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    • Indiana Fever looks optimistically to the future despite WNBA playoff exit
    Enterprise

    Indiana Fever looks optimistically to the future despite WNBA playoff exit

    Idris Bevan Posted on

    UNCASVILLE, Connecticut – Christie Sides preaches getting 1% better every day.

    She hopes this motivates her players to keep fighting no matter what, despite adversity and difficult periods, which is how they made the playoffs in the second season of her tenure as Fever coach.

    This means they improved from 1:8 at the beginning of the season to 20:20 at the end.

    “From the beginning to now, 20-20 and sixth in the league,” Sides said after Indiana’s playoff exit Wednesday night. “I mean, we started 1-8. That’s just unprecedented. And these guys fought, they worked, they got 1% better every day. I kept telling them, ‘Nothing defines us except our effort and our heart.’ And that’s what they did tonight.”

    What happens next? Fever’s future looks bright thanks to a strong core, but the squad needs more help.

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    Indiana, which is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2016, lost 2-0 to the Connecticut Sun in the first round of the best-of-three series. The first game on Sunday was easier to decide with a 93-69 lead for the Suns.

    In Game 2 on Wednesday night, the Fever fought until the last minute – after two minutes in the fourth quarter they were even in the lead.

    But Connecticut, which had played 222 playoff games before the series while the Fever had only played 19, was not going to let that get them down, showing that with two consecutive three-pointers that ultimately gave them the 87-81 victory.

    “Obviously you never want to lose, and especially to lose now when you have a chance to go home and win another game, it really sucks,” said Fever’s Aliyah Boston. “But just getting that playoff feeling, I mean, they’re an experienced squad. They have the right judgment. They have some tough shots and it’s tough, but when I look at it and see how far we’ve come since the start of the season, I’m super proud of our group because I think we had such special 12 players and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

    Whatever way you look at it, this playoff spot is a sign of the tremendous progress of the Fever franchise.

    Two years ago, the Fever won five games.

    Five. Out of 36 games.

    It was a disappointing season for the Fever, who had two different head coaches during that time and had no hope of making the playoffs. Indiana was looking for a coach again after the 2022 season, hoping for a way out of what seemed like a constant rebuild.

    First they hired Sides. Then they got the No. 1 pick for 2023 in Boston.

    Boston set the tone, helping the Fever to a 13-27 season in 2023. The Fever still missed the playoffs, but were optimistic about what the future would bring.

    “My rookie season was, I think, a rebuilding year,” Boston said. “So when you look at a rebuilding year, I mean, everybody wants to win the championship and bring home the ring and everything. But I think when you look at basketball as a whole and you look at where you start and where you are now, it’s about stepping stones, and I think in two seasons we’ve taken the right steps to move forward, and I’m excited to see what the future holds.”

    Then they got another No. 1 pick in 2024. That pick came from two-time national player of the year and NCAA top scorer in men’s and women’s basketball, Caitlin Clark. She, along with the Boston core and Kelsey Mitchell, helped rejuvenate the franchise – there were more fans, more confidence throughout the team.

    Most importantly, there were more wins. The Fever went 20-20 in the 2024 regular season, marking the first time since 2015 that Indiana had more than 20 wins in a season.

    The Fever failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs this season and could not bring the series home for a third game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, as no lower-seeded team has done this year.

    But the Fever never expected to become world champions this season – it was unrealistic given the experience of other teams in the league. They just wanted to make progress. And they have done so in spades.

    “This is a little taste of what’s possible for this organization and this franchise,” Clark said. “And there’s a lot to be proud of. This team won five games two years ago. So we’re a young group, a pretty inexperienced group, but we’ve come together and had a lot of fun playing together.”

    Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67.

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    Idris Bevan
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