July 6, 2025 • 29 mins
Keisha and Chris break down what is working and what isn’t with the Indiana Fever defense while looking at the games versus the LAs Vegas Aces and Los Angeles Sparks.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Friends, Fever fans, welcome back to another Fever Replay
podcast, your home for weekly breakdown of Fever games and
news. This episode, as always, is
brought to you by the love of the game.
Even when you lose to the Sparks, do it for the love of
(00:33):
the game. My name is Chris Ord and as
always, I'm joined by our floor general, Keisha Gallagher.
Keisha, how are you doing this week?
How was your 4th of July? It was exciting and such a
beautiful display of fireworks all weekend long.
(00:54):
How was your 4th? It was similar.
We went to the Indian Indians game here.
We saw the fireworks. That's one of our favorite
traditions here in Indy. And so that was great.
And on the way home, yeah, they were just fireworks everywhere.
It's fantastic. It was fun.
We also have a lot of good basketball this weekend.
(01:17):
Oh yeah. That's what we're going to be
mostly talking about today. In fact, we're going to focus in
on those Fever games. That was kind of my idea to the
pot. So we're not going to
necessarily talk specifics aboutgames, although we had two
really good ones. We're going to focus in more on
(01:39):
the defense, right? Because First off, we had two
games, if you include the Commissioners Cup game and then
the game versus the Aces where we had absolutely elite level
defense. How elite, you ask?
(02:00):
Well, the last time A-Team held back-to-back opponents under 60
points was 22 years ago. Crazy 22 Caitlin Clark, a
Caitlin Clark amount of years ago.
(02:21):
So that was pretty exciting and trust me, we're going to talk
about that today as we kind of dig into the defense.
But then we saw something else versus the Sparks, not elite
defense. The Sparks are better than the
record shows. That's a fact.
But the record is very bad. They've only or the Sparks had
(02:47):
only had five other wins and oneof those was also us, so not
great and we did not play them well on defense.
I felt like that was a winnable game and I also felt like we
didn't necessarily just kind of let it go like we've been having
(03:09):
fourth quarter woes. I don't think that is what
happened. There were like 4 separate
times, especially when I want rewatched the game, where we
could have taken the lead at theend and we played them tough.
We never gave up and the shots just didn't go in.
Like one of those was a Kelsey Mitchell left-handed layup,
(03:30):
which like I want her to take that every single time.
Like I don't regret it at all that it didn't go in.
And another was an AB like shortjumper.
Like she's great at those. Like these were shots that could
have gone in but didn't. We played super tough defense in
those last couple minutes. I'm not super disappointed, but
I do feel like this was an example of our defense kind of
(03:53):
breaking down. So before we kind of dive into
that defensive side, did you have any kind of thoughts that
you wanted to share about the end of that Sparks game?
Yeah, I also think there is a lot of there's a lot more
opportunity for movement when Aaliyah Boston touches the ball.
(04:15):
And there there was interesting rotations in the last couple of
games, especially in against theSparks, where I felt like Boston
wasn't on the floor as often as she normally is.
And not that I don't adore Natasha Howard, but I think
there's more success when Boston's on the floor because
you have to, you have to decide,are you gonna let her shoot or
(04:36):
you're gonna attack her? And if you attack her, who are
you gonna leave open and is thatperson gonna be coming to the
basket? She just caused a lot, a lot of
chaos when we get that ball intoher hands.
And I yeah, I think there was more opportunities for that
against the Sparks, definitely. And then they had a lot of
second, second chance opportunities that were due to
(05:00):
poor management of of where where we were taking those last
few fouls as well. I don't know what really was the
thought process behind some of the last couple fouls.
I was thinking more Natasha Howard jumping up and almost
raining down on IKEA Jackson. I just thought that those were
odd choices when we were still up.
(05:21):
I agree with that. Speaking of just the rotation
these last two games, I am once again gonna sing Timpson's
praises. KK was incredible I and like
before when I talked about her last pod and this time I really
want to clarify why I'm so excited.
And it's not like because she's the standout player, like she's
(05:45):
amazing, like you know, she should start or anything like
that. But to see a rookie get to play
real minutes, not be a huge liability but actually help a
fair amount while developing, that's just like bonkers
amazing. As far as it's a dream.
Because we want to develop this young player and if we can do
(06:06):
that without like actually hurting the team really at all.
And she had some really quality minutes the last two games.
Huge. Block.
Fantastic. So that's why I'm so excited
about KK Timpson, even though she's honestly the worst person
on our team that's playing rightnow.
Like that's that's the fact. But besides that, she's
(06:29):
developing with real minutes andlike actually producing right
now, which is just if if any team could have that, they would
be so excited. And we do and it's great.
And that block. Now, if you viewers at home,
listeners, if you haven't seen the block, go ahead and look it
up because yeah, that rookie, it's going to be a little.
(06:52):
Haunting rookie rookie of Jackson.
Yes, it will be. It's fantastic.
So with that, let's dive into the defense.
Keisha, what do you think is working on this defense?
Because things are working When we set out in the beginning,
Stephanie White talked about wanting to have a defensive
(07:13):
team. Like that's what we're going to
be first and foremost. She came into an offensive team
and said, I want to set up our defense.
That's what we're working on andclearly that is coming to a head
at this point of the season. The defense is maturing in a big
way, So what do you see that's working?
Well, I think if you look kind of pivoting to the aces when
(07:35):
even though we weren't able to shut down Asia Wilson, which is
always the the goal, we were able to pretty much shut down
anyone that was an ace that wasn't Asia Wilson.
