Stephanie White Still Not Satisfied With Fever's Biggest Improvement
The Indiana Fever scored 104 points during their first game against the Dallas Wings last weekend. This would have been the third-most points they scored in a single game one season ago.
The problem was that the Wings scored 107.
While the Wings shot the lights out in that game, the Fever gave them too many opportunities and were mediocre with rotations and closeouts. And while several of the Fever's key defenders were either not active or on minutes restrictions during that Dallas game, this doesn't excuse those who were on the court.
Fever head coach Stephanie White conveyed a sense of urgency in addressing this during a practice earlier in the week. And on the surface, it seems that they did so in their 87-78 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on May 13.
After all, Los Angeles shot 49% from the field and 13% from three-point range, which is a stark contrast to the Wings' shooting 59% from the field and 52% from three-point range.
Stephanie White Isn't Content With Fever's Defense After Win vs. Sparks
However, White still wasn't satisfied with her team's defensive performance, which was conveyed when she spoke to the media after Wednesday's win.
When asked what she liked better against the Sparks when compared to against the Wings, White took a moment and said, "Ehh," per a YouTube video from the Fever.
Caitlin Clark then interjected, saying, "We only gave up 78 points! We're gonna win a lot of games if we do that."
"We did. We did," White responded.
"What do you want?" Clark jokingly asked.
"I want more! Coaches always want more. That's the nature of the beast," said White. She then added, "Again, we gave up 11 fastbreak points. Transition defense—and it's hard sometimes, turning the ball over or quick shots lead to transition opportunities. But our transition defense has to get better. I think our ball screen defense early wasn't really good. We got better in certain situations.
"And then we became hackers in the second half, evidently. So, I just think that there's a certain mentality that it takes to will yourself to defend every possession. And we are on our growth process to get there. We have the capabilities, there's no doubt about it. But there are gonna be days where we don't shoot the ball particularly well, there are gonna be days where things don't go great offensively," White added.
We've got to be able to rely on our defense. So we were better today than we were in game one. And that's what it's gonna take. Just getting better every day," she concluded.
White is right in saying that a head coach always wants more from their players. She's also right in saying that while the Fever's defense was better, there's still a long way to go until Indiana's defensive prowess matches their offensive firepower.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the Indiana Fever 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.
Follow GrvntYoung