INDIANAPOLIS — Preseason training camp is in full swing for the Indiana Fever as the WNBA regular season is just two weeks away.
Fever All-Star Aliyah Boston recently signed a four-year, $6.3 million contract extension with Indiana, the richest contract in WNBA history to date. The forward did not play in Indiana’s first preseason game against the New York Liberty, but she saw signs of encouragement from Indiana’s 109-91 win.
“I thought our pace was pretty good, getting up and down the floor,” Boston said. “Getting up a good amount of threes, I think obviously on the defensive end there is still some actions we got to clean up because New York [Liberty] does a good job on our guard-to-guard action. But I think our pace was really great.”
Not only pace, but depth will be an important part for Indiana’s success this season. In the squads preseason opener, Indiana scored 62 out of its 109 points from players coming off the bench.
Boston was glad to see Indiana’s second and third unit play with confidence.
“I think everyone really found their spots on the floor,” Boston said. “They took every shot with confidence so it was great to see the ball go through the hoop.”
The Fever played at the fourth fastest pace last season, according to statmuse. In the teams first preseason game this year, playing fast remains consistent.
“We play pretty fast, and that’s how we want to play most of our possessions, we’re in transition,” Boston said. “I think defensively once again everyone’s up on the ball.”
Fever head coach Stephanie White was also inspired by the way Indiana competed in the teams first preseason game.
“I thought we did a lot of really good things,” White said. “I liked our energy, I liked our effort, I liked our ability to answer runs. Our physicality, I liked how we played with pace and our depth. I felt like we did a lot of really good things, the word of the day today is going to be details. There we’re so many opportunities that we would’ve had on both ends of the floor when we have a heightened attention of detail. So we’re just going to clean some of that up and continue to grow.”
The Fever will play two more preseason games before the regular season begins. Indiana hosts the Dallas Wings at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, May 9th to start the regular season.
__