The defense was really firing out all cylinders when it came
to ball pressure, forcing uncomfortable shots.
And if they were getting looks, they were so used to being off
(07:55):
kilter or obscured that they weren't even hitting easy shots.
So all of that pressure really built up over time and kept the
aces, I think, on bad footing for the that for all four
quarters of that game. Coming back to the Sparks,
though, opportunities there would have been the matchups
(08:16):
against some of these bigs were just not right and they got
caught sometimes a little bit ofsleep.
There were a lot of opportunities for us to switch a
guard for a post that didn't happen.
Like there was one key point where Kelsey Plum shot directly
in Natasha Howard's face. And I don't know why Natasha
Howard was guarding Kelsey Plum.Not that she can't, but with
(08:36):
this roster, that's not who I want guarding Plum.
So those type type of decision, those those need to be tweaked a
little more fine tune for everyone that the fever is going
to see because each team does have it's unique set of threats
and and weaknesses. And with the Sparks, there was
just so much height to compete with at at at every level.
(08:59):
I I feel like what really works is when we're able to set up our
defense, you know, if we are kind of the aggressors on the
defense, it's great. Like when we were doing full
court press, I never saw a time that it wasn't effective.
You know, when we were, there were often times that we've been
(09:23):
seeing a lot more. Now we're trapping the ball
handler in the corner and that seems very intentional, not
like, oh, look, they're stumbling like it was.
We're the ones that are initiating and creating these
problems that we're forcing the offense to solve.
And I feel like that's clearly where we're more effective.
(09:46):
And you didn't see that as much.You saw it in spurts.
Like I said, it wasn't a terrible game versus the Sparks.
We should have beat them. That's the worst part.
But the Sparks kind of just at the end of the game, we're able
to able to execute in times thatwe weren't was kind of just what
that game came down to. The other thing that's a
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highlight and like this is rightoff of the stats is that we're
the number one team as far as limiting 3 points, 3 pointers.
And I feel like that you can watch that in game like we're
closing out hard. We're closing out with our hands
up. The other team knows it.
They're not getting easy shots. They're going to have to shoot
(10:28):
contested shots and it's really,really easy to even have like be
working hard on defense, but to not close out every time.
And our team is clearly decided that they're always going to and
their hands are going to be up and there's gonna they're not
making, you know, it easy on theScreener.
(10:51):
They're not making it easy on the ball handler.
It's really fantastic to see. You can tell in all three of
these games this week, the Commissioners Cup, the Aces and
the Sparks, that the other team was like annoyed that they had
to put up with us. And that's like a fantastic,
(11:12):
that's a fantastic place to be as a defense.
If the other team, like, is looking at the film and is like,
we have to, we have to put up with these people for 40
minutes. Like, I don't wanna do that.
Like, you're already halfway winning as a defense if you're
able to do that, Yeah. Can you hear the Thunder?
(11:33):
Oh yeah, I heard that. So I apologize if you can hear
Thunder throughout this podcast,but we're in a crazy
thunderstorm right now where I am and we lost power for like an
hour. So we'll see if we can get
through this podcast. Hopefully we can.
Just a little added drama there.I I think there was just the
(11:55):
there were moments where despitehaving the lead, there were
those breakdowns in defense where it seems like they were
able to do a lot of cuts or a lot of passes and it didn't
really seem again, like we were on the right footing.
There weren't hands up in the passing lanes.
There wasn't really a lot of communication and I with the
different rotations coming through, I think that that does
(12:18):
make sense. But that is something that we
can't have continue going into these next well, the next half
of the season that these next few games.
So yeah, a lot of really big winning learned skill sets
coming from the links and the aces, but we see going into the
Sparks the team we've lost to before, we still have these
(12:41):
areas that we need to Polish when it comes to lineups that
don't 100% match up player for player.
I think that was the big struggle there.
The fouls that were getting called were against guards and
post players who there's a pretty big size differential.
Yeah, I do feel like when we switching over to kind of like
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what's not working with the defense, the most glaring thing
for me is exactly what you're saying.
If we can keep the ball in the front quarter of the court, you
know, then we're doing fantastic.
That's where we want them. We want to keep them outside of
that three-point line. And we seem to be able to bump
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and pressure people and like swipe at the ball and cause all
sorts of problems to kind of like make that penetration
difficult. But it feels like once they are
past that first line and they'reheading to the paint, it's kind
of money. Like it just feels like if
you're able to get past there, you're fine.
Like Asia could do that on her own.
(13:47):
Asia has everything necessary toget a foot in the paint.
And so if you can get past that,then you're going to do great
against us is kind of what I wassaying.
Like the Sparks, for instance, we're over the last couple
weeks, the number one team on points in the paint and then the
(14:08):
number 2 is the Sparks. So like it's telling that these
people that were kind of almost giving up on the three, like
we're not going to focus on it. If you give us an open to 1:00,
we'll take it, but we're just going to be driving and cutting.
That's all we're doing. That was something we had
difficulty stopping. Yeah, and I think with the
Sparks they just have, they havea really interesting problem
(14:32):
with the amount of post players that they have because they're
not playing. It's kind of similar to New York
where you have like Brianna Stewart, John Cole Jones and
even Fee Bitch, like they're notplaying true post positions.
Those are all just really big, extra big guards, really.
And the Sparks kind of have thatsame sort of lineup where Derek
and Hamby can play outside, she can bring the ball up.
