When Caitlin Clark went down with her injury, a dip in the Fever's form would have been understandable. Yet here we are with the Fever on a five game win streak and surging up the WNBA playoff standings after a 78-74 win against the Seattle Storm.
There is certainly credit to be passed around for the success that the Fever have found between players such as Aari McDonald and Kelsey Mitchell, but Aliyah Boston has a streak of her own going that continued with her 16 point and 12 rebound in the victory over Seattle.
Aliyah Boston is becoming the key to victory
Over the course of the five game streak of wins, there have been different players who have stepped up but the one true constant has been Boston.
The streak right now that just goes a game longer than the Fever's win streak isBoston's double-double streak, which currently sits at six games long dating back to the Fever's loss to the Liberty and is a Fever franchise record. And while that streak is certainly impressive, it goes further than just putting up double-digits in the points and rebounds columns on the box score.
For Boston, the impact is also consistently being felt with her playmaking, which has been one of her most important skills dating back to her time in South Carolina. In three out of the six games where Boston has posted a double-double, it has been accompanied with five or more assists.
Adding that additional role of playmaker is not something foreign to Boston, but with Caitlin Clark still on the sidelines it is arguably more important now than ever for her to be using her passing skills to the benefit of her Fever teammates. Feeling the weight of being a defense's top priority to stop is something Boston has dealt with her entire career and being able to use her gravity to find open teammates has become pivotal during this win streak.
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Then if you flip the court over to the defensive side of the ball, you will find that Boston has also posted two or more steals in five out of the six games of the streak. Right now when you watch Aliyah Boston play for the Fever, you are looking at a player that is dominating in all facets of the game.
In the most recent matchup against Seattle, all of these aspects of Boston's game could be felt. This has been able to find times to takeover and score which is more of what was called for to keep Seattle from fully storming back towards the end of the game.
In the big picture, as the Fever work to determine what a potential Caitlin Clark return could look like this season, it is necessary to weigh what the likelihood of a deep playoff run would take out of her.
Right now? Aliyah Boston is showing that she is in championship form, and while the Fever certainly will hope to have Clark back and aim for a WNBA Finals run, Boston has the Indiana squad ready to make some playoff noise no matter what.