Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever continued their mid-season turnaround on Sunday afternoon with a comeback win over the Minnesota Lynx, 81-74. Down by seven entering the fourth quarter, the Fever outscored the Lynx 28-14 in the final 10 minutes to secure the victory.
"[We won, thanks to] defense," Clark, who finished with 17 points, three rebounds and six assists, said. "We've won every single game we've kept our opponents under 84 and obviously [they only scored] 74. Even though we probably didn't shoot the ball the greatest, we found a way to win. We're resilient, came into the quarter down seven and just battled."
Defense was a major issue for the Fever early in the season. While their tough schedule didn't help matters, they were routinely getting shredded on that side of the ball. During their 3-10 start, they were last in the league by a massive margin, and allowing 111.7 points per 100 possessions.
They've been much better since then, and the fourth quarter on Sunday was further proof. Minnesota shot just 4-of-13 from the field with three turnovers, and got nothing easy down the stretch. With less than 30 seconds to play, Kelsey Mitchell came up with the biggest play of that game on that end, as she arrived out of nowhere to block Alanna Smith and preserve the Fever's narrow three-point lead.
WHAT A PLAY BY KELSEY MITCHELL AND SAVE BY ALIYAH BOSTON 💪
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 14, 2024
The back side help, the block, the RELENTLESSNESS
📺ESPN pic.twitter.com/nFfnj852vH
As impressive as the Fever's defensive effort was, they had to score on the other end to complete the comeback, and their big three of Clark, Aliyah Boston and Mitchell made sure that happened.
Clark shook off a terrible first three quarters to dominate the fourth with 10 points, two rebounds, two assists and zero turnovers. She either scored or assisted on more points (15) than the Lynx had as a team in the final frame, including a perfect dish to Boston with less than three minutes to play that put the Fever ahead for good. Mitchell, meanwhile, added nine points of her own, including the game-sealing free throws; she finished the day with 21 points.
That's just NASTY 🗣️
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 14, 2024
Caitlin Clark zig zags her way thru the lane and finishes at the cup
📺ESPN pic.twitter.com/PXMhWslINB
As for Boston, this was one of her best performances of the season. Including the go-ahead basket, she put up 17 points, a career-high 16 rebounds and four blocks on 8-of-11 from the field.
"She's just tremendous," Clark said. "She just dominates. Honestly, we probably should have gotten the ball a little bit more, but they play pretty much a front defense on her. But she's just tremendous. She's really good, the sky's the limit for her. I think she's only gonna get better and better. So I'm super proud of her."
Aliyah Boston made her prescence felt early against the Minnesota Lynx and it carried over throughout the duration of the game 😤
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 14, 2024
Boston knocked in 17 PTS, grabbed a career-high 16 REB including 5 o-boards, propelling the @IndianaFever to the 81-74 victory #WelcometotheW pic.twitter.com/HNJWicYcpO
Clark and Co. have now won three of their last four games, beating the first-place New York Liberty, fourth-place Lynx and sixth-place Phoenix Mercury during this most recent stretch. Looking further back, they are 8-4 in the last month, which is tied for the third-best record in that time frame.
Though still just 11-14 on the season, the Fever are alone in seventh place and have a 2.5-game lead on the ninth-place Atlanta Dream. There's still a long way to go, but they have a real chance to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016, which would end the longest active postseason drought in the league.