Yahoo Sports basketball analyst Isis “Ice” Young and basketball writer Cassandra Negley analyze the exciting first game between the Connecticut Sun and the Indiana Fever and show how the Sun’s dominant defense contributed to the victory.
Video transcript
Fever.
So we know that it was a battle between these two franchises all season long and that the Sun won 93-69 on home court.
Alyssa Thomas, a triple-double, Marina scored 27 points as a substitute, possibly the most points ever scored by a player in the playoffs.
I mean, the sun just made sure everything went well for them on Sunday, and Kath, you were there and witnessed it all in person.
Yeah, I think the most remarkable thing about that game – there are so many remarkable things – was that Stephanie White had talked at practice the day before about how the Sun always rely on their defense, year after year, one of the best defenses in the league.
They know they can rely on it, but they had to keep up with the fever.
They had to be good offensively.
They couldn’t miss easy baskets.
And I thought they did a really, really, really good job of maintaining that high score, and I think that’s what’s right.
You know the Fever want to score more points than you. They want to score triple digits every time and they force you to do it.
But again only scored 69 points.
Kaitlin Clark may not have made her playoff debut.
She thought she only wanted to score 11 points in this game and was having trouble shooting.
But I think it was because of the defense that Dewana Bater guarded them and maybe that’s why we love the playoffs, because the coaches reach into their own pockets.
You start thinking and dreaming about these things.
And Stephanie White said, “Give me Dewana Bonner, one of the longest perimeter defenders in the West Guard, one of the best shooters.”
And I thought it worked to make two adjustments in every other game that we might have to see from fever to fever.
I think they need to hit their shots because they had good opportunities like Christie and Kaitlin said and I think Kaitlin always got it going when you put her in a position early to hit a three-pointer early.
I think that will really boost the offense and keep their tempo going.
Of course, the defense is a little bit tougher, but in the games they won against Connecticut and other times, they had just enough points to score more points than the other team.
