Becky Hammon and the Las Vegas Aces got an up-close look at Caitlin Clark and the red-hot Indiana Fever this week.
The back-to-back champion Aces took both games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse—beating the Fever 86–75 on Wednesday and 78–74 on Friday. But Hammon walked away impressed with Indiana’s stellar trio of Clark, Aliyah Boston, and Kelsey Mitchell.
“They’re a legit three-headed monster,” Hammon said. “You have to play defense against this team, otherwise they’re too good offensively. We don’t want to get into a situation where we have to outscore them because they really have some unbelievable scorers.”
“They’re a legit three-headed monster.”
Las Vegas Aces Head Coach Becky Hammon on playing the Fever. https://t.co/0DwhDw9vRR pic.twitter.com/HyC6uqJwDi
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) September 13, 2024
Mitchell is Indiana’s leading scorer through 38 games this season, logging 19.3 points per contest. Boston is averaging a near-double-double with 14.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, and Clark is scoring 19.1 points per contest and just broke the WNBA’s single-season record for assists on Friday night.
The Fever look much different than they did over the first few weeks of the regular season. After losing eight of their first nine games, Indiana has gone 18–11 since the calendar flipped to June and are 8–4 since returning from the WNBA’s month-long Olympic break.
If the regular season ended today, the Fever would play the Connecticut Sun in a best-of-three series in the opening round of the playoffs. Indiana went 1–3 against Connecticut this season, but the first three losses all came before June 10; the Fever topped the Sun 84–80 on Aug. 28 at home.
The Fever might not be a championship contender just yet, but Hammon and the rest of the WNBA are aware that Indiana is on the rise.
