{"id":144436,"date":"2025-09-09T16:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/144436\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T16:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:10:10","slug":"how-the-indiana-fever-clinched-a-playoff-berth-despite-adversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/144436\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Indiana Fever clinched a playoff berth despite adversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eight years is the perfect window to contextualize Indiana\u2019s accomplishments that were achieved this weekend. At this time in 2017, the Fever had just wrapped up an 8-26 campaign. They missed the postseason for the first time since 2004 and were just beginning the post-Tamika Catchings<\/a> era. The wishes were to return to relevance quickly.<\/p>\n

The IX Basketball, a 24\/7\/365 women\u2019s basketball newsroom powered by The Next
The IX Basketball<\/a>: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX Sports<\/a>. 24\/7\/365 women\u2019s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.<\/p>\n

Kelsey Mitchell<\/a>, a current Indiana Fever star, was drafted a few months later. Hopes were high. But Indiana lost their first 10 games in 2018, and it ended up taking more than seven seasons for the franchise to win half of their games in a season.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why nights like Sunday aren\u2019t lost on anyone, including Mitchell. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think everything that once was with this organization to what it is now, I think it was always supposed to be like this,\u201d Mitchell said of the growth of the franchise in the last four years. \u201cI guess it had to be like that for us to get here.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Fever handled the Mystics, 94-65. The victory officially put Indiana in the 2025 postseason field, meaning they\u2019ll be in the playoffs for the second straight season. Mitchell, a team leader in every sense, had a quiet game for her standards with just 10 points. But her team was spectacular against a reeling Washington group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to think that we\u2019re making our way up instead of going back down,\u201d Mitchell shared later. By toppling the Mystics, Indiana improved to 23-20 with just one game to go in the 2025 season. For reference, in the four WNBA seasons from 2020 through 2023, Mitchell\u2019s Fever won 30 games, total.<\/p>\n

So much was at stake Sunday night at CFG Bank Arena \u2014 Indiana and Washington played at a larger venue in Baltimore. The Fever, with a win, could have earned<\/a>: <\/p>\n

-A 2025 postseason spot
-A top-seven seed in the playoff field \u2014 avoiding the Minnesota Lynx in the first round
-The franchise\u2019s first winning record since 2015
-The franchise\u2019s first home playoff game since 2016
-The most wins in franchise history<\/p>\n

All of that was achieved when the final buzzer sounded. Of course, the Fever are playing 44 games this season \u2014 more than ever before. Winning more games than any past season isn\u2019t a front-page achievement. This Fever team will finish ninth in franchise history in win percentage. But as they earned their 23rd victory of the 2025 season, they did still pull off many incredible feats, and they did so in the middle of a season from hell.<\/p>\n

\"IndianaIndiana Fever players warm up before the Fever take on the Washington Mystics at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, Maryland on September 7, 2025. (Photo Credit: Tony East | The Next)<\/p>\n

Stephanie White<\/a> is the Indiana Fever\u2019s head coach right now. She was also the head coach in 2015, the last time the franchise had a winning record. The following season, White guided the team to the playoffs again, and they hosted a first-round playoff game against the Phoenix Mercury. Phoenix won that night, and to this day that\u2019s the team\u2019s most recent postseason outing in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

That will change later this week, and White is fittingly in charge once again. \u201cIt means I\u2019m old,\u201d White joked of that feat. \u201cIt means a lot,\u201d she then said, more seriously, before commenting on the success of her assistant coaches this season. Collectively, they\u2019ve guided Indiana through a ridiculous number of injuries and bumps in the road.<\/p>\n

All of Damiris Dantas<\/a>, Sophie Cunningham<\/a>, Sydney Colson<\/a>, Aari McDonald<\/a>, Caitlin Clark<\/a>, DeWanna Bonner<\/a>, and Chloe Bibby<\/a> have missed time for the Fever this season \u2014 Bonner is now on a completely different team. 18 players have suited up for Indiana this season, and White has deployed nine different starting lineups. That averages out to one every 4.8 games, and that doesn\u2019t even account for the team playing more often than everyone but Minnesota this year thanks to their Commissioner\u2019s Cup title.<\/p>\n

The start-stop nature of the campaign has been challenging. Most of those injuries or absences have come in the last month, meaning several hardship players have come in and been needed. That has caused some chemistry hiccups, but the Fever have mostly pushed through them.<\/p>\n

It was always something for this Fever group. It would have been easy to fold or give substandard effort, given the challenging circumstances. Most would have understood how this team, despite their high hopes, missed the postseason with all of their injuries.<\/p>\n

But they pushed through and kept their focus. Aerial Powers<\/a>, a hardship player signed less than three weeks ago, was asked if she could feel the postseason urgency when she was signed in mid-August. \u201cOf course,\u201d Powers, a former champion, said. \u201cI know what we all want to achieve. [The] playoffs was the first goal. Now the next goal, just like coach said, is making a run in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teleporting back on media day this season, few within the Fever would have been thrilled by a winning record and playoff appearance. But teleporting forward after media day and everyone is impressed by the team\u2019s resolve \u2014 being where they are given what they\u2019ve dealt with is quite the feat. So while it wasn\u2019t reaching the championship expectations Clark put on her group before the campaign, Sunday\u2019s win still came with major accomplishments for a young Fever team.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBecoming Caitlin Clark\u201d is out now!<\/p>\n

Howard Megdal\u2019s newest book is here! \u201cBecoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar\u201d captures both the historic nature of Clark\u2019s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.<\/p>\n

The postgame scene was telling. Players were largely smiling and in good moods. Aliyah Boston<\/a> made a Tik Tok in the locker room with some of her teammates. A sense of pride was obvious. The Fever need to feel like they achieved something given the season they\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n

But the focus and weight of expectation was still there. After the final buzzer, there was no extra cheering or celebrating on the court. A quick huddle, then back to the locker room. In two days, the Fever will play again. Seeding is still technically on the line, and White has done an effective job keeping her team looking strictly at the next opponent during the last few weeks.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re a group that knows expectations are high. And they play for a franchise that knows better than anyone how significant simply making the playoffs can be. The players balanced those emotions well after beating the Mystics \u2014 showing that they felt like this was supposed to happen, but it was difficult. They hope for more but have done a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never doubted ourselves. We never doubted that we could be in the playoffs. Even if things looked like it got harder for us, it was about sticking together,\u201d Boston explained. \u201cAnd I think through everything, you\u2019re able to see that. Let\u2019s play with joy. Let\u2019s play together, regardless of who\u2019s on that floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boston would later share that the locker room had an excited mood postgame. They\u2019ve been enjoying the little moments together of late, and a single win over the Mystics is just that \u2014 a little moment.<\/p>\n

But for an Indiana Fever franchise that fell short of the playoffs seven-straight times, it was a big moment. For a roster and staff that has battled through hellish circumstances, it was a big moment. Looking backwards or forwards, Indiana\u2019s 2025 playoff berth is a major accomplishment, and they have plenty more they are capable of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight years is the perfect window to contextualize Indiana\u2019s accomplishments that were achieved this weekend. At this time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[69742,2648,4129,2839,4806,99,4803,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-144436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-aerial-powers","9":"tag-aliyah-boston","10":"tag-fever","11":"tag-indiana-fever","12":"tag-kelsey-mitchell","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-stephanie-white","15":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}