After sixth loss in past eight games, Fever clinging to final WNBA playoffs spot

MINNEAPOLIS – The Indiana Fever lost both games of a weekend back-to-back with the league-leading Minnesota Lynx, dropping the Sunday rematch at Target Center, 97-84. It came after Indiana lost to Minnesota at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, 95-90, on Friday.

The two consecutive losses put Indiana at 19-18 on the season, in eighth place on the fringe of the playoffs with seven games left. Minnesota continues to be the league leader at 30-7.

Advertisement

Indiana will return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse to play the Seattle Storm on Tuesday.

Here are three observations:

Fever fall to 8th place in WNBA standings, on fringe of playoffs

Indiana’s loss on Sunday, paired with Golden State’s win, knocked the Fever down two spots in the standings. Indiana was previously 19-17, ahead of 20-18 Seattle (by win percentage) and 19-18 Golden State.

Now, both the Fever and the Valkyries are 19-18, putting them behind Seattle and in a tie for seventh place. Golden State also holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Indiana this season, already winning the first two matchups of their three-game season series.

Advertisement

So, Indiana dropped to 8th in the standings — on the fringe of the playoffs. The top eight teams in the league make the playoffs each year, regardless of conference affiliation.

The Fever still have some time to make up some ground; they play Seattle on Tuesday, then go on a West Coast road trip to play 9th place Los Angeles, 7th place Golden State, and 4th place Phoenix. Winning at least a couple of those games, specifically the ones against Seattle and Golden State, could significantly help them in the playoffs race.

Minnesota Lynx forward, MVP favorite Napheesa Collier returns vs Fever

Napheesa Collier didn’t look like she had any rust Sunday, even while playing her first game in over three weeks.

Advertisement

On Sunday night against the Fever, the Minnesota Lynx star forward played for the first time since she suffered an ankle injury on Aug. 2. And she showed why she’s the MVP favorite this season.

She caused a lot of issues within the Fever defense, pulling up for her trademark midrange shot with no hesitations upon her return. She took up a lot of attention from Indiana’s defense, too, allowing her teammates to get more open looks.

She ended up shooting 11-of-16 from the field (including 2-of-3 form 3-point range) for 32 points, along with nine rebounds.

Aerial Powers makes Indiana Fever debut

Indiana’s latest signing on hardship waivers, Aerial Powers, made her debut on Sunday night after getting signed to the Fever just a day ago.

Advertisement

Powers is the third concurrent player signed to the Fever with a hardship waiver; this time, she’s replacing Sophie Cunningham, who tore her MCL on Aug. 17 and was ruled out for the season. The Fever could not sign her earlier than Saturday because Cunningham had to miss a game before Indiana was eligible for the third hardship waiver.

Powers came in to give the Fever some crucial depth at wing, as injuries to Cunningham and Chloe Bibby, who has a left knee injury and is considered day-to-day, left Lexie Hull as the only healthy wing.

And, on just a shootaround’s worth of practice time with her new team, Powers adjusted quickly. She scored five points in 14 minutes in her Fever debut, adding on five rebounds.

Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Napheesa Collier shows MVP credentials, while Fever cling to playoff spot