Fever Debut 'Creative' Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston Role-Reversal in Preseason
Aliyah Boston made her preseason debut Saturday night in the Indiana Fever's 105-57 win over the Nigerian National Team, and coach Stephanie White wasted little time making her the focal point of a unique offensive set.
Boston is no stranger to the pick-and-roll, routinely setting screens for Indiana's dangerous backcourt tandem of Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell. With her 6-foot-4 frame and soft touch at the rim, the 24-year-old is an effective threat on the roll and a frequent target for Clark.
The shoe was on the other foot Saturday in Indiana's preseason finale, with Boston handling the ball up top while Clark and Mitchell screened for the All-WNBA center.
White jokingly shushed the media when asked about the new-look offensive action before expanding on the thought process.
"Well, I mean AB's game has expanded. She played point forward for us last year," White noted postgame. "And when you have two playmakers who are screeners, it makes defenses make a choice."
The Fever only showcased the action a few times, but the early returns were promising, including one sequence in the first quarter where a Clark screen opened the lane for Boston to drive and lay it in uncontested.
Oh this is fun stuff from Stephanie White.
— Nekias (Nuh-KAI-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) May 2, 2026
Aliyah Boston initiating, Caitlin Clark off a stagger to flow into an AB-Caitlin PnR.
1) Easy layup
2) Beautiful pin-in screen set by Makayla Timpson, eventually gets rewarded underneath pic.twitter.com/qwjRwOlziI
"Steph and staff drew up a great play," said Boston. "For me, just making sure I'm making the right reads, see if they pull over, then look for the shooters because obviously Caitlin and Kelsey draw a lot of attention and they can't leave them open."
Boston posted a game-high six assists Saturday, while Clark and Mitchell both reached double figures with 12 and 17 points, respectively. White emphasized the importance of finding different ways to create shots for Indiana's best players.
"We've got to be creative in ways that we can get one another shots and create space. I think that we have an opportunity with those three on the floor to do a lot of different things."
Fever Should Explore Boston Point-Forward Look More in 2026
As for how often Indiana will use this action once the WNBA regular season starts on May 9, White tempered expectations.
"How quickly that happens, I don't know. We'll see. That's a lot of information to absorb," she explained. "But being able to see what it looks like was good for us."
Learning curve aside, it's a look the Fever should explore this season.
Boston's skill set lends itself to a point forward role and makes her particularly dangerous in any pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop set. In 2025, she led all WNBA centers with 3.7 assists per game -- good for third among forwards, behind only Alyssa Thomas (9.2) and Gabby Williams (4.2). There's enough on tape to suggest Boston can make the right reads consistently, and it should only benefit Clark and Mitchell in the long run.
AB joins the starting five ❤️🔥 pic.twitter.com/4QFlpQGLpZ
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) May 2, 2026
Boston's presence already creates spacing issues for defenses trying to contain Indiana's dynamic guards. A point forward pick-and-roll adds another wrinkle, particularly if her 33.3 percent three-point shooting at Unrivaled this winter carries over to the WNBA this season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Lou Orlando is a Fordham University alum, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. At Rose Hill, he covered women's basketball for the university newspaper, the Fordham Ram. In addition to calling games on 90.7 FM. The Brooklyn native enjoys bagels and thinking about random early-2010s athletes, that is when he isn't penning stories for Women's Fastbreak and Indiana Fever On SI.
Follow SweetLouuuuu