Fever's Season-Long Foul Troubles Plague Indiana in Loss to Sparks

The Indiana Fever have struggled to limit fouls this season. It played a key part in their loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday night.

Indiana Fever guard Aari McDonald (2) shoves the ball away from Los Angeles Sparks guard Julie Vanloo (6) during a game Saturday, July 5, 2025, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Fever fell 87-89 to the Stars. | HG Biggs/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Indiana Fever had their three-game winning streak snapped Saturday night, edged 89-87 in a close battle against the Los Angeles Sparks.

Indiana led 45-42 at halftime and held a 4-point lead with 1:43 left in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough to prevent yet another blown second-half lead.

Asked postgame if the Fever needed to correct anything late in games in order to get over the hump, veteran forward Natasha Howard was quick with a response.

"Absolutely. Keeping them off the free throw line."

Indiana fouled the Sparks nine times in the fourth quarter, five of which came in the final five minutes of a back-and-forth affair.

It translated to the scoreboard.

Los Angeles had 9 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter, tripling Indiana's 3. Consequently, a Fever defense that had held the Minnesota Lynx and Las Vegas Aces under 60 points in their previous two contests surrendered 89 points to the Sparks.

These are the games the Fever have to win — can’t drop 2 games at home to a lower seeded Sparks team

Free throws and fouling continue to be a problem

Fever clearly struggle defensively with length in the post and speed on the wings. Needs to be a solution there

— SportsNerdHQ (@SportsNerdHQ) July 6, 2025

"We fouled too much, for one," guard Sydney Colson posited when presented with the game-to-game discrepancy. "We were a step slow on a lot of stuff."

Unfortunately, this isn't a one-off for Indiana. Head coach Stephanie White had a telling remark when asked about Saturday's late-game foul trouble.

"Today? It's been like all season."

Stephanie White on Fever foul trouble

She's not wrong.

Indiana averages the second-most personal fouls in the WNBA, committing 20.9 per game. Only the Connecticut Sun rank worse at 21.3.

The Fever finished with 24 personal fouls on Saturday, already the 11th time this season that they've committed 20 or more fouls. That's the second-most of any team in the WNBA, once again trailing only Connecticut (12 games with 20+ fouls).

"At the end of the day, we gotta be more disciplined," said White. "I didn't feel like we guarded our yard very well. I felt like we had times where we got them going the direction that we wanted to, and we bailed them out by fouling."

It would appear that drawing fouls became an emphasis for the Sparks down the stretch. As one reporter astutely noted postgame, all but one bucket for Los Angeles came inside the paint during the fourth quarter.

"Yeah, they had that and 9 free throws," White interjected. "They just put their head down and started to attack us."

Fever were outscored 6-0 to close, missed their last 5 shots. Sparks made 5 of their 6 4Q FGs in the paint.

Here's Steph White on that — and their last few looks. pic.twitter.com/z4LvDdQ6ET

— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) July 6, 2025

It's a prudent game plan, particularly because Indiana's most penalized players just so happen to be their two biggest stars.

Aliyah Boston is in the midst of a superb season, so much so that she'll be a starter in the 2025 All-Star game, but she's also no stranger to foul trouble. The Fever's center ranks third amongst all WNBA players with 3.4 fouls per game.

Not far behind her is star point guard Caitlin Clark. While Clark didn't appear on Saturday, missing her fifth straight contest due to injury, she's averaged 3.3 fouls in 9 games this season, good for fifth-most in the league.

The Fever can't afford to give teams extra points, and they certainly can't afford to have their top two offensive juggernauts in danger of an early exit.

"Instead of making them hit tough shots over the top of us and living with that -- cause these are the best players in the world, they're gonna hit really good shots -- we try to finish that play, whether it's a block, whether it's sliding in at the last moment, or whatever else," White elaborated. "Sometimes we just have to live with knowing that great players are going to make really good plays, and don't bail them out by fouling. Maybe we'll get lucky and they miss."

To their credit, Indiana does draw plenty of fouls on the other end, ranking 2nd in the WNBA with 20.9 per game. Still, they only rank 8th league-wide in free throws attempted per game, so they're not getting to the line enough to counteract their foul woes defensively.

For what it's worth, the Fever have looked better defensively of late, perhaps thanks in part to the return of Aari McDonald. That said, it's not yet a polished product.

As White and Colson both spoke on, Indiana has struggled to meet players at the point and move with the ball, leading to more switches and unnecessary rotations. All of that has no doubt contributed to the foul troubles and made it harder for Indiana to close out tight games.

Fouls in general have become a hot-button topic for Fever fans and players alike, particularly regarding how Clark is officiated as opposed to other players. That's a topic for further debate. Conjecture aside, Indiana is fouling too much, and it's coming back to bite them.

It will be something to monitor as the Fever look to get back above .500 on Wednesday against the Golden State Valkyries.