(14:53):
Ricky Jackson has a really greatoutside jump shot.
And I mean, as Ray Stevens, Yukon phenom, she can shoot all
over the floor. She's great inside.
So that that's really hard to match up against when you have a
more true center like Boston andHoward bouncing around against
all of those bigs like Howard can play A4 and A5, but that
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height was that was just a real big challenge.
So those those opportunities still to figure out, is that
what a zone looks like? Is that when we need to go?
Should we be putting in all of our big?
Should we be trying to match up by height?
I think we have to try a little bit more different approaches
there. Also, someone that got really
(15:36):
exposed last game and this is the first time this is like new
for me to say anything negative about Aerie MacDonald.
But she was super getting exposed.
And I think when you look at whythe other two teams that we just
played really well against the people she was covering.
(15:58):
And she's great at at kind of defending the perimeter, just
like we've been saying. But if you're trying to, you
know, get around her and drive to the basket, she really her
defense breaks down. She kind of gets caught off
guard. She's trying to chase from
behind. She ends up fouling a lot and if
once as soon as that Pitbull known as Kelsey Plum figured
(16:24):
that out, she was like, oh, oh, you're the person that got cut
from our team. I remember that you were with us
like in the summer. Fun.
Cool, let me like destroy you now.
That was like her whole game plan as soon as that was figured
out, and I don't think that's like, oh, Aries unplayable now,
but we do need to either work onthat or support that or not have
(16:46):
her be the point of attack defender in those situations.
Like, I still think she's fantastic with her drive and she
she even like took away the ballfrom Kelsey Plum at the end of
the game that could have gave usthe victory.
Like she did half of the play needed to get us the win.
(17:06):
And then the second-half was making the basket, which we
didn't do. So it's like it wasn't a
complete lost cause, but that part of the defense really
showed that Airy kind of is a little bit outclassed in that
section of her game. Yeah, and I think again, it's
just taking she just joined the team.
Like the timeline on this is is also crazy.
(17:27):
It's insane. Yeah, her timeline is insane.
They said. Like, oh, remember, she's played
seven games and it's like, what?That's.
Yeah. In the NBA, that's a series of
playoff basketball. That's how long she's played One
series. You know, insane.
Yeah, so I think, but I think that it is those two games,
these this week was a really good, good way to see where
(17:52):
we've really improved over the this first half of the season
and where we're still lacking. And I think that's the take away
going into this next half, especially because there's gonna
be a lot of focus on the All Star game and the All Stars
listed. But this is really that that
final push where if you're injured and you're not healthy
at this point, who knows what you're playing time is gonna
(18:14):
look like, who knows what that'sgonna look like.
So if people aren't coming back within this next week, I think
that's gonna be really concerning for those teams who
are seriously pushing for those top spots looking to go into
playoffs. Speaking of that, we have an
injured player and I'm very curious.
Like we, I do feel like what we're seeing is the maturing of
(18:40):
like all of the work that Stephanie White has been asking
the team to put in, like dismantling the team, saying
we're defensive now. What does that look like?
You know, creating all of these habits and these, the discipline
that we're seeing, you know, bear crazy amounts of fruit.
We're seeing that and it's great.
(19:02):
The question on everyone's mind is, how do you think Caitlin
Clark is going to fit into this?So like, one thing we know we've
seen a very good sample size this year of no Caitlin and with
Caitlin. And so on average, we scored 10
more points with Caitlin. So it kind of feels like the
easy answer is, well, we're justgoing to be better on offense
(19:24):
and the defense will hopefully just stay the same, you know?
But is that what's going to happen, Keisha?
What's going to happen, Keisha? I'm I'm curious to know and I
have, I haven't actually personally looked at that stat,
but I'm curious to know what theturnover differences with
Caitlin out and what the assistsare looking like as a team when
she's out. I think that it's the with the
(19:47):
type of injury she has, they're gonna want to be super cautious.
This is only her second year in in as a pro so there really is
no reason to rush. Maybe if she was a little.
Bit doing well, which it is, so the team is UN inarguably doing
well right now. Right.
And it again, if it, if it was like closer to some sort of
(20:09):
playoff decision, maybe that's something you have to reconsider
'cause you do want to have your best players out there.
You want your best chance of continuing on.
But also the health and Wellnessof these players has to be
critical, especially someone like Caitlin Clark who you're
relying on to build a team around long term, I would
imagine. I see, like right now it's
(20:30):
almost like there's two different types of Fever teams
that are being worked on 'cause I'm sure behind the scenes she
has to be training at at some level.
And I'm sure they just don't want to know anyone to know
where she's at. Because that that information
being, you know, kept close to the to the vest is gonna keep
(20:51):
everyone guessing up until each game leading up to, you know,
game, game time decision. As anyone who's playing fantasy
basketball, it's a horrible status to see next to any player
but right. But that's why they do it,
because not just the fantasy people are looking.
But I'm yeah. No, I mean, they've said I know
(21:11):
that, Stephanie said. If we want her to play without a
minute's restriction, we're going to sit here.
Like that's what she said in regards to the last time they
made the decision versus the Sparks, which makes it feel
like, OK, Caitlin could be playing right now.
If we needed to rush her, if this was the playoffs, we could
(21:32):
put her in, which is like, it's good to hear.
But I mean, The thing is like, at least Caitlin Clark is a what
we know about her, she's a very intelligent player.
She is a team player. Like she's someone who thrives
off of getting her team going. More so you might even say, than
(21:54):
scoring. She loves scoring.
