Tough Remaining Schedule Will Be a ‘Measuring Stick’ for Fever as Playoffs Approach
The Indiana Fever have a tough last 14 games to go through before the playoffs start. Nine of their remaining games are against playoff teams, including five games against teams ahead of them in the standings and eight against teams that they have already lost to this season. The other five games are against the Chicago Sky, Toronto Tempo, and Connecticut Sun. Indiana has beaten all of them already, but it took overtime to get the win against Chicago.
The Fever don’t really have to worry about falling out of the playoffs with a 19-11 record and a seven-game lead over the ninth-placed Sparks. However, climbing into the top half of the playoff standings and securing home-court advantage could make a real difference.
Moreover, Stephanie White views this tough final stretch as an indicator of how close the Fever are to being the consistent force they will have to be once the playoffs roll around.
“I think it’s a measuring stick in terms of like consistently what it’s going to take,” White said in a practice media availability, per a video on the Fever’s YouTube page. “We’ve got to be consistent throughout not a 40-minute game. We’ve got to be consistent throughout, you know, game to game, tight turnarounds, not a lot of time to prepare. So, I think it’s really going to challenge our ability to make sure that we’re playing at a level on a consistent basis that we need to.”
The Fever will enter the playoffs with high expectations
The Fever entered the season as one of the championship favorites. They had been within reach of the finals without Caitlin Clark and other key role players last season. So, the expectation was that they would be even better this year. They have looked like a contender in some games when the offense is humming, and Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston are virtually unstoppable. In other games, their defensive lapses were so egregious that it didn’t even matter how much potential they have on offense.
Incorporating new faces, like Monique Billings and Ty Harris, and dealing with some Clark and Boston absences didn’t make navigating those inconsistencies any easier.
Once the playoffs arrive, inconsistent defensive performances—or offensive struggles, also those are less frequent for the Fever—could quickly lead to an early exit, and that’s the last thing the Fever want. The pressure to go on a deep run is high after last season’s success and because of the sheer talent on the Fever’s roster.
“When you’re playing against really good, really efficient teams that are going to be able to score with you, and then throughout the course of a series, you gotta be able to get stops,” White said on the importance of the Fever’s defense. “There are going to be days where shots don’t fall and things aren’t going as well as planned on the offensive end of the floor.”
Going up against several playoff teams in a row will be a great test for the Fever. It should also give them a better idea of what they might have to face in the first round. For example, if the regular season ended today, the Fever would go into a 4-5 matchup against the Dallas Wings. The last time they saw that team was on opening night. Since then, Azzi Fudd has found her rhythm, Paige Bueckers and Jessica Shepard have finessed their two-player game, and Alanna Smith has gotten healthier.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.