Fever’s 4th quarter meltdowns are turning the heat up on Stephanie White

The Indiana Fever had to face the Los Angeles Sparks without Caitlin Clark, who sat out with a groin injury. While it was a close game for the most part, the Fever ended up losing by ten points. The Fever played a bad fourth quarter, losing it 17-35 and letting the Sparks pull away. 

Head coach Stephanie White chose to close the game with a small lineup of Aari McDonald, Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull, Sophie Cunningham, and Aliyah Boston. That lineup provides a lot of offense and spacing, but leaves the Fever vulnerable on the boards. That shortcoming ended up deciding the game. 

With 49.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Sparks were only up by two points, and a win was still well within reach for the Fever. Then, the Fever gave up two offensive rebounds and and-ones. First, Dearica Hamby got her hands on a missed shot from Kelsey Plum, converted the bucket, and was fouled by Sophie Cunningham. 

Hamby missed the free throw, but Azura Stevens grabbed the offensive rebound, made the shot, and was also fouled by Cunningham. Stevens made the free throw as well, pushing the score to 82-75 in favor of the Sparks. The Fever didn’t make another basket for the rest of the quarter and had to send the Sparks to the line a few times. 

This is not the first time the Fever melted down in the fourth quarter

The Fever’s inability to close out games in the fourth quarter is becoming a concerning theme. Indiana lost to the Las Vegas Aces and Golden State Valkyries in a similar fashion. 

The game against the Aces was close late in the fourth quarter. With 4:18 left, the Aces were only up by two points. About a minute later, the lead was seven, and the Fever never managed to quite catch up to the Aces. The Fever missed a lot of shots and allowed A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray to hit big shots. 

It was a repeat of the Fever’s meltdown in San Francisco. After the third quarter, the Fever were up by four points, but let the Valkyries outscore them 33-18 in the fourth. Again, a small lineup of Clark, Mitchell, Hull, Cunningham, and Boston couldn’t deliver. 

The Fever struggled to defend the Valkyries, Clark sent Veronica Burton and Tiffany Hayes to the line for easy points with a little over a minute left in the quarter, and Laeticia Amihere grabbed two massive rebounds that led to two points for Veronica Burton and a made free throw by Amihere. 

Stephanie White has to improve the Fever’s late-game execution 

Some of the Fever’s recent late-game struggles are on the players. Missed shots and bad defensive plays aren’t something Stephanie White can necessarily control. However, she can control lineups, rotations, and plays. Her lineup choices in the losses to Golden State and Los Angeles hurt the team. 

After yet another tough loss, the Fever fell to ninth place in the regular-season standings. That is far from where the Fever want to be. Hiring White as the team’s new head coach was supposed to propel the new-look Fever to championship contention. Now, it is up to White to remind everyone why the Fever hired her.