{"id":45425,"date":"2025-08-04T20:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T20:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/45425\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T20:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T20:44:07","slug":"wnba-power-rankings-fever-surge-despite-caitlin-clark-injury-aces-frustrating-season-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/45425\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA Power Rankings: Fever surge despite Caitlin Clark injury, Aces’ frustrating season continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little less than two weeks ago, the Indiana Fever<\/a> found themselves in a tough spot. They had just been crushed by the reigning champion New York Liberty<\/a> on either side of the All-Star break to fall to 12-12 and were clinging to one of the final playoff spots. To make matters worse, there was no clarity surrounding Caitlin Clark’s<\/a> right groin injury — her third soft tissue ailment of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the stretch run began, there were big questions facing the organization: Would the team be able to hang on to a playoff spot without Clark? (At the time they were 8-5 with her and 4-7 without her.) And if not, would their record dictate her return timeline?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The answer to the first question was a resounding yes. They’ve won five games in a row to surge into fifth place and have climbed five games above .500 for the first time since 2015 — the last time they won a playoff game. They’re now closer to second (1\u00bd games behind the New York Liberty) than they are to ninth (3\u00bd games ahead of the Washington Mystics<\/a>). And thus, we’ll never know the answer to the second question. If anything, this hot streak should allow the Fever to be extra cautious with their superstar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It remains unclear when Clark will be back. “I still don’t know how far [away] we are,” Fever coach Stephanie White said on Sunday. “We’re gonna take it one step at a time, one day at a time, and go from there.”<\/p>\n

The Fever need Caitlin Clark back. They are a better team with her, and any discussion of the contrary is delusional. But this winning streak has been a reminder of why their internal goals were to compete for a championship this season. There’s a lot of talent in Indianapolis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kelsey Mitchell<\/a> is fifth in the league in scoring since the All-Star break (20.3 points per game); Aliyah Boston<\/a> has recorded six consecutive double-doubles; Sophie Cunningham<\/a> is shooting 47.4% since moving into the starting lineup on July 16; Natasha Howard<\/a> had 21 points, five rebounds and five assists in the win over the Storm<\/a> and continues to do whatever the team needs on both sides of the ball; Lexie Hull is the perfect glue piece off the bench;\u00a0Aari McDonald<\/a> and Chloe Bibby<\/a> have been brilliant additions off the waiver wire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the long run, Clark’s repeated absences may end up being a “blessing in disguise,” according to White.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’ve got a deep team. We’ve got a great mix of veterans who have been in this league and who understand the ebbs and flows, and who understand injuries are a part of it, and young players who can continue to grow in their role, continue to gain confidence,” White said Sunday. “I think I said it early when [Clark] was out the very first time. While we don’t like it, sometimes it can be a blessing in disguise because everyone else finds themselves. No one is afraid to make the big play offensively or defensively.”<\/p>\n

Here are CBS Sports’ latest WNBA Power Rankings.<\/p>\n

WNBA Power Rankings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A little less than two weeks ago, the Indiana Fever found themselves in a tough spot. They had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[21316,4655,724,725,732,4657,49,735,48,726,31924,3458,3459,12193,1612,2803,16666,4650,631,3460,21321,632,736,729,11578,3457,3461,4659,1611,10879,82,737,630],"class_list":["post-45425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-aari-mcdonald","tag-aliyah-boston","tag-angel-reese","tag-ariel-atkins","tag-atlanta-dream","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-ca","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-canada","tag-chicago-sky","tag-chloe-bibby","tag-connecticut-sun","tag-dallas-wings","tag-emma-meesseman","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-indiana-fever","tag-jewell-loyd","tag-kelsey-mitchell","tag-kelsey-plum","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-leila-lacan","tag-los-angeles-sparks","tag-minnesota-lynx","tag-napheesa-collier","tag-natasha-howard","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-satou-sabally","tag-seattle-storm","tag-sophie-cunningham","tag-sports","tag-washington-mystics","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}