The Indiana Fever’s quest to win its second straight WNBA crown ended Sunday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse as the Atlanta Dream won with a 67-53 victory and swept the series to win the WNBA Eastern Division. Without Katie Douglas, the Fever had nobody to match the long distance shooting of the Dream’s Angel McCoughtry Sunday night. Tamika Catchings tried to match the Dream’s All Star Point Guard with 24 points and 6 rebounds but it just wasn’t enough to overcome the Dream’s scoring advantage. I take nothing away from the Atlanta Dream; they played outstanding basketball all season long and dominated the series with our Fever. So after a valiant effort, the Fever had to say goodbye to a chance to repeat as champs.
From the beginning of the season the Fever had to deal with injuries to key players on a more or less regular basis. The loss of their All Star guard/forward right out of the box was a tough blow and it threw the team off balance for the first few games of the season. A bulging disc in her back kept the popular Douglas out of all but two games. Indeed, the injuries of stalwarts Jessica Davenport, Jeanette Pohlen, and Erin Phillips put the team in a bind from the get-go. It was up to some of the younger players to pick up the slack. Guard Shavonte Zellous emerged as a go-to player and helped ease the burden on Catchings. In her fourth season with the Fever, she has a big future ahead of her. Her play was such that she won the WNBA’s Most Improved Player award and named to the WNBA All-Star game. Rookie Guard Layshia Clarendon was the team’s top draft pick and saw a great deal of game action showing much promise as a future star for the Fever. Briann January has become one of the team’s most dependable players. A top defender and floor leader, January is always around the ball and locks down the back court. Karima Christmas, who came in a trade with the Washington Mystics last year, was a major help in replacing Douglas and was in consideration for the Most Improved Player Award. Her play proved that the trade was a sound one for the Fever.
In my humble opinion, Tamika Catchings is the most valuable professional basketball player in the state of Indiana, male or female. She has long been the face of the Fever franchise and has worked to become the new face of professional basketball in the city. Since joining the team in 2002, she has become the one constant in the Fever lineup over the years. She has been voted one of the top 15 players of all time by WNBA fans. She was the WNBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2011. She is one of only nine players to be on an NCAA National title, a WNBA Championship Team, and win an Olympic Gold Medal (of which she has won three). She is a six time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. She has been to seven WNBA All-Star games, and is a six time All-WNBA Player. It would take a whole book to list all the WNBA and Fever records she has set. She is currently the President of the WNBA Players Association. She is the team’s acknowledged leader and is as much as any single player responsible for the Fever’s championship success. She has also become a role model for young female athletes. As she heads into her twelfth season with the team she continues to play at a championship level. I guess you could say that I am a fan of Tamika Catchings’.
Fever Coach Lin Dun was named to the 2014 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. After graduating from Tennessee-Martin in 1969 she started her coaching career at Austin Peay in 1970. For four decades she has coached women’s basketball including a stint at Purdue. She was one of the prime movers of the national passage of the Title IX legislation which became the foundation of women’s sports in the United States. At age 66, she has now coached 654 total victories over five decades of coaching women’s basketball. A living legend, Lin Dunn is the architect of the Fever’s championship success.
So while the 2013 WNBA season is over for our Fever, we can look forward to a 2014 season filled with promise. I am really optimistic and I truly believe that the Indiana Fever represent the very best in Indianapolis professional sports.
snicewanger@yahoo.com