The just closed their first regular season above .600 since the 2012 championship year. At 28-16, Stephanie White’s group finished third in the East and sixth overall, and now opens the playoffs Sunday at the Las Vegas Aces.
and Kelsey Mitchell carried most of the scoring load. Mitchell set the single-season points record with 1,086, passing A’ja Wilson’s 1,021 from 2024, and averaged 24.7 points. Clark finished with 891 points, the most by a point guard in a single season, while averaging 22.3 points and 8.3 assists. Both stayed in the MVP conversation all year.
Asked what actually powers Indiana Fever’s attack, Sophie Cunningham pushed back on the idea that they are just a three-point outfit.
“I don’t think we live and die by threes because we have had one of the best offenses in history with the amount of points that we scored this season in a stretch. My biggest thing is our ball movement,” Cunningham shared. “I think it’s our assists. It’s getting people involved. I think when we have anywhere from five to six to seven people in double figures, and everyone’s getting involved, or they’re close to double figures, we’re phenomenal.”
“When you are getting people involved, especially floor spacers, it opens it up for everybody,” she added. “Now, do we have a lot of great three-point shooters? Absolutely. But I think it’s getting other people involved… because that’s when we’re at our best, only because our ball movement is phenomenal at that point.”
The numbers back her up. Indiana Fever led the league at 96.0 points per game and sat first in field-goal percentage (48.7) and three-point percentage (38.6). They ranked second in threes made (10.3 per game) and first in offensive rating. Mitchell and Clark finished second and third in scoring. Clark was also second in assists.
A historic offense did not buy a top seed. The allowed 90.4 points per game and sat in the middle of the pack on defense, which is why they settled for the No. 6 seed after a 66-86 loss at Minnesota in the finale. Cunningham has already called that out.
“It’s just like a little bit more effort from everybody. We can’t go and reinvent the wheel. And I think there are some times that we show that we are actually very good at executing our defense and that we’re all on the same string,” Cunningham stated. “But when you are playing against such high-level athletes, even if one person isn’t doing what they’re supposed to do, you’re going to get screwed.”
“There’s always one person who is just kind of ball-watching and not doing what they’re supposed to do. So it’s like we shoot ourselves in the foot. We need to step it up defensively,” she added.
Playoff basketball will test whether that extra pass still shows up when the Aces load the paint and dare Indiana to stay connected on the other end.
