Fever Coach Explains Final Play Timeout Thinking in Loss to Wings
The Indiana Fever have now lost three out of their past four games after a tough 81-80 defeat to the Dallas Wings on August 12.
The Fever were incredibly handicapped in this game, as they didn't have a true point guard on their roster aside from Odyssey Sims, who they signed to a hardship contract earlier this week after she was waived by the Los Angeles Sparks in July.
It's very hard for a team's offense to function without a true point guard on the court. This is why it was impressive to see Indiana rally during the fourth quarter, ultimately scoring 25 points compared to 14 for Dallas in that last frame. But it wasn't enough, as the Fever failed to execute in the final possession to head home with a win on Tuesday.
Stephanie White Explains Final Play Thought Process
The Fever corralled a defensive rebound with 11.7 seconds left in the game, down by one point. Rather than take a timeout to advance the ball, Fever head coach Stephanie White elected to let her team take it down the court and try to procure a basket before she stopped the clock (and thus allowing the Wings to set up a defense).
However, after no scoring opportunity presented itself, White ultimately called a timeout with 1.7 left. From there, the ball was inbounded to Kelsey Mitchell from the sideline, who could only hoist a toughly contested shot up at the baseline that didn't come close to going in, thus cementing the Wings' win.
Kelsey Mitchell : 24 points on 7-15 shooting, 4-7 from 3, 6-7 from the FT line & 6 rebounds in 36 minutes (Missed the potential game-winning jumper off the side of the backboard at the buzzer) pic.twitter.com/IPea9FJfAM
— Lee Harvey (@MusikFan4Life) August 13, 2025
White has received a lot of criticism on social media for not calling her timeout sooner in the wake of this defeat. And she spoke about her thought process when addressing the media after the loss.
"No. I mean, I wanted us to, we knew it was going to be a low clock when we got it out, and we had been really good in transition. And we were in the penalty," White said when asked if she had considered taking a timeout earlier than when she did, per an X post from @Nikelodeon2021.
"So I wanted us to outlet and attack in transition. When it got to the point where we didn't attack, and just started dribbling sideways, I probably should have used it at the three-second mark instead of a little bit later," White added. "I thought Kels might have had a baseline drive... And so I didn't like that. But I did want us to push in transition with a low clock and limited opportunity."
Coach Steph White explaining the last possession against Dallas, and waiting to call the reset timeout. She’s right.
— Nikelodeon (@Nikelodeon2021) August 13, 2025
Also a true PG makes all the difference in this entire game tonight. Hoping Odyssey is able to get more acclimated before Friday…we def need her. #FeverRising pic.twitter.com/Mb3UZbDMCH
The Fever will look to bounce back from this loss against the Washington Mystics on August 15.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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