It’s Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, and the stakes couldn’t be higher as the Indiana Fever, battered but unbowed, prepare to host the league-leading Minnesota Lynx in a regular season WNBA showdown. With just nine games left in the season, every possession, every rebound, and every defensive stand counts for a Fever squad clinging to playoff hopes amid a brutal run of injuries.
Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time, with ION carrying the broadcast and a bevy of streaming options—DIRECTV, FuboTV, and Sling Freestream—giving fans plenty of ways to tune in. For those without cable, DIRECTV and FuboTV are both offering free trials and special discounts, while Sling Freestream lets viewers watch Friday night WNBA games at no cost by simply signing up through their app. It’s a welcome bit of accessibility for a game with so much on the line.
The Fever enter the night with a 19-16 record, currently holding the No. 6 seed in the WNBA playoff race. Their grip on the postseason is tenuous, just two games ahead of the ninth-place Los Angeles Sparks and only 1.5 games clear of the Seattle Storm. They’re also two games back of the Phoenix Mercury in fifth, and the Golden State Valkyries are nipping at their heels, just a game behind. The pressure is palpable—every win matters, and every loss could be costly.
But if the Fever’s position is precarious, it’s only because they’ve shown remarkable resilience in the face of adversity. The team has been ravaged by injuries, particularly in the backcourt. Star point guard Caitlin Clark, the two-time All-Star and preseason MVP candidate, is missing her 14th straight game due to a right groin injury suffered in mid-July. She’s now missed 23 regular season games and 24 overall this year, and to make matters worse, sources confirm she’s also dealing with a separate, undisclosed injury. There’s still no timetable for her return.
Clark’s absence has been compounded by the loss of backup guards Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson, both of whom suffered season-ending injuries in the same game on August 7. Just last week, guard Sophie Cunningham tore her MCL, ending her season as well. It’s a run of misfortune that would sink most teams, but the Fever, under the steady hand of head coach Stephanie White, have refused to fold.
“We have a group that’s ready to respond. There’s a difference in reacting to situations and responding to situations and this group responds and that fuels us,” White told reporters this week. “You’ve got two options, right? You can fight or you can fold, and we aren’t folding.”
White, a former Fever player herself and a champion as a coach, has been forced to juggle lineups, manage roster moves, and reteach the playbook on the fly. She admits she’s never seen anything quite like this stretch of adversity in her long career. Yet, the team’s culture and internal chemistry have kept them afloat.
“When I say you have to have a good culture, you have to have good people in your locker room, you have to have decent humans for this thing to keep rolling,” All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell explained. “I think when people have bad days and bad things happen, I think you have to lean on internal relationships with one another to make it not feel so horrible.”
Mitchell has been the heartbeat of the Fever’s offense, averaging a career-best 20.4 points per game and dishing out 3.4 assists—nearly double her output from last season. Her leadership and scoring have been crucial, especially as Indiana has had to play without its top playmakers. All-Star center Aliyah Boston has also stepped up, improving her passing and teaming with forward Natasha Howard to give the Fever a formidable presence inside. In the Commissioner’s Cup championship back on July 1, Boston notched a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double and handed out six assists, while Howard led all scorers and rebounders with 16 points and 12 boards. The duo combined for four steals and helped hold the Lynx to their lowest point total of the season in a 74-59 Fever win—remarkably, that victory came without Clark in the lineup.
Since Clark’s latest absence began, Indiana lost its first two games but then rattled off five straight wins. Even after McDonald and Colson went down, the Fever are 2-2, with those losses coming by a combined five points. When Cunningham was injured last Sunday, Indiana rallied from 21 down to stun Connecticut in overtime—a testament to the team’s grit and determination. The emotional toll of this journey brought White to tears in her postgame press conference, but the message to her players remains clear: keep fighting.
“I told the team at halftime (Sunday), we’ve been dealt a crappy hand, and we’ve got to play it,” White said. “They have been so connected, they have stayed together, and they have found a way and because of that, it’s put us in position to win ballgames and we’re going to continue to battle.”
Indiana’s opponent tonight, the Minnesota Lynx, are currently atop the league with a 28-7 record. Yet, they too are dealing with adversity. Star forward Napheesa Collier, a leading MVP candidate, is questionable to play after missing the last six games with a sprained ankle. The Lynx managed to win the first four games without her, but they’ve dropped two straight—falling to the New York Liberty and Atlanta Dream. It’s the first losing streak of the season for Minnesota, and they’ll be eager to get back on track.
This is the first regular season meeting between the Fever and Lynx, but their Commissioner’s Cup clash is still fresh in everyone’s memory. Indiana’s ability to stifle Minnesota’s offense that night was a masterclass in team defense and collective will—can they replicate that effort tonight, short-handed as they are?
Fans looking to watch can catch the action on ION or stream it via DIRECTV, FuboTV, or Sling Freestream. Both DIRECTV and FuboTV are running discounts for new users, making it easier than ever to follow every twist and turn as the playoff race heats up.
With the Fever’s playoff position hanging in the balance and the Lynx hoping to snap their skid, tonight’s game promises drama, intensity, and perhaps a few surprises. One thing’s for sure: Indiana’s fighting spirit won’t be in question, no matter who’s on the court.