But you'll see her like when she's like cruising, what she's
doing is distributing the ball. You know, those are things that
could help her fit into this team.
And it's not like she hasn't been watching.
She's been sitting there on the side of part of these big
successes. She knows what this team
(22:18):
currently looks like. Just hope and pray.
Literally me and the children every day.
Hope and pray and that Caitlin Clark's just going to fit right
in there. But I'm nervous.
I I can't say that I'm not nervous.
Well, I also feel like at the third of the season, it wasn't
really clear. Is Kelsey Mitchell transitioning
(22:41):
out of playing the one? Is Caitlin gonna bring the ball
up? Are they swapping?
I think that was also something that was kind of still
developing when she was when shedid get hurt, was is she gonna
be the true one? Is what's Central gonna look
like. Kelsey has not been playing the
one. Right.
At all we've it's pretty much been Sid and Airy.
(23:03):
So it feels like that's kind of almost decided at this point.
Like, but is that because of Caitlin?
Cause Caitlin also likes to get that set shot.
So having her not necessarily bethe one sometimes I don't know.
And it's also if they double teamer, there's just a lot of
things that come into play. So I wonder what that looks
(23:24):
like. Having Arie, I'm interested to
see Arie and Caitlin play together right, because that
would give her those off ball minutes that we do try to look
for for a lot of reasons one it gives her a little rest out
there too. She plays she plays great off
the ball. So why not have one of your best
shooters out there getting to make open shots?
(23:47):
That's fun. Nobody likes that.
All right, well, this was a very, very, very exciting week
of Fever basketball. That aces win felt almost as
good as the Commissioners Cup win because, like, I don't know
about you. I was kind of like, oh, maybe
they're going to come out a little flat, literally hungover,
possibly. Who knows?
(24:09):
They made a lot of money. I saw this one stat.
It was talking about how Airy makes 53 in her contract because
it's like less than the minimum because it's a partial year.
So then if you look at her winnings, including like the
crypto and everything, it was like that almost double s her
salary. Yeah, for the year.
Crazy. I did see that as well.
(24:31):
Yeah, I think, I think that I think having that information
surrounding these next few weeksalso with all of the CBA
negotiations, we have got to do better.
We have got to do better. I was explaining to my children
that and they're like 53,000. They're like, wait, what do you
make? And I'm like more than that son.
(24:54):
I'm like, if both of us were Area MacDonald, we couldn't
afford the life we live. Like who knows what she does on
that? I mean, I assume she's playing
somewhere. I kind of explained them.
They have to have some other job, whether it's basketball or
something else. They have to have another job to
like, support a normal lifestyle, not a lavish
lifestyle, which I do not live, just for the record, a very
(25:16):
normal American. Put down that caviar.
Why are you drinking champagne during the pod?
OK, so yeah, it's fun, great. And even like I said, the last
versus the Spark stings. But honestly, the Sparks are
playing well. We fought really hard.
(25:36):
It was a tough game. So this week we have on
Wednesday playing the Valkyries for a nooner.
Interesting. That is interesting, yeah.
We'll see how that goes. I'll have to watch a replay of
that one we got Friday versus the Atlanta Dream because why
not? We've already played them, what,
(25:57):
like 20 times already this year?And then on Sunday we're playing
the Wings. So what what are your thoughts
on those three games? What's your What's Keisha's
scouting report? Yeah, I mean, just brief
highlights of Valkyrie are having a pretty decent starting
season for for that team. I'm really impressed with the
(26:20):
coaching and the players. They've had a lot of they've had
a lot of rough weeks, especiallywith some recent cuts.
But I feel like they are hungry and they're determined.
They still have kind of a rotating set roster.
Nothing's quite yet set. And especially with the loss of
Van Liu recently, I'm I'm curious to see what that's going
(26:42):
to look like. But they have some big names.
So that's going to be competitive and that's going to
be a fast-paced game if everyoneis healthy at that point.
And then we have the dream for what was that the 20th time?
Because we only ever play the dream, right?
So we're familiar with them. You know Jordan Canada, you know
(27:03):
Ryan Howard, you know Brittany Griner and Bru Bruna Jones.
You're gonna see Nas Hillman, you're gonna see Alicia Gray.
It's outside shooting. It's bigs inside.
They love a high low. It's we're very well demand to
be playing pretty competitively against them.
This is going to be another big factor of offensive rebounds and
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not turning the ball over because they will fast break.
Jordan Canada is back 100% healthy and she is smooth with
it. And then the wings.
Paige is healthy. Caitlin should be healthy.
This is the game people will be having a lot of opinions about
for the rest of the year, I'm sure.
(27:47):
So both of them are still comingoff of injury and they the Wings
also had some injured players. We'll see.
DJ Carrington's been injured. They've had some interesting
cuts and pulls but they they do have Enrique Mcgowan's going to
be back from her European Leagueactivities.
So it's a lot of big, there's a lot of big talent on that team
(28:10):
as well where everyone else is out health wise, game time,
decisions, we will all have to wait and see.
All right. Well, thank you for that and
thank you guys for continuing tojoin us on the Fever Replay
podcast. We're thrilled every week to
find out that people want to be here with us, so thanks for
(28:34):
doing that. We will see you next week with
another breakdown of the always exciting Indiana Fever.
We hope that you all had a good 4th of July weekend, that
everyone was safe, and we just hope that your game time
decisions in your life all work out for the best, whatever that
(28:56):
means. Anyway, thank you and we'll see
you next week on Fever Replay. Bye.
