The Indiana Fever are facing one, maybe two, do-or-die games this coming week. On Sunday, September 29th at 3:00 pm, the Fever play the Atlanta Dream for their very survival in the WNBA Eastern Conference Finals. The Fever are currently 0-1 now, having lost to their conference rivals, 84 – 79.
If they lose, their season is over, and this makes this game their last one of the season at Banker's Life Fieldhouse. If they win, they go back to Atlanta for game 3. A loss sends them home, a win sends them to the finals, and at least one or two more games back home. So if you've been thinking "I really should go to a Fever game this year," this is it. This is the game they really need their home crowd screaming and cheering for them.
Anyone who has ever been to a Fever – Dream game knows that this is always one of the hardest fought games of the season, and the boos ring loud throughout Bankers Life Fieldhouse, especially when the Dream's Angel McCoughtry flops, falls, or whines whenever she doesn't get her way.
Wait, wait, I'm a journalist. I'm supposed to be objective. I meant, when McCoughtry appears to flop, fall, or whine whenever she doesn't get her way.
It may seem like the Fever have not had good luck against the Dream this year (they actually haven't: they're 1 – 3 against them in the regular season). But if you watched Thursday's game, you got a different story. Although the Dream took the lead with 1:40 remaining in the third quarter, there were plenty of lead changes and ties, plus the Fever were always within one or two possessions of taking the lead back and ultimately winning the game.
My family and I were watching the last few minutes of the game, cheering and groaning with every bucket, every miss, every foul. The Fever may have been without Katie Douglas (back), but they played hard.
They just couldn't execute. They had 48% shooting on the night, which isn't great. This wasn't the same performance that so dominated and gutted the Chicago Sky just last week.
However, we still saw some great performances from the team. Tamika Catchings picked up 21 points, while Erlana Larkins got her third straight double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Karima Christmas had 15 points, six rebounds, and four assists, while Shavonte Zealous scored 15, with 11 of them in the fourth quarter.