Vegas has walled off the paint, and Indiana hasn’t found a way to respond. And that’s an identity crisis for the Fever, who finished the regular season second in the WNBA in points in the paint at 40.3. In the playoffs, they’re currently sitting in fourth (38.7).
“They have a big presence, obviously with A’ja Wilson and NaLyssa Smith in there,” Fever star Kelsey Mitchell said of what has made the Aces paint defense so troubling. “But the goal is to always get [in the paint] and create for others.”
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So far in the postseason, the Fever have three games in which they made at least 16 shots at the rim, per pbpstats. They won all three. In their other outings, Indiana has seven, 11, and 13 made shots at the basket. When they can’t get into the paint, their offense looks worse. And right now, that’s costing the Fever wins.
Kelsey Mitchell and Odyssey Sims are the two best ball handlers at providing rim pressure. But even they haven’t had enough space to make the Aces defense move and create good shots for their teammates. In the Fever’s Game 3 loss on Friday night, those two players combined for 23 points on 33 shot attempts while having three assists compared to five turnovers.
That’s simply not good enough, and both players would likely admit it. Some of that is on them — both guards missed shots they’ve made often in the past. But it’s more than just makes and misses. There isn’t enough space or open angles for them to get into their primary actions, and Indiana has to shift their focuses.
At times in the regular season, the Fever generated offense by playing through the post. Aliyah Boston has been brilliant this season and has also upped her load as a creator. Natasha Howard has won the team games with her work on the glass and crafty skills in the paint. But Las Vegas’ defense is tight and connected in the paint — Boston can’t find space (12 points on 5-of-16 shooting in Game 3) and Howard has been quiet in the semifinal series.
“It’s one of our core defensive things where A’ja works really hard just to not let Aliyah [Boston] touch it. I thought she touched it a little more than our previous two [games],” Hammon said when asked about her team’s paint defense. “We just wanted to make those difficult looks, crowded looks. And they got us a couple of times. We didn’t do the correct rotation. We weren’t solid on the front end of it. Those are things we know we can clean up, but it’s a defense for us that A’ja is really, really good at.”
The Aces defense has improved throughout the year but wasn’t considered their stronger end of the floor heading into the playoffs. But they’ve put together a strategy that has walled off the Indiana Fever, and it’s forced the sixth-seeded bunch to rely on jump shooting from role players. They’ve gotten it from Lexie Hull, but nobody else.
In the Fever’s 12-point loss in Game 3, head coach Stephanie White felt like her team generated good shots. Most field goal attempts from Boston or Mitchell are acceptable given their talent level, and they got up 42 looks. But they weren’t dropping, and they weren’t all easy to generate. Add in the other 31 shots, of which many were lower-than-desired quality, and it was a weak offensive night for Indiana.
They finished the game with 13 makes at the rim, below their regular season average. In Game 2, a 22-point defeat for the Fever, they made just seven — tied for their second-lowest figure of the season including the regular season. Easy shots just aren’t available.
A’ja Wilson, the league’s MVP, is having a poor offensive series but has been a monster on defense. Her rim protection is elite and has forced Indiana into poor finishes if they even get a shot up. Ex-Fever forward NaLyssa Smith is having a great defensive series too, as are Jackie Young and Dana Evans.
They’re on a string and forcing difficult shots. Indiana has yet to find consistent answers. Cutting, and forcing off-ball players to make decisions or be alert, is key for the Fever. Better screens and quicker passes would force defensive rotations for the Aces. But doing all of that is not easy — every team would do it if it was — and it requires strong elements of timing that are difficult for a Fever team filled with hardship players and thus less experience.
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For two-straight games the Fever haven’t been able to crack the code of the Aces’ defense, and it’s resulted in their lowest and third-lowest scoring postseason outings. Despite their struggles, the Fever were close on the scoreboard late in the third quarter of Game 3. They are playing well enough to give themselves a chance, and coach Stephanie White believes in her team.
“I felt like we had more open shots in this ball game than we did in the last one,” White said after Game 3. “I felt like our ball movement was better. Our ability to attack and make reads was better. We got to the free throw line. It was really good. They just didn’t go in.”
If the Indiana Fever are going to repeat their first-round performance and use their resiliency to overcome a series deficit, they’re going to have to solve the Aces defense.