Friends, Fever fans, welcome back to another Fever Replay
podcast, your home for weekly breakdown of Fever games and
news. This episode, as always, is
brought to you by the love of the game.
Even when you lose to the Sparks, do it for the love of
(00:33):
the game. My name is Chris Ord and as
always, I'm joined by our floor general, Keisha Gallagher.
Keisha, how are you doing this week?
How was your 4th of July? It was exciting and such a
beautiful display of fireworks all weekend long.
(00:54):
How was your 4th? It was similar.
We went to the Indian Indians game here.
We saw the fireworks. That's one of our favorite
traditions here in Indy. And so that was great.
And on the way home, yeah, they were just fireworks everywhere.
It's fantastic. It was fun.
We also have a lot of good basketball this weekend.
(01:17):
Oh yeah. That's what we're going to be
mostly talking about today. In fact, we're going to focus in
on those Fever games. That was kind of my idea to the
pot. So we're not going to
necessarily talk specifics aboutgames, although we had two
really good ones. We're going to focus in more on
(01:39):
the defense, right? Because First off, we had two
games, if you include the Commissioners Cup game and then
the game versus the Aces where we had absolutely elite level
defense. How elite, you ask?
(02:00):
Well, the last time A-Team held back-to-back opponents under 60
points was 22 years ago. Crazy 22 Caitlin Clark, a
Caitlin Clark amount of years ago.
(02:21):
So that was pretty exciting and trust me, we're going to talk
about that today as we kind of dig into the defense.
But then we saw something else versus the Sparks, not elite
defense. The Sparks are better than the
record shows. That's a fact.
But the record is very bad. They've only or the Sparks had
(02:47):
only had five other wins and oneof those was also us, so not
great and we did not play them well on defense.
I felt like that was a winnable game and I also felt like we
didn't necessarily just kind of let it go like we've been having
(03:09):
fourth quarter woes. I don't think that is what
happened. There were like 4 separate
times, especially when I want rewatched the game, where we
could have taken the lead at theend and we played them tough.
We never gave up and the shots just didn't go in.
Like one of those was a Kelsey Mitchell left-handed layup,
(03:30):
which like I want her to take that every single time.
Like I don't regret it at all that it didn't go in.
And another was an AB like shortjumper.
Like she's great at those. Like these were shots that could
have gone in but didn't. We played super tough defense in
those last couple minutes. I'm not super disappointed, but
I do feel like this was an example of our defense kind of
(03:53):
breaking down. So before we kind of dive into
that defensive side, did you have any kind of thoughts that
you wanted to share about the end of that Sparks game?
Yeah, I also think there is a lot of there's a lot more
opportunity for movement when Aaliyah Boston touches the ball.
(04:15):
And there there was interesting rotations in the last couple of
games, especially in against theSparks, where I felt like Boston
wasn't on the floor as often as she normally is.
And not that I don't adore Natasha Howard, but I think
there's more success when Boston's on the floor because
you have to, you have to decide,are you gonna let her shoot or
(04:36):
you're gonna attack her? And if you attack her, who are
you gonna leave open and is thatperson gonna be coming to the
basket? She just caused a lot, a lot of
chaos when we get that ball intoher hands.
And I yeah, I think there was more opportunities for that
against the Sparks, definitely. And then they had a lot of
second, second chance opportunities that were due to
(05:00):
poor management of of where where we were taking those last
few fouls as well. I don't know what really was the
thought process behind some of the last couple fouls.
I was thinking more Natasha Howard jumping up and almost
raining down on IKEA Jackson. I just thought that those were
odd choices when we were still up.
(05:21):
I agree with that. Speaking of just the rotation
these last two games, I am once again gonna sing Timpson's
praises. KK was incredible I and like
before when I talked about her last pod and this time I really
want to clarify why I'm so excited.
And it's not like because she's the standout player, like she's
(05:45):
amazing, like you know, she should start or anything like
that. But to see a rookie get to play
real minutes, not be a huge liability but actually help a
fair amount while developing, that's just like bonkers
amazing. As far as it's a dream.
Because we want to develop this young player and if we can do
(06:06):
that without like actually hurting the team really at all.
And she had some really quality minutes the last two games.
Huge. Block.
Fantastic. So that's why I'm so excited
about KK Timpson, even though she's honestly the worst person
on our team that's playing rightnow.
Like that's that's the fact. But besides that, she's
(06:29):
developing with real minutes andlike actually producing right
now, which is just if if any team could have that, they would
be so excited. And we do and it's great.
And that block. Now, if you viewers at home,
listeners, if you haven't seen the block, go ahead and look it
up because yeah, that rookie, it's going to be a little.
(06:52):
Haunting rookie rookie of Jackson.
Yes, it will be. It's fantastic.
So with that, let's dive into the defense.
Keisha, what do you think is working on this defense?
Because things are working When we set out in the beginning,
Stephanie White talked about wanting to have a defensive
(07:13):
team. Like that's what we're going to
be first and foremost. She came into an offensive team
and said, I want to set up our defense.
That's what we're working on andclearly that is coming to a head
at this point of the season. The defense is maturing in a big
way, So what do you see that's working?
Well, I think if you look kind of pivoting to the aces when
(07:35):
even though we weren't able to shut down Asia Wilson, which is
always the the goal, we were able to pretty much shut down
anyone that was an ace that wasn't Asia Wilson.
