What should have been another milestone moment has turned into a point of introspection for Aliyah Boston. She had blazed away a career-high 34 points against the Chicago Sky, but she could not keep it up. The Indiana Fever faced a bottom-of-the-barrel Connecticut Sun, and the other two of the Big Three, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, were on their A-game. Clark dropped 25 points on 10-17 shooting and 5-10 from the three-point line. Mitchell chipped in with 19 points and 5 assists. However, Boston’s performance was deemed rather underwhelming in one aspect.

Aliyah Boston had 13 points and 11 rebounds, along with 5 assists. The Indiana Fever star also completed 2000 career points in the process. With that, Boston is now the 5th leading scorer in Fever history, surpassing Tiffany Mitchell. She has Briann January ahead of her on 2244 points. And yet, she struggled with one aspect of her performance against the Sun, as per Fever insider Tony East.

“Aliyah Boston was struggling mightily with layups in this game but was still drawing a ton of gravity with her rim pressure and scoring just enough to keep this one up,” East mentioned in his recap coverage on his YouTube channel.

Robin Lundberg of SI also noticed something similar. “Aliyah Boston has blown too many bunnies. Missed layups killing Fever again,” he wrote.

Her accuracy against the Sun was an issue as she went 5-13 from the field. The 38.5% FG was her worst in the last six games. 

Boston has been dealing with a lower body injury for a while now that could have impacted her finishing. In addition, she went up against Brittney Griner and Leila Lacan, who are respectable rim protectors. And 6 out of her 8 misses were not layups but floaters, fadeaways, and jump shots. Boston needs to expand her finish. She is shooting 28.6% from fadeaways and 34.5% from jump shots over the season.

The opponents have also figured this out. She has had to attempt 14 fadeaways and 7 bank shots so far this season. For context, she attempted 17 fadeaways and 10 bank shots in the entirety of 2025. It has affected her field goal percentage, as she is shooting a career low of 49.3% from the field.

So, the trajectory is concerning. Boston was expected to get better with experience. But, as East mentioned, her ability to draw defenders is still present. In the final few minutes, when Sophie Cunningham went on a heater, Boston drew defenders in the paint before kicking it out to Cunningham. 

She also initiated a lot of their offense, bringing the ball up and distributing it. Clark has moved off-ball for different periods during games, leaving Boston to perform some creative duties. The Fever center has more responsibility than ever. She needs to activate that pick-and-roll with Clark more often to open up more opportunities for herself. That move has been rarely stopped by opponents so far. 

These are relatively minor tweaks for someone of Boston’s talent. But she must keep working on it.

Her scoring and paint presence are essential to this Fever side, who lack size to back up Boston. They have Makayla Timpson, but she is still developing and finding her place on this roster. If the Fever wants to be a legitimate contender, they need Boston fit and at her best.