The Indiana Fever are in action on Thursday night in their final regular-season game. They face the No. 1 seed Minnesota Lynx on the road with playoff seeding on the line.
The Fever, however, lost Aliyah Boston in the second quarter. The four-time All-Star exited the game late in the first half with a mysterious injury. According to Brian Haenchen of the Indianapolis Star, Boston left the game with 2:40 left in the second quarter. She headed to the locker room with a towel over her mouth, accompanied by a trainer.
Boston did not come out of the locker room with the team after halftime. Veteran forward Monique Billings started the second half in Boston’s place. The Fever then announced in the third quarter that the 6-foot-5 center-forward is done for the night.
“Injury Update: Aliyah Boston (right lower leg) will not return to tonight’s game,” the Fever posted on X.
Unfortunately, the Fever will need to play the remainder of the game without their best frontcourt player. Boston logged four points, three rebounds and a steal in 13 minutes before her early exit.
This could be a concerning development for Indiana. The last thing they need right now is an injury to one of their stars heading into the playoffs. More information should be available on the extent of Boston’s injury after the game.
The Fever are down big right now. As of this writing, the Lynx lead 74-40 with 2:19 left in the third quarter.
The Washington Mystics, meanwhile, defeated the Chicago Sky, 101-93. The Mystics own the tie-breaker over the Fever, which means that unless Indiana mounts a massive comeback against the Lynx, Indiana will drop to the No. 6 seed.
The Fever will pay close attention to the two remaining games on Thursday night. Both the Las Vegas Aces and the Golden State Valkyries are in action, and the results will determine which of the two teams the Fever face as the No. 3 seed in the first round of the WNBA playoffs.
Game 1 of the Fever’s first-round series is scheduled for Sunday. They will be the road team, as the higher seed has home-court advantage. At this point, Boston’s status for that game remains unclear.
UPDATE: Coach White said after the game that Boston’s injury was a flare-up and that keeping her out was precautionary. The Fever lost, 86-66, and will face the Aces in the first round of the playoffs.
