The Indiana Fever look to equal their win total from last season on Thursday by doing something they haven’t done in nearly three years: beat the Seattle Storm.
The Fever (4-7), which went 5-31 a year ago, have dropped their past seven games – all by double digits — against Seattle since a 90-84 victory in August of 2020. Indiana has also lost its past four games in the Seattle area since a win in August of 2019.
Seattle (3-8) is coming off an 85-79 loss to the visiting Connecticut Sun on Tuesday for its fourth defeat in its past six contests.
Indiana had its two-game winning streak snapped with a 100-94 setback against visiting Atlanta on Sunday.
Aliyah Boston tied a season high with 25 points to go along with a season-high four blocks for the Fever. The top pick in this year’s draft is averaging 22.3 points and 9.3 rebounds over the past three games since scoring just season-low four points in an 85-82 loss to Phoenix on June 11.
Boston (calf) is listed as probable for Thursday’s game.
The Fever struggled defensively, as the Dream shot 56.1 percent (37 of 66) from the field, including 46.7 percent (7 of 15) from 3-point range.
“The mental block was on the defensive end of the floor,” Indiana coach Christie Sides said. “We let our offense dictate how our defense is gonna play, and we have to change that. We missed wide open shots in the first quarter early, and we let it deflate us, and it affected our defense.”
Seattle also fell apart down the stretch in its last game.
Leading 48-45 at halftime, the Storm were outscored 22-8 by the Sun in the third quarter and never regained the lead.
“I felt like a lid was on the basket,” Seattle coach Noelle Quinn said. “I thought we got decent shots. We got to the rim and missed some bunnies. We stopped doing some things that got us the lead. It was a difficult third quarter, but the other three quarters I thought we were pretty decent.”
Jewell Loyd, who averages a league-leading 26.2 points per game, scored a team-high 33 points to go along with four assists and three steals for the Storm. Loyd made six 3-pointers and is tied for the league lead with 36.
Ezi Magbegor finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Jordan Horston came off the bench to also record a double-double with 11 points and a team-high 13 rebounds.
–Field Level Media
