Can The Clark-less Fever Win The 2025 WNBA Finals?

Winning Attitude

While many fans have been critical of Fever Head Coach Stephanie White, she has brought a winning attitude to the team. White, who has never had a losing season as a head coach, has kept Indiana’s players’ eyes on the prize through all the injuries and distractions this season. While jettisoned guard/forward DeWanna Bonner may not have bought in, the rest of the team seems to have done so.

End Of My Indiana Fever Rant

Losing Bonner the way they did, plus losing Clark and four other players to injury, would break most teams. Yet, the Fever set a franchise wins record and are playing for a spot in the finals on Tuesday. White has been able to block out all the noise surrounding the team and instill an “us-against-the-world” attitude in its players. That attitude has carried this team to within a game of the WNBA Finals. She is also the last coach to take Indiana to the finals, accomplishing that in 2015.

On Tuesday night, the Fever will play Game Five against the Aces. White’s team has been able to keep the league MVP and regular-season scoring champion, A’ja Wilson, from taking over this series. Las Vegas, however, has not had similar luck with Mitchell, who has scored above her season average in three of the four games.

The Fever also seem to have adjusted well to the physicality that the WNBA referees have allowed this season. Aliyah Boston, especially, has grown increasingly more aggressive inside as the series has progressed. That resulted in her best game in Game Four, scoring 24 points and leading the team with 14 points and five assists.

If Indiana wins Game Five, they will meet the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA Finals. The Fever were 1-2 against the Mercury in the regular season. Indiana, however, will have extra motivation to beat Phoenix. After Bonner quit on the Fever earlier this season after just nine games, it was the Mercury who signed the eighth-year vet. Losing to the player who refused to buy into her system and bailed on the team will not be an option for White.

Expect a Fever-Mercury finals matchup to be extra spicy. Phoenix plays strong, physical defense. After all the hard fouls on Clark early in the season, Indiana has adopted a more physical style of play as well. The Fever have bruising screeners on offense, and they have significantly stepped up their rebounding in the postseason. On paper, this matchup is almost dead even, but Indiana holds an advantage in shooting percentage and three-point percentage.

I believe that the Fever also have a coaching advantage. Mercury Head Coach Nate Tibbetts is only in his second year as a WNBA coach and has never been to the finals. White has three more years of experience in the league and has coached in 24 more WNBA postseason games. Will White pull it off? We will have to wait and see. Are she and the Fever capable of it? –Definitely.