The Indiana Fever needed a pick-me-up. They have had injuries, players out of the country, and new points of focus all contributing to them losing their first three games and four of five. They dropped to 3-6 before starting a win streak in Connecticut on the final day of June.
In the days leading up to that road game in Connecticut, leader and sure-thing Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings got creative. She’s known for that, trying to find ways to inspire and motivate her teammates.
“They laugh at me because I’m always thinking of stuff,” Catchings said with her typical off-court smile.
The team was still in search of its identity and what they could hang their hat on. So, on her way to the gym one day, she stopped off at a store bought a puzzle of ‘Frozen,’ the extremely popular Disney movie.
With the team together, talking about the great opportunity in front of them to be successful and how each player could contribute, Catchings handed out puzzle pieces.
“Alright, we’re going to put this puzzle together,” she told her teammates. “… And if everybody brings their pieces to the table … if I hold my piece back and you guys do the puzzles, then it’s not a finished product.
“It’s just really focusing on everybody bringing their piece to the table. If you bring whatever you’re really good at to the table, offensively and defensively, then we can make this puzzle — we can make it work. … And we’ve been rolling since.”
[Tamika Catchings nominated for first-ever ‘Sports Humanitarian of the Year’ award]
The Fever (6-6) made it three straight, their longest win streak of the season, during a matinee contest on Wednesday. The struggling Seattle Storm (3-10) were in town and were outplayed from the outset. (Poor Seattle, a West Coast team tipping at 9 a.m. PT. Unlucky scheduling.)
The Fever tallied 26 first-quarter points, never lost a quarter, and added to their momentum with a 88-65 win to get back to .500 for the first time in a year.
“I don’t look at the standings or the records,” said Catchings, who contributed 12 points, two assists, a rebound and a steal in just over 24 minutes. “I think, more so, just the confidence that we’re able to build as a team. When we started off, we had a little low. Finally got our first when and it was like, ‘Whew! Here he go,’ and being able to build off of that.”
And, the win came in front of 12,189 screaming fans — mostly campers — at Bankers Life Fieldhouse as the team held its annual kid’s day. That’s the 10th highest regular-season attendance figure in franchise history and the best since August, 2003.
The talk coming into the season, under the leadership of first-year head coach Stephanie White, was that the Fever would have a much different look on offense — looking to push the ball frequently. They did shoot it well, over 50 percent for the third straight game, but it was their energy and effort that was most impressive.
The Fever dictated things on the defensive end and scored 24 points off of 23 Storm turnovers. They pounded it in the paint, with a plus-24 advantage, and the bench accounted for 38 points.
“I can’t speak enough about the contributions from our bench,” said coach White. “We certainly knew that the way we wanted to play, we had to have depth and our bench came ready to play today and really just did a great job.”
The Fever are now relativity healthy. (Somebody give trainer Todd Champlin a bonus!) Shavonte Zellous is still nursing a sore back and Maggie Lucas is bothered by a right hip injury, but Catchings, Erlana Larkins, and Jeanette Pohlen were all out on the court.
“I think what it has done is put pressure on players that may not have had that time, may not have had that pressure before,” Catchings said of the lineup flux.
Lynetta Kizer has taken on a larger role with Larkins missing time — five games — because of a bruised right knee. She led all scorers with a season-high 17 points and six rebounds. Marissa Coleman reached double figures for the eighth time in 12 games with 15 points — including nine of the Fever’s first 15.
“I think we’re finally all getting comfortable with playing with each other, playing in the new system,” Coleman offered. “We’ve had a lot of people in and out with injuries. It’s been hard to get in a flow with each other and I think we’re finally getting to that point.”
Just as things are clicking and players are returning to the lineup, the Fever will be without WNBA Rookie of the Month, Natalie Achonwa, who will be in her native country of Canada as they host this year’s Pan Am Games in Toronto, July 16-20.
“I think right now we’re building our chemistry,” said Zellous, who has been unavailable for the last seven games. “The few pieces that we have out, people coming back, I’ll be back next week, but right now I think we’re at a good point because we know what Steph wants. I think we’re finding out about each other.”
The puzzle is coming together for the Fever, who have two more games left of a four-game homestand. They host the San Antonio Silver Stars on Friday (7 p.m. ET), and then Tulsa on July 15th.
“With our versatility, with our quickness and our speed and our athleticism, we have great potential to be a lock-down defensive team,” said White. “I think we really are just scratching the surface.”