was another wide open layup.
There are still plenty of areas of improvement for Berger. Of the 43 two-pointers she's attempted in the WNBA, only 12 have been at the rim, and she's only converted 58% of those shots. That ranks 72nd out of the 118 players in the WNBA to attempt at least 10 shots from five feet and in this season.
If Berger can find a way to be more productive at the rim and behind the three point line, she might find herself as a starter for the Fever for years to come. She's already mastered her handle and deceptive scoring craft, and is close to putting it all together.
Berger and the Fever play the Seattle Storm on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and fans can pick up a special Fever X IU co-branded hat by buying tickets here.
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