Fever’s Friday Win Flips Pivotal Playoff Position With Dream

The Indiana Fever made an important WNBA standings jump over the Atlanta Dream on Friday night.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) in the second half against the Connecticut Sun | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With the WNBA regular season having just a few games left and the league taking a nearly three-week pause for the upcoming FIBA World Cup in a few days, this is a great time for teams to assess their standing.

And the Indiana Fever's standing took a small but important jump after their 111-91 win against the Connecticut Sun on Friday night. Indiana entered the game with a 25-15 record, which gave them the No. 5 seed in the WNBA standings.

They were a half-game behind the Atlanta Dream, who held the No. 4 seed. Therefore, if the season had ended before Friday night's slate of games, the Dream would have had home-field advantage over the Fever when the two teams met in the playoffs.

The Dream lost to the Portland Fire on Friday night. This means the Dream and the Fever have flipped standings positions, so if the season ended right now, the Fever would be the higher seed and get home-field advantage in the best-of-three first-round series.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) celebrates a made basket in the second half against the Dallas Wings | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

There's still time for these standings to shift again, as the Fever have four regular season games left (two of which are against the No. 1-seeded Minnesota Lynx, who might be resting their key players at this point) and the Dream have five games remaining (with their next one being against Minnesota).

Still, the Fever would much prefer holding the No. 4 spot as opposed to the No. 5 spot heading into this World Cup break.

Fever vs. Dream Home Advantage History

Fever fans are well aware how much of an advantage it would be to get two of three games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Arena in a first-round matchup against Atlanta.

Interestingly enough, Indiana is 2-2 against Atlanta this season, with both teams going 1-1 at home in the season series. Plus, the Fever managed to beat the Dream in a three-game first-round series last year, with the winner-take-all Game 3 being on Atlanta's home court.

Both teams look a lot different this year than last year, especially the Dream, who now have Angel Reese and DeWanna Bonner on their roster. Still, each team will do whatever they can to secure that No. 4 seed over the other if these two squads end up with the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds.

That isn't a guarantee, as the Fever are now a half-game away from the No. 3-seeded Las Vegas Aces, and the No. 6-seeded Washington Mystics are just a game and a half behind Indiana. This is why the rest of the regular season will have big stakes once the FIBA World Cup concludes.