Performance from one Fever player in bad loss provides silver lining

Indiana Fever forward Natasha Howard was one of several veteran pieces added by the team this offseason who came over with championship pedigree and the ability to seamlessly mesh in the frontcourt with center Aliyah Boston.

So far this season, Howard is averaging 11.9 points per game along with 6.4 rebounds and one steal, playing an average of 24.8 minutes per game as a common starter for head coach Stephanie White. While she is having a decent start to the year, these aren't exactly the numbers, presumably, the team felt like she could reach given how great she'd been for the Dallas Wings when healthy.

But, in the Fever's loss to the Atlanta Dream, Howard looked like the best player on the team on the floor - for whatever that's worth, considering it was a bit of a dominant win for Atlanta over a less physical Indiana team.

Howard ended the evening with a double double, scoring 15 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, tallying two blocks, and getting one steal. Her last performance this good actually came in the Fever's win over Atlanta earlier in the season, where she posted 26 points. But, this is her first double double of the season.

Howard provides great sign for frontcourt in loss

With Howard providing this much production on the glass, it takes a load off of Aliyah Boston to worry about getting so many boards in addition to playing defense on each teams' center and worrying about scoring, as well. Especially against a team like the Dream with such frontcourt talent like Bri Jones and Brittney Griner, it's great to see Howard step up.

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The Fever are potentially getting Caitlin Clark back this Saturday in a key rematch against the New York Liberty. If so, then Clark could be returning to a Fever team with a more confident Howard and Kelsey Mitchell on the court with her in the starting lineup. That'd be huge for Indiana's chances at getting back up in the standings as they've fallen all the way to the 7 seed.

There's plenty of season left, but if this one Howard performance says anything about how Indiana will bounce back once Clark returns, we should be in for a major redemption for a Fever team looking to be contenders in the league - up there with the Minnesota Lynx and Liberty.