Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever enter the WNBA playoffs as the sixth seed. They are set to face the reigning champions, the Las Vegas Aces, in the first round.
Sure enough, expectations are high that the Fever can take down the Aces. After all, Indiana pushed the A’ja Wilson-led squad to a full five-game series in last year’s semifinals even without Clark.
Now that the All-Star playmaker is healthy alongside the team’s elite scorer in Kelsey Mitchell, Indiana should have more than enough to handle Las Vegas. Not to mention, the Fever went 2-1 in their season series against the Aces this campaign.
Indiana also boasts the best offense in the WNBA. The team finished the season with the highest offensive rating at 117.0, making them legitimate contenders for the championship.
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Despite that, however, ESPN’s Basketball Power Index doesn’t really favor the Fever to win the championship, let alone overcome the Aces in the first round.
Indiana has been given a 40.4% chance to make the semifinals, while the Aces are at 59.6%. For the championship, the Fever have less than a 6% chance to win it, at 5.9%. They have the fifth-best odds out of eight playoff teams, which is not particularly encouraging.
In comparison, the Atlanta Dream, a team that the Fever went 2-2 against during the season, have been given a 19.8% chance to win the championship. That’s the second-best odds in the WNBA, behind only the Minnesota Lynx.
The Dream, led by the trio of Angel Reese, Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray, finished fourth in the WNBA with a 30-14 record. They also boast the second-best defense in the league.
It will be interesting to see how far Clark, Mitchell and Aliyah Boston can take the Fever in the playoffs. There will certainly be plenty of eyes on them as they look to defy the odds.
