Aliyah Boston clearly did not want to face one statistic from the Indiana Fever’s loss to the Dallas Wings, but when a WNBA legend brought it up to her face, the Fever star could only laugh and push back.
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“August 20th, you all lost to the Wings at Dallas,” Candace Parker told Boston on the August 26 episode of the Post Moves podcast. “Kelsey Mitchell tied her season high with 37 points. [Boston had] 14 and 9. Fever were held to only 28 points in the paint and allowed 46 points in the paint.”
“You didn’t need to put that stat there,” Boston replied jokingly. “You don’t need to do all that.”
Parker simply responded, “Listen, it’s not me,” highlighting that she was just the messenger.
There’s weight to Parker’s comments. Through the season’s first two months, analysts had already flagged that Indiana’s defense graded out well by rating largely through scheme and defensive rebounding rather than actually keeping opponents from getting good looks in the paint. And Dallas put that on full display.
On a night that saw No.1 overall pick Azzi Fudd on the sidelines with an injury and star guard Paige Bueckers logging just 13 points on 5-for-16 shooting, Arike Ogunbowale put the team on her back.
Even Parker noted the guard’s effort, as she walked away with a season-high 32 points, recording 25 of those points after halftime as she completely took over in the second half. Ogunbowale also crossed 5,000 career points that night.
Forward Jessica Shepard also had an outstanding night, logging a career-best 26 points. Indiana ultimately lost the game 91-85, ending a five-game winning streak.
One of the reasons Indiana struggled as much as they did was because franchise superstar Caitlin Clark was held to just 4-for-15 shooting for 10 points, and though her backcourt mate Kelsey Mitchell had one of the best scoring nights of her season with 37 points, it wasn’t enough to keep the Fever afloat.
Why a single paint number carries weight for Boston specifically comes down to her role and her price tag. She’s Indiana’s starting center and has the richest total salary in WNBA history on a four-year, $6.3 million extension. She is set to earn $1 million this season, and then the supermax, 20% of the salary cap, through 2029, and hers was the first deal built under the league’s new EPIC provision. Interior defense and rebounding are supposed to be the floor of what that contract buys, which is exactly the lane Parker’s stat was pointing at.
For Boston, too, the night was forgettable. She finished with 14 points on 5-11 shooting, falling below her season average of 17 points per game on 52.4% from the field. She also failed to convert either of her two three-point attempts despite being a 41.7% three-point shooter this season.