The defense was really firing out all cylinders when it came
to ball pressure, forcing uncomfortable shots.
And if they were getting looks, they were so used to being off
(07:55):
kilter or obscured that they weren't even hitting easy shots.
So all of that pressure really built up over time and kept the
aces, I think, on bad footing for the that for all four
quarters of that game. Coming back to the Sparks,
though, opportunities there would have been the matchups
(08:16):
against some of these bigs were just not right and they got
caught sometimes a little bit ofsleep.
There were a lot of opportunities for us to switch a
guard for a post that didn't happen.
Like there was one key point where Kelsey Plum shot directly
in Natasha Howard's face. And I don't know why Natasha
Howard was guarding Kelsey Plum.Not that she can't, but with
(08:36):
this roster, that's not who I want guarding Plum.
So those type type of decision, those those need to be tweaked a
little more fine tune for everyone that the fever is going
to see because each team does have it's unique set of threats
and and weaknesses. And with the Sparks, there was
just so much height to compete with at at at every level.
(08:59):
I I feel like what really works is when we're able to set up our
defense, you know, if we are kind of the aggressors on the
defense, it's great. Like when we were doing full
court press, I never saw a time that it wasn't effective.
You know, when we were, there were often times that we've been
(09:23):
seeing a lot more. Now we're trapping the ball
handler in the corner and that seems very intentional, not
like, oh, look, they're stumbling like it was.
We're the ones that are initiating and creating these
problems that we're forcing the offense to solve.
And I feel like that's clearly where we're more effective.
(09:46):
And you didn't see that as much.You saw it in spurts.
Like I said, it wasn't a terrible game versus the Sparks.
We should have beat them. That's the worst part.
But the Sparks kind of just at the end of the game, we're able
to able to execute in times thatwe weren't was kind of just what
that game came down to. The other thing that's a
(10:07):
highlight and like this is rightoff of the stats is that we're
the number one team as far as limiting 3 points, 3 pointers.
And I feel like that you can watch that in game like we're
closing out hard. We're closing out with our hands
up. The other team knows it.
They're not getting easy shots. They're going to have to shoot
(10:28):
contested shots and it's really,really easy to even have like be
working hard on defense, but to not close out every time.
And our team is clearly decided that they're always going to and
their hands are going to be up and there's gonna they're not
making, you know, it easy on theScreener.
(10:51):
They're not making it easy on the ball handler.
It's really fantastic to see. You can tell in all three of
these games this week, the Commissioners Cup, the Aces and
the Sparks, that the other team was like annoyed that they had
to put up with us. And that's like a fantastic,
(11:12):
that's a fantastic place to be as a defense.
If the other team, like, is looking at the film and is like,
we have to, we have to put up with these people for 40
minutes. Like, I don't wanna do that.
Like, you're already halfway winning as a defense if you're
able to do that, Yeah. Can you hear the Thunder?
(11:33):
Oh yeah, I heard that. So I apologize if you can hear
Thunder throughout this podcast,but we're in a crazy
thunderstorm right now where I am and we lost power for like an
hour. So we'll see if we can get
through this podcast. Hopefully we can.
Just a little added drama there.I I think there was just the
(11:55):
there were moments where despitehaving the lead, there were
those breakdowns in defense where it seems like they were
able to do a lot of cuts or a lot of passes and it didn't
really seem again, like we were on the right footing.
There weren't hands up in the passing lanes.
There wasn't really a lot of communication and I with the
different rotations coming through, I think that that does
(12:18):
make sense. But that is something that we
can't have continue going into these next well, the next half
of the season that these next few games.
So yeah, a lot of really big winning learned skill sets
coming from the links and the aces, but we see going into the
Sparks the team we've lost to before, we still have these
(12:41):
areas that we need to Polish when it comes to lineups that
don't 100% match up player for player.
I think that was the big struggle there.
The fouls that were getting called were against guards and
post players who there's a pretty big size differential.
Yeah, I do feel like when we switching over to kind of like
(13:01):
what's not working with the defense, the most glaring thing
for me is exactly what you're saying.
If we can keep the ball in the front quarter of the court, you
know, then we're doing fantastic.
That's where we want them. We want to keep them outside of
that three-point line. And we seem to be able to bump
(13:25):
and pressure people and like swipe at the ball and cause all
sorts of problems to kind of like make that penetration
difficult. But it feels like once they are
past that first line and they'reheading to the paint, it's kind
of money. Like it just feels like if
you're able to get past there, you're fine.
Like Asia could do that on her own.
(13:47):
Asia has everything necessary toget a foot in the paint.
And so if you can get past that,then you're going to do great
against us is kind of what I wassaying.
Like the Sparks, for instance, we're over the last couple
weeks, the number one team on points in the paint and then the
(14:08):
number 2 is the Sparks. So like it's telling that these
people that were kind of almost giving up on the three, like
we're not going to focus on it. If you give us an open to 1:00,
we'll take it, but we're just going to be driving and cutting.
That's all we're doing. That was something we had
difficulty stopping. Yeah, and I think with the
Sparks they just have, they havea really interesting problem
(14:32):
with the amount of post players that they have because they're
not playing. It's kind of similar to New York
where you have like Brianna Stewart, John Cole Jones and
even Fee Bitch, like they're notplaying true post positions.
Those are all just really big, extra big guards, really.
And the Sparks kind of have thatsame sort of lineup where Derek
and Hamby can play outside, she can bring the ball up.
(14:53):
Ricky Jackson has a really greatoutside jump shot.
