The Indiana Fever's five-game winning streak came to an end on Sunday after they lost to the Minnesota Lynx 108-100. Despite Kelsey Mitchell exploding for 37 points on 14-of-21 shooting, Indiana had no answer for Minnesota's balanced offense.
All Minnesota starters scored in double digits, led by Olivia Miles who had 28 points. In contrast, the Fever only had three players reach double figures, with Caitlin Clark being Indiana's next best scorer with 19.
Taking care of the ball was once again an issue for the Fever, as they committed 12 turnovers and allowed Minnesota to score 15 points off those mistakes.
According to Clark, however, one of the Fever's shortcomings that really hurt them was their inability to secure offensive rebounds and generate second-chance opportunities. Indiana had only five offensive rebounds compared to Minnesota's 11.
The Lynx scored 16 second-chance points, while the Fever managed only 10.
Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
"Obviously, the offensive rebounding that we gave up tonight really hurt us, and that starts with me. I think my player got at least four tonight. So, I got to be better in that area and I can for sure," Clark admitted in the Fever's postgame press conference.
"I think we were just like a little bit of a step slow at times. We did get stops and then we just shot ourselves in the foot by not actually going and getting the ball, whether it's a 50-50 ball, whether it's an offensive rebound or defensive rebound."
There were certainly a lot of things that went wrong for Indiana, although the team did step up in the second half, even making it a two-point game with under three minutes left in the final quarter. It's worth noting that the Fever trailed by as many as 15 points in the contest.
The good news for Indiana is that it has a long break before returning to action. The Fever will play again on Thursday against the Las Vegas Aces. That said, they have enough time to review the tape from their latest loss and identify what else they can do to avoid digging themselves into another deep hole.
