After having their five-game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday night, the Fever will look to have a bounce-back performance wrapping up their week long road trip Thursday night against the Phoenix Mercury.
This game should be circled on the calendar because it's a crucial one. The Fever (17-13) are currently holding down the fifth spot in the standings and their next opponent, the Mercury (18-11) are in the fourth spot. They're separated by only a game and a half and with just one month left in the regular season - every game matters.
A solid effort from the Fever in their 100-91 loss against the Sparks came up short. After trailing by as many as 22 points with 5:41 left in the game, their furious 18-2 run just ran out of time.
Success can't come from allowing a team to shoot 56 percent from the field in addition to them hitting 50 percent of their 3-point attempts. Offensively the Fever were solid producing 23 assists in an effort to effectively generate their offense. They will have to hit the reset button going into Thursday's meeting with the Mercury.
The Fever will need this win against the Mercury
The state of the playoff race for both of these teams can fall on this game. Currently, the Fever are 1-0 on the season in head-to-head match-ups, but if the Fever are victorious in Thursday's game they will secure the tiebreaker over the Mercury.
This can be huge, especially if both teams remain neck-and-neck in the standings come September. If the Mercury win Thursday, then the third and final rematch between both teams on September 2nd in Phoenix will determine the tiebreaker.
The Fever beat the Mercury last week at Gainbridge Fieldhouse 107-101 in what was the team's first meeting against one another. The win came behind Aari McDonald's career high 27-point performance. Aliyah Boston added 22 points in the win.
It will take clicking on all cylinders for the Fever to have a legit chance to leave Phoenix victorious. Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper are shooting lights out for the Mercury - both averaging double digit figures. The Fever can't forget about Alyssa Thomas who is currently 15th in the entire WNBA in scoring averaging 15.8 points a game and is third in rebounding.
Phoenix is stacked with experience and talent and winners of their last two games despite a shaky start to August. One area that the Mercury struggle in is keeping up with fast tempo which is when the Fever play their best. McDonald and Kelsey Mitchell are nightmares for defenses to manage because of how quickly they can move the ball.
Tuesday's loss shouldn't deter the Fever to go back to what works for them and that's moving the ball around quickly. Phoenix doesn't have a lot of speed outside of Copper and needs to keep their defense on their heels.
At 30 games in, the Fever are 8-7 in road games this season and the Mercury are an impressive 10-4 at home. Indiana ranks eighth in the league allowing 81.4 points while holding their opponent's to 43.7 percent shooting. Phoenix averages 83.3 points per game in scoring and the Fever average 85.3.
Both team have numerous shooting threats as well dominant forces in the paint. Despite meeting each other only once thus far, it still makes for a pretty balanced match-up in terms of production. It won't be a devastating scenario if the Fever don't win this game, but if successful it can give them breathing room in post-season seeding in what may set up a major return for Caitlin Clark.