Indiana Fever are No. 1 for a day after WNBA Commissioner's Cup win, but can they make it last?

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MINNEAPOLIS — Stephanie White stopped abruptly at the press room door, feet from a plastic-wrapped locker room, and tugged frantically at the shoelaces of her Caitlin Clark Nike Kobe 5 Protros.

She couldn’t wear those shoes in that environment. And if the drenched, championship T-shirt-clad group that tumbled out of the visiting locker room 15 minutes later, dousing Sydney Colson with a wave of Champagne, was any indication, it was the right move.

The Indiana Fever made the correct decisions most of the night, upsetting WNBA standings leader Minnesota Lynx in a gritty 74-59 win in the Commissioner’s Cup championship. It’s the first hardware for a Fever group built in the offseason to compete for the regular-season title, but that has so far fallen short of expectations amid a never-ending roller coaster.

Clark, the shoe’s namesake who missed her third straight game with a groin strain, led the escapades, waiting at the door and barrelling out of the locker room when given the all-clear that Colson was done answering questions — and throwing in some light-hearted jests — on how the Fever delivered.

Every piece of success they had on Tuesday night came without their offensive linchpin in the mix, an absence that has thrown the Fever into fringe playoff contention at 8-8 in the regular-season standings.

“We were over there laughing because we were holding up No. 1 in the pictures and stuff, but, like, technically I think we’re like eighth in the rankings,” Colson said. “But we were No. 1 today, and that’s important, so we just need this mindset to fuel us forward and the rankings will take care of themselves.”

The Cup championship is an opportunity to make a statement by planting the flag of Finals contention. The last two Cups were played between teams that went on to clash in the final series of the postseason. If there’s any consolation for the Lynx, who called the 2024 championship the turning point of their season, it’s that the Cup champion hasn’t gone on to win it all since the Las Vegas Aces in 2022.

It was Colson, a member of that championship team as well as the 2023 runback, who took a veteran leadership role heading into the contest, third-year center Aliyah Boston said pregame. This was the first championship experience for many of the players, most of whom played their first postseason games less than a year ago.

Colson said she made it clear that this had to be their turning point. Coaches constantly reminded them that they hadn’t played a full 40 minutes except in last week’s win over Seattle. That they were the underdogs without Clark in the lineup helped them play free and execute on both ends.

The performance wasn’t a full 40 minutes by any means, but they did plenty enough to finish the job. As the primary defender, Natasha Howard made everything difficult for league MVP frontrunner Napheesa Collier. Collier scored 12 points, tied for her third-worst scoring performance of the last two seasons, on 18 attempts. She had two at halftime.

Howard, a three-time WNBA champion, earned unanimous Cup MVP honors to add to her 2019 Defensive Player of the Year award. She led all scorers with 16 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a 17 plus/minus that trailed only Sophie Cunningham (18) and Colson (19).

“We did whatever we needed to do to make the play, and down the stretch, that was for Tash,” guard Kelsey Mitchell said. “Be what we need to be for each other, and I think it was her role, her game, to make sure she got what she needed.”

Without Collier’s contributions, and as shots uncharacteristically rimmed out possession after possession, the Lynx’s No. 2-ranked offense lay dormant. The league’s runaway leader in assist rate (77.3%) didn’t move the ball well, find their advantages on switches or get to their spots. The Fever did all of it.

“We’re usually pretty good at defending our own, defending with physicality, and for whatever reason we lacked that today,” Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said.

With Caitlin Clark on the sidelines, head coach Stephanie White said the rest of the Fever “gave to one another, and that’s a growth area for our team.” (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Indiana, often stagnant without Clark, finished the final 8:13 of the second quarter on an 18-0 run to take a 32-27 lead at halftime, and finished the streak with an inbound feed to Boston out of the half. By the 3:24 mark of the third quarter, the Fever had rattled off a 31-7 run that turned a 13-point deficit into an 11-point lead.

Indiana led by as many as 15 in their first meeting with Minnesota by giving to each other when they couldn’t do it themselves — and without an elite creator to do it herself. As the Lynx attempted to claw back in, the Fever answered. A layup by Boston on a Howard assist. Aari McDonald’s pull-up banker. Colson’s steal, Howard’s rebounds. Cunningham’s drive on the baseline and 24-foot 3-pointer.

“We had some players that were struggling,” White said. “We had some moments where we struggled, but we still gave to one another, and that’s a growth area for our team.”

Unlike in weeks past, Colson said, they didn’t play to lose.

“We know we’re a capable team, we just have to show it consistently,” Colson said. “And it felt good for us to do it without CC [Clark] and DD [Damiris Dantas].”

Long before she had her own player edition sneaker that sold out almost instantly, before she became the superstar rounding the arena to sign merchandise for screaming fans, and definitely before she missed most of the start of her second professional season due to injury, Clark preached the importance of team in everything she does.

There is no Clark pass without a made bucket. No logo 3 without sure shooters in the corners. No joy in spraying mini bottles of Champagne without someone to laugh and savor the moment. In the biggest game of their season so far, it was those teammates who stepped up in various capacities.

Five players scored in double digits. Seven players secured assists, led by Boston with six. After an unsettling first quarter of hot potato around the perimeter, the Fever settled into more of an offensive rhythm than they’ve shown with Clark on the sidelines.

“Caitlin’s somebody who oftentimes makes plays for them and they’re learning how to do that for one another,” White said. “And there’s no substitute for that experience. And I think it’s going to pay dividends for us down the road.”

The rose gold trophy that assistant coach Karima Christmas-Kelly ensured they learned how to pack properly is a symbol of what the Fever can be, even if Clark’s injury-riddled season continues. With her back, there’s no reason these two teams can’t meet again late in the postseason.

The issue is the Fever need to be No. 1 on more than one night with $500,000 on the line. Colson hopes this is indeed the turning point her squad looks back to, knowing those Aces teams had them, too. The Lynx, enduring another championship celebration in their own Target Center within the last nine months, want the loss to be theirs now.

Mitchell, the longest-tenured Fever player seeking her first title, made no qualms all week of the Cup experience being a gut-check physically, mentally and psychologically. It felt good to earn the win under those circumstances, given the type of season the Fever are having, Mitchell said.

“We’ve had so many ups and downs, so many different things have happened throughout the course of the season up to Commissioner’s Cup,” Mitchell said. “We haven’t gotten through a portion of the season, honestly. To have so much going on and still stay consistently for each other, it was beautiful. It felt really amazing.”

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