And I mean, as Ray Stevens, Yukon phenom, she can shoot all
over the floor. She's great inside.
So that that's really hard to match up against when you have a
more true center like Boston andHoward bouncing around against
all of those bigs like Howard can play A4 and A5, but that
(15:14):
height was that was just a real big challenge.
So those those opportunities still to figure out, is that
what a zone looks like? Is that when we need to go?
Should we be putting in all of our big?
Should we be trying to match up by height?
I think we have to try a little bit more different approaches
there. Also, someone that got really
(15:36):
exposed last game and this is the first time this is like new
for me to say anything negative about Aerie MacDonald.
But she was super getting exposed.
And I think when you look at whythe other two teams that we just
played really well against the people she was covering.
(15:58):
And she's great at at kind of defending the perimeter, just
like we've been saying. But if you're trying to, you
know, get around her and drive to the basket, she really her
defense breaks down. She kind of gets caught off
guard. She's trying to chase from
behind. She ends up fouling a lot and if
once as soon as that Pitbull known as Kelsey Plum figured
(16:24):
that out, she was like, oh, oh, you're the person that got cut
from our team. I remember that you were with us
like in the summer. Fun.
Cool, let me like destroy you now.
That was like her whole game plan as soon as that was figured
out, and I don't think that's like, oh, Aries unplayable now,
but we do need to either work onthat or support that or not have
(16:46):
her be the point of attack defender in those situations.
Like, I still think she's fantastic with her drive and she
she even like took away the ballfrom Kelsey Plum at the end of
the game that could have gave usthe victory.
Like she did half of the play needed to get us the win.
(17:06):
And then the second-half was making the basket, which we
didn't do. So it's like it wasn't a
complete lost cause, but that part of the defense really
showed that Airy kind of is a little bit outclassed in that
section of her game. Yeah, and I think again, it's
just taking she just joined the team.
Like the timeline on this is is also crazy.
(17:27):
It's insane. Yeah, her timeline is insane.
They said. Like, oh, remember, she's played
seven games and it's like, what?That's.
Yeah. In the NBA, that's a series of
playoff basketball. That's how long she's played One
series. You know, insane.
Yeah, so I think, but I think that it is those two games,
these this week was a really good, good way to see where
(17:52):
we've really improved over the this first half of the season
and where we're still lacking. And I think that's the take away
going into this next half, especially because there's gonna
be a lot of focus on the All Star game and the All Stars
listed. But this is really that that
final push where if you're injured and you're not healthy
at this point, who knows what you're playing time is gonna
(18:14):
look like, who knows what that'sgonna look like.
So if people aren't coming back within this next week, I think
that's gonna be really concerning for those teams who
are seriously pushing for those top spots looking to go into
playoffs. Speaking of that, we have an
injured player and I'm very curious.
Like we, I do feel like what we're seeing is the maturing of
(18:40):
like all of the work that Stephanie White has been asking
the team to put in, like dismantling the team, saying
we're defensive now. What does that look like?
You know, creating all of these habits and these, the discipline
that we're seeing, you know, bear crazy amounts of fruit.
We're seeing that and it's great.
(19:02):
The question on everyone's mind is, how do you think Caitlin
Clark is going to fit into this?So like, one thing we know we've
seen a very good sample size this year of no Caitlin and with
Caitlin. And so on average, we scored 10
more points with Caitlin. So it kind of feels like the
easy answer is, well, we're justgoing to be better on offense
(19:24):
and the defense will hopefully just stay the same, you know?
But is that what's going to happen, Keisha?
What's going to happen, Keisha? I'm I'm curious to know and I
have, I haven't actually personally looked at that stat,
but I'm curious to know what theturnover differences with
Caitlin out and what the assistsare looking like as a team when
she's out. I think that it's the with the
(19:47):
type of injury she has, they're gonna want to be super cautious.
This is only her second year in in as a pro so there really is
no reason to rush. Maybe if she was a little.
Bit doing well, which it is, so the team is UN inarguably doing
well right now. Right.
And it again, if it, if it was like closer to some sort of
(20:09):
playoff decision, maybe that's something you have to reconsider
'cause you do want to have your best players out there.
You want your best chance of continuing on.
But also the health and Wellnessof these players has to be
critical, especially someone like Caitlin Clark who you're
relying on to build a team around long term, I would
imagine. I see, like right now it's
(20:30):
almost like there's two different types of Fever teams
that are being worked on 'cause I'm sure behind the scenes she
has to be training at at some level.
And I'm sure they just don't want to know anyone to know
where she's at. Because that that information
being, you know, kept close to the to the vest is gonna keep
(20:51):
everyone guessing up until each game leading up to, you know,
game, game time decision. As anyone who's playing fantasy
basketball, it's a horrible status to see next to any player
but right. But that's why they do it,
because not just the fantasy people are looking.
But I'm yeah. No, I mean, they've said I know
(21:11):
that, Stephanie said. If we want her to play without a
minute's restriction, we're going to sit here.
Like that's what she said in regards to the last time they
made the decision versus the Sparks, which makes it feel
like, OK, Caitlin could be playing right now.
If we needed to rush her, if this was the playoffs, we could
(21:32):
put her in, which is like, it's good to hear.
But I mean, The thing is like, at least Caitlin Clark is a what
we know about her, she's a very intelligent player.
She is a team player. Like she's someone who thrives
off of getting her team going. More so you might even say, than
(21:54):
scoring. She loves scoring.
