Indiana Fever suffered its second consecutive loss against New York Liberty by 98-84. Despite the fact that at times, it looked like they would reverse the result, the champions showed their leadership.
This loss is not only the second time they lost to the Liberty, after last June 16 in Brooklyn, but it also leaves their record at 12-12, placing them in 7th place in the WNBA. Fortunately for the Fever, they will not have to face them again during the regular season. However, if they want to challenge for the title, they will have to solve their problems and find a way to overcome them.
After the game, who was not happy with the situation was Kelsey Mitchell, who scored 29 points, two rebounds and two assists, but it was not enough to defeat their rivals.
The inconsistency in the team is leading Indiana to drop positions and for this reason, the three-time All-Star decided to raise her voice to try to warn and wake up the team, which has 20 games left in the regular season:
Everybody’s trying to make the playoffs, everybody’s trying to be a contender for something, and I think it all comes down to who’s going to be the tougher team for 40 minutes. If we want to be that, then we’ll have to keep going through these kinds of things to be that. But we can’t keep taking steps back… There ain’t no more room for error.
White’s word
Another of the protagonists who spoke after the loss was the head coach of Indiana, Stephanie White, who made an analysis of the game and was quite harsh. In her dialogue with the press she did not sugarcoat the situation about the current state of the team and about being a title contender:
“Yeah, I mean, look, that’s for everybody else to discuss whether we’re really ready to be a contender or not,” White began by saying. “Certainly, there’s no substitute for experience. [Natasha Howard] and [Sydney Colson] are the ones on our team that have championship-caliber experience. So, you got to go through it.“
In her response, the 48-year-old coach explained that the difference in “championship-caliber teams” is a few minutes in a ballgame “where you can’t have the miscommunications, breakdowns, poor shot selections or playing outside yourself,” and stated that that is her major goal: “We’ve got to get to a point where we’re not having those moments and those lulls.”
The truth is that fans are also aware of the team’s problem, and point the finger of blame at White. In X, they expressed themselves as follows:
“Again… making excuses instead of taking the blame for not figuring it out,” commented one fan. “Lisa Bludder please come out of retirement and get yourself to IN!” exclaimed another user. “How many more games does she need?” asked another. “She will be fired after the season lol” predicted another follower.
Adding to all of this is the absence of Caitlin Clark, which is being felt quite a bit. The 23-year-old star missed her second straight game on Tuesday due to a lingering groin injury and is likely to miss more games.
Because of this, Fever will need to continue to stay strong on the court and perform significantly in his upcoming games. Now, he awaits the Las Vegas Aces next Thursday, July 24 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
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