The Minnesota Lynx are the one WNBA crew to have clinched a playoff berth, and they’re in a robust place to assert the No. 1 seed.
The injury-plagued Indiana Fever are attempting to stabilize their playoff prospects as they put together to host the Lynx on Friday at Indianapolis within the first sport of a home-and-home set over three days.
The Fever (19-16) can be taking part in their first sport since shedding guard Sophie Cunningham, their most correct 3-point shooter, to a season-ending knee damage. All-Star guard Caitlin Clark is predicted to overlook her 14th consecutive sport due to a groin damage, and he or she reportedly lately sustained a bone bruise in her left ankle.
Indiana additionally misplaced two extra guards (Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson) to season-ending accidents this month. The Fever shook off the Cunningham loss and rallied from a 21-point deficit to defeat the host Connecticut Solar 99-93 in extra time on Sunday.
“This group is selfless,” Indiana coach Stephanie White mentioned. “They’re robust. They do not care who will get the credit score. They do not care whose day it’s. They’ve simply bought one thing inside them that you could’t educate and so they carry it out of one another. It permits us to undergo these extremely robust occasions that we’re going by and at all times offers us an opportunity.”
White mentioned the 4 days between video games got here at time.
“We wanted the remaining. We wanted the restoration,” she mentioned. “We now have gamers which have performed heavy minutes. We wanted time to recalibrate. We had to determine who can play in sure roles and what our substitution patterns are going to be, what sort of wrinkles we will throw on the market.”
The Friday sport is the primary of three between the groups in 19 days. Indiana received the one earlier assembly, 74-59 within the Commissioner’s Cup championship sport on July 1.
Minnesota (28-7) had received six video games in a row getting into this week earlier than shedding consecutive video games for the primary time all season — 85-75 at New York on Tuesday and 75-73 at Atlanta on Thursday.
“We’ll have time to work by some of these items, staple items,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve mentioned after the Thursday loss. “We weren’t adequate. We did not get a lot out of our bench. We simply could not put ball within the gap sufficient (41.4 p.c capturing). I need us to be higher subsequent time we play.”
Lynx star ahead Napheesa Collier (ankle) has missed the previous six video games however seems near returning.
–Discipline Degree Media