But you'll see her like when she's like cruising, what she's
doing is distributing the ball. You know, those are things that
could help her fit into this team.
And it's not like she hasn't been watching.
She's been sitting there on the side of part of these big
successes. She knows what this team
(22:18):
currently looks like. Just hope and pray.
Literally me and the children every day.
Hope and pray and that Caitlin Clark's just going to fit right
in there. But I'm nervous.
I I can't say that I'm not nervous.
Well, I also feel like at the third of the season, it wasn't
really clear. Is Kelsey Mitchell transitioning
(22:41):
out of playing the one? Is Caitlin gonna bring the ball
up? Are they swapping?
I think that was also something that was kind of still
developing when she was when shedid get hurt, was is she gonna
be the true one? Is what's Central gonna look
like. Kelsey has not been playing the
one. Right.
At all we've it's pretty much been Sid and Airy.
(23:03):
So it feels like that's kind of almost decided at this point.
Like, but is that because of Caitlin?
Cause Caitlin also likes to get that set shot.
So having her not necessarily bethe one sometimes I don't know.
And it's also if they double teamer, there's just a lot of
things that come into play. So I wonder what that looks
(23:24):
like. Having Arie, I'm interested to
see Arie and Caitlin play together right, because that
would give her those off ball minutes that we do try to look
for for a lot of reasons one it gives her a little rest out
there too. She plays she plays great off
the ball. So why not have one of your best
shooters out there getting to make open shots?
(23:47):
That's fun. Nobody likes that.
All right, well, this was a very, very, very exciting week
of Fever basketball. That aces win felt almost as
good as the Commissioners Cup win because, like, I don't know
about you. I was kind of like, oh, maybe
they're going to come out a little flat, literally hungover,
possibly. Who knows?
(24:09):
They made a lot of money. I saw this one stat.
It was talking about how Airy makes 53 in her contract because
it's like less than the minimum because it's a partial year.
So then if you look at her winnings, including like the
crypto and everything, it was like that almost double s her
salary. Yeah, for the year.
Crazy. I did see that as well.
(24:31):
Yeah, I think, I think that I think having that information
surrounding these next few weeksalso with all of the CBA
negotiations, we have got to do better.
We have got to do better. I was explaining to my children
that and they're like 53,000. They're like, wait, what do you
make? And I'm like more than that son.
(24:54):
I'm like, if both of us were Area MacDonald, we couldn't
afford the life we live. Like who knows what she does on
that? I mean, I assume she's playing
somewhere. I kind of explained them.
They have to have some other job, whether it's basketball or
something else. They have to have another job to
like, support a normal lifestyle, not a lavish
lifestyle, which I do not live, just for the record, a very
(25:16):
normal American. Put down that caviar.
Why are you drinking champagne during the pod?
OK, so yeah, it's fun, great. And even like I said, the last
versus the Spark stings. But honestly, the Sparks are
playing well. We fought really hard.
(25:36):
It was a tough game. So this week we have on
Wednesday playing the Valkyries for a nooner.
Interesting. That is interesting, yeah.
We'll see how that goes. I'll have to watch a replay of
that one we got Friday versus the Atlanta Dream because why
not? We've already played them, what,
(25:57):
like 20 times already this year?And then on Sunday we're playing
the Wings. So what what are your thoughts
on those three games? What's your What's Keisha's
scouting report? Yeah, I mean, just brief
highlights of Valkyrie are having a pretty decent starting
season for for that team. I'm really impressed with the
(26:20):
coaching and the players. They've had a lot of they've had
a lot of rough weeks, especiallywith some recent cuts.
But I feel like they are hungry and they're determined.
They still have kind of a rotating set roster.
Nothing's quite yet set. And especially with the loss of
Van Liu recently, I'm I'm curious to see what that's going
(26:42):
to look like. But they have some big names.
So that's going to be competitive and that's going to
be a fast-paced game if everyoneis healthy at that point.
And then we have the dream for what was that the 20th time?
Because we only ever play the dream, right?
So we're familiar with them. You know Jordan Canada, you know
(27:03):
Ryan Howard, you know Brittany Griner and Bru Bruna Jones.
You're gonna see Nas Hillman, you're gonna see Alicia Gray.
It's outside shooting. It's bigs inside.
They love a high low. It's we're very well demand to
be playing pretty competitively against them.
This is going to be another big factor of offensive rebounds and
(27:26):
not turning the ball over because they will fast break.
Jordan Canada is back 100% healthy and she is smooth with
it. And then the wings.
Paige is healthy. Caitlin should be healthy.
This is the game people will be having a lot of opinions about
for the rest of the year, I'm sure.
(27:47):
So both of them are still comingoff of injury and they the Wings
also had some injured players. We'll see.
DJ Carrington's been injured. They've had some interesting
cuts and pulls but they they do have Enrique Mcgowan's going to
be back from her European Leagueactivities.
So it's a lot of big, there's a lot of big talent on that team
(28:10):
as well where everyone else is out health wise, game time,
decisions, we will all have to wait and see.
All right. Well, thank you for that and
thank you guys for continuing tojoin us on the Fever Replay
podcast. We're thrilled every week to
find out that people want to be here with us, so thanks for
(28:34):
doing that. We will see you next week with
another breakdown of the always exciting Indiana Fever.
We hope that you all had a good 4th of July weekend, that
everyone was safe, and we just hope that your game time
decisions in your life all work out for the best, whatever that
(28:56):
means. Anyway, thank you and we'll see
you next week on Fever Replay. Bye.
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