Recreation Preview: Fever Host Mercury for First Recreation Again After Olympic Break

Indiana Fever vs. Phoenix Mercury
Friday, August 16
Gainbridge Fieldhouse | 7:30 p.m. ET
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Broadcast Info
ION

Possible Starters

Indiana Fever (11-15)

Guard – Kelsey Mitchell (16.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.8 apg)
Guard – Caitlin Clark (17.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 8.2 apg)
Middle – Aliyah Boston (14.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.7 apg)
Ahead – Katie Lou Samuelson (5.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.5 apg)
Ahead – NaLyssa Smith (11.6 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 1.2 apg)

Phoenix Mercury (14-12)

Guard – Natasha Cloud (12.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 7.3 apg)
Guard – Diana Taurasi (16.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.6 apg)
Guard – Sophie Cunningham (8.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.1 apg)
Guard – Kahleah Copper (23.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.2 apg)
Middle – Brittney Griner (18.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.9 apg)

Recreation Standing Report

Indiana: Temi Fagbenle – OUT (Proper Thumb)

Phoenix (From Friday): Bec Allen – NWT (Proper Hamstring), Charisma Osborne – OUT (Left Decrease Leg)

GAME PREVIEW:

The Indiana Fever welcome the Phoenix Mercury to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET to start the second half of the WNBA common season. Friday’s matchup is Indiana’s first recreation again following the Olympic break and the Mercury tipped off its return final night time in an 85-65 win on the Chicago Sky at Wintrust Area. Kahleah Copper scored 29 factors in her return to Chicago and Brittney Griner had 23 factors, 9 rebounds, six assists and 5 blocks in opposition to the short-handed Sky. Copper was 12-of-19 from the sphere in her first recreation in opposition to Chicago since being traded in February.

Over the break, Fever guard Kristy Wallace and Australia received bronze within the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games. Earlier than the Olympics commenced, Fever gamers Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell traveled to the Footprint Middle in Phoenix on July 20 to compete in opposition to the U.S. Ladies’s Nationwide Crew within the 2024 WNBA All-Star Recreation. Boston, Clark and Mitchell and Crew WNBA defeated Copper, Griner, Diana Taurasi and Crew USA, 117-109. The Fever trio mixed for 21 factors and 12 assists within the recreation as Mitchell ended the night time with 13 factors and Clark turned the third rookie in franchise historical past to begin an All-Star Recreation, becoming a member of Tamika Catchings (2002) and Boston (2023). In Clark’s 26 minutes of All-Star play, she tied the second most assists recorded in a WNBA All-Star Recreation with a game-high 10 assists.

5 days in the past, Copper, Griner and Taurasi helped USA Basketball win its eighth-straight Olympic gold medal in a 67-66 win in opposition to France within the Olympic last. The USA Ladies’s Nationwide Crew now owns the longest Olympic gold medal streak in a conventional group sport, passing the USA Basketball Males’s Nationwide Crew who received seven straight gold medals from 1936-1968. Within the gold medal recreation, Copper got here off the bench with 12 factors, together with 10 within the last quarter to assist safe the victory in opposition to France.

Friday’s recreation marks Indiana and Phoenix’s last assembly of the common season, because the Fever at present sit 2-0 in its common season collection with the Mercury and have received 4 straight video games in opposition to Phoenix relationship again to 2023. The Fever beat the Mercury, 88-82, on June 30 at Footprint Middle in its first contest of the yr. Boston, Clark, Mitchell and Fever ahead NaLyssa Smith all scored in double figures within the win, and have all reached double figures in Indiana’s final three video games earlier than the Olympic break. Throughout Indiana’s most up-to-date 95-86 win in opposition to Phoenix on July 12 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the 4 aforementioned Fever gamers scored in double figures once more, led by Mitchell’s 28-point efficiency. Indiana outscored Phoenix, 60-28, in paint factors within the win as properly.