Aliyah Boston is a key piece of head coach Stephanie White’s defense. So losing her just in the second quarter of the final regular-season game against the Minnesota Lynx raised some serious concerns. With the playoffs knocking at the door, White couldn’t afford to lose such an impactful player, and she may not have to.
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According to White, the injury was a “flare-up” on the same lower leg that has been bothering Boston since her stint at Unrivaled back in February this year. White also mentioned benching Boston was a precautionary measure. Now, ex-Indiana Fever reporter Scott Agness has some good news regarding Boston’s availability for the playoffs.
“It’s something they’ve been monitoring. It’s something that’s caused her to miss a couple of games here and there, and I think it just stiffened up, tightened up. There was a brief collision maybe, where it happened there with a teammate. So she just held out of the second half.”
“I would fully expect for her to be available come Sunday afternoon,” Agness said in his appearance on Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube.
Throughout her career in the WNBA, Aliyah Boston has mostly remained injury-free, but seven months down the line that same injury is making life difficult.
Because of that issue, Boston also withdrew from the World Cup qualifiers for Team USA back in March.
Boston missed out on the game against the Seattle Storm on May 17 due to the injury. The lower right leg issue was aggravated again on July 27 after Boston stepped on Storm rookie Flau’jae Johnson’s foot. In total, Boston has missed four games this season because of this injury.
With the playoffs coming up, Boston has to be careful so that the old injury doesn’t flare up again, especially in the first round against the Las Vegas Aces.
The first-round matchup against the Las Vegas Aces is a matchup that many believe favors Boston. She has showcased her defensive prowess against fellow South Carolina Gamecock, A’ja Wilson, multiple times in this season alone.
Boston is one of the only players in the league to give the four-time MVP a hard time at the post. In 12 career games, Boston has averaged 16.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists against Wilson, according to StatMuse.
Even WNBA expert Robin Lundberg believes Aliyah Boston taking on A’ja Wilson will increase the Fever’s chances of winning.
“Then you’ve got Aliyah Boston, who guards A’ja Wilson better than any player in the league. When you factor in they’ve got a player to guard A’ja Wilson, the Aces aren’t really equipped to go after the Fever’s biggest weaknesses on the boards or perimeter defence. It doesn’t mean they’re gonna win, but they are certainly capable of beating the Las Vegas Aces.”
Apart from Lundberg, WNBA analyst Rachel DeMita expressed a similar sentiment for the Aces-Fever matchup.
“I actually think the Aces would be a fine matchup for them because Aliyah Boston gives A’ja Wilson trouble… I feel like the Fever could get it done against them.” DeMita said on a recent episode of the Courtside Club.
The Las Vegas Aces have been in better form than the Indiana Fever in their respective final 10-game stretch. Wilson finished the season with 26.2 per game, while the Aces won seven of the last 10. Meanwhile, the Boston’s absence once again exposed the Indiana Fever’s defensive issues.
So it may be safe to say that fully fit Aliyah Boston could be the difference maker, especially if she can once again create problems for Wilson. The best-of-three series between the Aces and the Fever starts on Sunday afternoon at the Michelob ULTRA Arena on ABC. It will be interesting to see how much impact Boston creates or whether White will limit her minutes.