The Indiana Fever improved to 4-2 on the season with their win against the Golden State Valkyries on Friday. Defense played a big role in the victory, as Stephanie White's squad limited Golden State to just 82 points.
Now, the Fever's four wins have all seen them hold their opponents to 82 points or fewer. Prior to their victory over the Valkyries, they also took down the Portland Fire 90-73.
However, it's worth noting that the Fever's defense is still not at the level they would want it to be. In its two losses to the Dallas Wings and Washington Mystics, Indiana allowed both teams to drop more than 100 points on them.
Clearly, for Indiana to be title contenders, they will need to be a consistent and great defensive team.
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Guard Sophie Cunningham firmly believes the Fever have what it takes to be an "unstoppable defensive team," but she emphasized that it won't be easy and the whole team needs to put in the effort.
"When it comes to our defense, I think that is an area that we have great potential in, but we have to want to be a great defensive team," Cunningham said in the latest episode of the "Show Me Something podcast.
"If four people are doing it and that one person isn't, it's going to mess up our schemes every single time. And so it's just like making sure everyone's looking [at] themselves in the mirror."
Cunningham acknowledged that "defense is hard" since no one likes to get beat up and guard players "who are so freaking fast." That being said, they really have to work hard and embrace that side of the ball if they want to thrive on it.
"Defense is definitely an effort thing," the 29-year-old WNBA veteran added. "But I think that when our team can really dial in and put in that effort, I feel like we're going to be a pretty unstoppable defensive team."
The Fever currently have the fourth-best defensive rating in the WNBA at 101.2, a slight improvement from last season's rating of 101.8 (which ranked seventh in the league). Now, the challenge for Indiana is to improve that number, especially against the top teams.
