Veronica Burton Strikes Indiana Fever For 5th Time As Playoffs Hopes Sink Without Caitlin Clark

Whenever the Fever’s dreams teeter on the edge (whether it’s a playoff berth or a championship chase), Veronica Burton somehow appears on the opposite sideline, nudging them out. Consecutively, in two seasons (2024, 2025), she has been the constant in Indiana’s heartbreak. Waived by Dallas in May 2024, left waiting for her phone to ring, and then revived with Connecticut in June, Burton embraced the league’s cutthroat nature. “But, at the end of the day, that’s kind of a part of this league,” she said upon joining the Sun. Ruthlessness accepted, ruthlessness applied.

It was never clearer than in the deciding matchup of the first-round series between Connecticut and Indiana. For the entire second quarter, Burton never took a seat. The 5’9 guard picked up Caitlin Clark full court. She forced the rookie phenom to work for every dribble, while also pouring in 8 points of her own during that stretch. She finished Game 2 with 10 points, 3 assists, and 3 rebounds,  and a +10 plus/minus, second-best on the roster. That’s a brilliant stat line for a player who had scored in double digits just twice before.

The result was a sweep. Connecticut advanced to the semifinals, the Fever sent packing in two. “When it comes down to playoffs in general, this is where we want to be,” Burton told SB Nation after the win. “This is what we work for.” Turns out, Burton works the same way when playoff spots are on the line, too. Whether in Sun orange or Valkyrie black, she has shown up and here’s the proof-

That’s a five-game win streak against the Fever. On June 20th, Veronica Burton was flawless from the line, as she went 6-for-6 with a perfect 100% free-throw mark. By July 9th, she had exploded for 21 points (her third 20+ performance of the year). That game ended in an 80-61 demolition of Indiana. Tonight, she added eight more to the pile, as the Valkyries completed the sweep.

For Indiana, the sting cut deeper as the Fever stumbled to the 8th seed; their postseason grip is now suddenly fragile. Golden State not only claimed all three games of the regular-season series, but also pocketed the head-to-head tiebreaker. At 21-19, Indiana is now trailing Seattle (22-19, 6th) and Golden State (21-18, 7th), while still clinging to a two-game cushion over 9th-place Los Angeles. It’s a cushion complicated by the Sparks’ tiebreaker edge.

The road ahead offers no comfort to them either. Phoenix awaits on Tuesday, with the season series split 1-1. A familiar foe in Chicago follows that Indiana has managed to beat four times. All of it before closing with the already eliminated Washington and Minnesota, already been crowned the league’s top seed. The Fever’s margin is slim, their path narrow, and somewhere in Golden State, Veronica Burton is still smiling.

Clocks Collapse vs Indiana Fever, Valkyries Don’t

But if Burton was smiling, it wasn’t only because of her own stat line; the game itself unfolded in a bizarre way. Shot-clock malfunctions turned the first half into an endurance test for everyone present in the arena. What should have been 20 minutes of basketball stretched to a grueling 92. That is nearly the length of a full WNBA game. Five separate clock stoppages, four timeouts, and four reviews (two by referees, two challenges) later, the endless opening half came to a conclusion that wasn’t in Indy’s favour.

The problems started from Indiana’s very first possession, when the clock failed to reset. A five-minute pause followed, and barely a minute of game time later, another malfunction sparked a 20-minute delay so long that players retreated to the locker rooms. Yet while the timing sputtered, Golden State’s shooting never even slightly did.

Indiana’s zone defense proved to be paper-thin as the Valkyries ripped through it with catch-and-shoot precision. By the end of the first quarter, they had already hit seven of eight threes. Their rhythm stayed absolutely undisturbed by the stop-and-go nature of the contest. The barrage never slowed, and finally Golden State finished 12-of-19 from beyond the arc. They shot over 50% overall from the field. Indiana, by contrast, managed just six threes on 20% shooting, and limped to 32% from the floor.

So while the clocks betrayed the Fever, the Valkyries stayed ruthlessly effective…