Christie Sides reveals what sets Fever apart heading into playoffs
09/20/2024 08:46 AM
For the Indiana Fever, Thursday night's regular-season finale at the Washington Mystics didn't hold any value. The Fever were already fastened as the No. 6 seed in the WNBA playoffs and will be shipped off to Connecticut in mere days. But for the so-called Gray Squad, Thursday was an opportunity Christie Sides hadn't given them all regular season: The chance to rally — all seven together — for a win in the fourth quarter.
In Fever practices, blue pinnies mean the starters. The gray signifies the bench players.
The gray lineup of Grace Berger, Kristy Wallace, Katie Lou Samuelson, Temi Fagbenle, and Damiris Dantas played zero minutes together all year. They led off the fourth quarter once Sides plucked Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, and NaLyssa Smith one by one in the third. The Fever trailed by 16 points going into the last. It was undoable. The Mystics would surely breeze past.
Washington just had back-to-back 30-point quarters, too. It looked bleak defensively.
Yet that lineup, with Erica Wheeler and Victaria Saxton complimenting, outscored the Mystics by 15 points in the 92-91 defeat. All of Washington's starters stayed in during the fourth quarter. Sure, four didn't play more than five minutes, all got benched near the four-minute mark, and they didn't make the playoffs. But Indiana's bench nearly single-handedly toppled Washington.
"We've got 12 players who are all real competitors," Sides said postgame. "That is one thing that we do in our practices: we try to make just about every drill as competitive as we can. Those guys compete every day with the blue team. If we're doing a shooting drill, it gets real serious. And if you don't have the score right, it can ugly… they haven't gotten the minutes, but they don't miss a workout."
"They're willing to go get those workouts in for these moments," Sides added.
How Fever bench made it close with under four minutes vs. Mystics
Once the Mystic starters retired, Berger began the run. Jumper, eight points. Wallace 3-pointer, five points. Saxton layup, six points. Saxton triple, three points. Washington missed, followed by Saxton's rebound and Wallace's layup, one point. The Mystics missed with 25 seconds to go. Samuelson missed, one point. Berger rebounded and missed the game-winner, one point.
That was Berger's bread and butter, going back to college. Berger scrunched over. But Wallace jogged over instantly, bent, and hugged her. Wheeler gently placed her hands on Berger's face, opposite to when Wheeler burns so many calories on the bench by getting hyped. Soon, the whole bench came over and huddled on the court. Fagbenle looked to say encouraging words.
Minutes prior, when trailing 89-84, Clark strolled from the bench into her teammates' on-court huddle during a stoppage and said something. When they got the rebound and the chance at the game-winning possession, Fever starters on the bench leaped and signaled to push up. The starters took the usual role of the supportive bench. The scoreboard, and the scoreboard only, determined that the Fever lost. Nothing else.
Fever bench (formerly known as starters) cheering for the starters (formerly known as the bench) pic.twitter.com/7XyL7z6sFg
— ericaf455 (@ericaf455) September 20, 2024
"It's always exciting when you go out there and do well," Wallace said. It was just awesome to see my teammates out there and do well. Like me, and Grace, and people that haven't had much of an opportunity this season and just to go out there and show us what they can do."
Wallace hadn't played many minutes following the Olympic break — eight to be precise — yet scored her season-high 17 points through 25 minutes Thursday. That mostly can be said for the other Fever bench players such as Berger and Saxton. Wheeler has been impactful in the final stretch of the season already, but commanded with seven assists, and with the help of Wallace.
Out of the seven closing players, any combo of five played just four minutes together all season. So, it's fitting that it'd be put to the test during the final game of the regular season. And they did so on the grandest stage. The 20,711 crowd at Capital One Arena set the WNBA all-time record.
"We've been breaking records all year," Wallace grinned. "It's amazing, the movement."
"Shoutout Caitlin," Smith said, too.
NaLyssa Smith on playing in the record-breaking 20K+ crowd tonight: "This is what we've been hoping for forever… you never get used to it: just always showing up and playing in front of sold-out crowds."
"And I mean, shoutout Caitlin. Shoutout Caitlin. We appreciate her." pic.twitter.com/Phj2B4K1gM
— Matthew Byrne (@MatthewByrne1) September 20, 2024
What this means for Indiana Fever ahead of fast-approaching playoffs
The Fever will begin the first round of the playoffs at the Connecticut Sun on Sunday afternoon. Again, it's important to note that the Sun, despite their skid, are far better than the Mystics and Indiana's bench may not see as much success. Still, there's no negative side to the bench being able to get some fine-tuning before the playoffs, especially if any starters get injured or fatigued.
In the first quarter, Kelsey Mitchell drove to the basket, was slow to stand, and hobbled. Sides later said that scare was enough to bench her for the whole contest, but that Mitchell is okay health-wise. Mitchell headed to the locker room, came back to the bench with her left knee braced, took it off, and later moved about. In May, Mitchell had missed both preseason games with an ankle injury.
The injury Thursday was throughout Mitchell's left side, via Chloe Peterson of the Indianapolis Star. But it was nothing major, and something that Mitchell needed to stretch out. Thursday night, Clark and Mitchell both broke the Fever franchise single-scoring record, with 769 and 767, respectively.
The Fever will have around two days to gear up for the Sun in Connecticut.
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