Missing Clark, Fever soar past Lynx 74-59 to win WNBA Commissioner's Cup
Sports
Minnesota had its worst offensive performance of the season
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark may have been missing, but Natasha Howard and her Indiana Fever teammates more than made up for her absence on both ends of the court.
Howard had 16 points, 12 rebounds and four assists on Tuesday night as the Fever defeated the Minnesota Lynx 74-59 in the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup final.
Indiana played without Clark, their All-Star guard who has been sidelined since June 24 with a strained groin. That didn’t slow down the Fever, who overcame an early 13-point deficit with balanced scoring and a stout defensive performance against the team with the best record in the league.
“You’ve got to have the confidence in yourself and the confidence in your teammates to allow someone else to step up in those moments, and I think that this group is learning that,” said Fever coach Stephanie White, whose team has an 8-8 record.
Howard, the 2019 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, held Lynx All-Star Napheesa Collier to just 12 points on 6-for-18 shooting. Collier also had five of Minnesota’s 16 turnovers.
“Phee’s a great player, but my thing was, make her take hard shots, and that’s what I did tonight,” said Howard, who was named the game’s MVP.
Minnesota had its worst offensive performance of the season, shooting 34.9% from the floor and making 4 of 16 3-pointers after averaging 9.4 3-pointers this season.
“We have a tendency sometimes to get impatient, and I didn’t think that our commitment to moving the basketball and creating advantages — we had a hard time getting that done,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said.
Sophie Cunningham scored 13 points while Aliyah Boston, Aari McDonald and Kelsey Mitchell each scored 12 points.
“I described this entire experience as a gut-check experience, and I mean it intentionally. I mean, physically, mentally, psychologically,” Mitchell said. “We did an unbelievable job of just staying together and weathering the storm.”
