The Indiana Fever’s regular season finale was perhaps the worst game they had played all 2026 season. Not only was the team with the best-rated offense (96.0) outscored by 20 points on Thursday, but the Minnesota Lynx completely shut down Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell. While the Fever had the lowest-scoring game of the 2026 season, WNBA broadcaster Robin Lundberg didn’t think the lack of offense was the problem.

“I hope it’s the lack of stakes for the game that was at play there. And that factored in also the fact that the Lynx were trying to get right, just like the Fever were the other night.

“But the defense, it’s still astounding to me how the Fever don’t know where to help or rotate.”

“We know they can score. The question is more about the defensive side of the floor,” Lundberg said on his YouTube channel while giving his breakdown of the action from the Fever and Lynx’s last game of the regular season.

However, this issue is nothing new for Fever fans. Indiana is ninth in the league with a 109.0 defensive rating. In fact, they have the worst defensive rating among all the playoff teams. But that’s not all!

The Fever allow their opponents to score 90.4 points per game, which ranks 11th in the league. Opponents are also shooting 46.0% from the field and making 8 three-pointers per game.

Those numbers reflect an issue we have seen from the Fever multiple times this season. In their 93-77 home loss to the Washington Mystics, the young Mystics built a 26-point lead at one point. The Fever also struggled to close out their June 18 matchup against the Atlanta Dream. Atlanta went on a 13-6 run over the final 4.5 minutes to win 108-101. Both games highlighted the Fever’s defensive struggles, particularly when it came to closing out games.

The Lynx gave us another example tonight. From transition defense to regular switches, the Fever barely communicated while defending the Lynx, and the latter frequently exploited that miscommunication. 

Minnesota led 97% of the time in the game and held the best scoring team under 20 points in each of the first three quarters. They were expected to respond in the third quarter after halftime. They got even worse over the next 10 minutes, scoring just nine points through the quarter. During the postgame presser, Caitlin Clark kept it all real.

“It is what it is. We kind of came out and got punched in the mouth. We didn’t make shots. Obviously, we had two players go down. This was a pretty crappy night overall,” she told reporters. 

Indiana’s center, Aliyah Boston, and reserve guard, Tyasaha Harris, had to exit the game with injuries. Head coach Stephanie White said that Boston’s injury was just a “flare-up” and the team wasn’t worried about the center. However, White didn’t have any further updates on Harris. Lundberg said that he was still very pessimistic.

Harris served the bench role, but still contributed big on the defensive end. White often used her as an on-ball defender against smaller guards. If she is unavailable for the playoffs, that could put even more pressure on Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell defensively.

But for now, the Fever have the Las Vegas Aces problem at hand. They will face the defending champions in the first round and deal with some of the best players in the world, including reigning MVP A’ja Wilson. While the Aces have clearly more certified playoff and championship players, Indiana leads the season series 2-1. Lundberg believes that the Fever still have a chance against the defending champions.

“I think that the Fever have a chance to outscore them. And then I do like the way that the Fever match up with the Aces because the Aces don’t have elite wings. Aaliyah Boston can guard A’ja Wilson head-up, and the Fever are faster than the Aces. You may get a better matchup than you would with the Dream,” he said.

Boston was elite against Wilson in the semifinal series last year. Even without Caitlin Clark, Indiana pushed the Aces to the limit before losing in overtime in series-decider Game 5. The Fever are pretty much healthy entering the first-round series on Saturday.

However, as Clark admitted in the postgame presser, the Fever couldn’t respond to the physical defense from the Lynx, expecting the Aces to execute similar defense. Moreover, the Aces have championship veterans who can exploit Indiana’s weak defense. But not all hope is lost, Indiana fans.

The 2009 Phoenix Mercury went on to win the championship despite posting the league’s worst defensive rating at 104.9. The 2025 Las Vegas Aces offer another example, finishing eighth with a 104.4 defensive rating, according to the Indy Star.

In the end, a lot will fall on Stephanie White and how she gets her players to buy into her strategy. Their health will also be crucial.

Indiana dealt with multiple injuries last season and still pushed the Aces all the way to a deciding Game 5 in the semifinals. If the Fever can stay healthier this time around, they could once again make things difficult for Las Vegas.