The Indiana Fever (17-16) clinched a spot within the 2024 WNBA playoffs on Tuesday night time, ending an eight-year drought.
On Wednesday, each rookie guard Caitlin Clark and head coach Christie Sides added to their assortment of particular person accolades.
Sides is in her second 12 months on the helm in Indiana and led the group to a 5-1 mark in August popping out of the break from the Paris Summer time Olympics.
Based on a release, the Fever led the WNBA in scoring (89.7 factors per sport), three-pointers made (72) and offensive ranking (110.7) in the course of the month.
Indiana returned from the Olympics break by defeating the Phoenix Mercury 98-89 on Aug. 16 to finish a regular-season sequence sweep towards the three-time champions for the primary time since 2015. The discharge additionally highlighted the Fever’s 84-80 win towards the Connecticut Solar on Aug. 28 (their first triumph towards the Solar since 2021) and Friday’s 19-point victory over Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky the place Clark and firm scored a season-high 100 factors.
Indiana started September by beating the Dallas Wings 100-93 on Sunday to increase its successful streak to 4 video games (tying a season excessive). Sides’ crew opens its six-game homestand on Wednesday towards the Los Angeles Sparks and can wrap up the common season on Sept. 19 towards the Washington Mystics on the street.
Clark was not solely named the WNBA Rookie of the Month for the third time on Wednesday however earned the Japanese Convention Participant of the Month award as nicely. The 22-year-old additionally gained the Japanese Convention Participant of the Week for the second time on Tuesday.
Per a release, Clark led the WNBA in assists in August and paces the Affiliation in dimes per contest as nicely (8.4). She confirmed what made her arguably one of the best girls’s school basketball participant of all time at Iowa by posting no less than 19 factors, 5 assists and 4 rebounds in all six of the Fever’s video games final month.
Clark leads all rookies in factors (18.7), steals (1.4) and minutes per sport (35.4), whereas rating first in free-throw share (89.7) too. Throughout Sunday’s win towards the Wings, she grew to become simply the seventh rookie in league historical past to register no less than 600 factors and in addition is now the highest-scoring first-year professional in Fever historical past at 617 factors.
With Corridor of Fame ahead Tamika Catchings as the first star, the Fever made the playoffs in 12 straight seasons from 2005 to 2016 and gained a title in 2012 however have not been again to the postseason since she retired. After final season’s 13-27 mark and a 1-8 begin this 12 months, it has been an enormous second-half turnaround for the Fever, and they seem like a harmful out heading into the playoffs.
