Indiana Fever not thinking about setting WNBA losing streak record
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The Indiana Fever are close to making history, but they’re on the wrong side of it.
The Fever were bludgeoned by the New York Liberty, 90-71, on Sunday afternoon, marking an 0-2 start to the season after they lost to Connecticut on Friday. The Fever’s loss to the Liberty marked Indiana’s 20th consecutive regular-season loss, dating back to the 2022 season. The last time Indiana won a regular-season game was almost a year ago (June 19, 2022).
The Fever are tied with the defunct Tulsa Shock, which set the record in 2011, for most consecutive regular-season WNBA losses. A loss Sunday at Atlanta (1-1) will give the Fever the futility record outright.
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Heading into this season, the Fever also had the worst record by percentage, .234, of any North American professional sports team in the past five years of competition. The Fever were just below the NFL’s New York Jets and New York Giants, which had .296 and .321 records, respectively.
But the Fever aren’t thinking about 2017 or 2022. Their eyes are set on 2023.
“0-2, and that’s all that matters,” guard Kelsey Mitchell said following the Fever’s loss on Sunday. “I can’t help what history says. It sucks to be a part of it, but it also feels good to see where we’re transitioning and changing. I’m gonna do my best to lean on that.”
The 2023 Fever roster and coaching staff looks completely different from the 2022 team, which ended the season with 18 consecutive losses.
First, the Fever parted ways with interim head coach Carlos Knox, who took over for the fired Marianne Stanley in May 2022.
Indiana hired Christie Sides, then an assistant with the Atlanta Dream, to take over as head coach for the Fever. Sides hand-picked her coaching staff, including assistant coaches Karima Christmas-Kelly, Jessie Miller and Paul Miller and player development coach Jhared Simpson.
Going into her first season as a WNBA head coach, Sides made it a point to wash away the Fever’s melancholy past.
“We poured all of our mess out in the first team meeting,” Sides said. “We’re not talking about last year. I’m 0-2 right now, we’re 0-2 right now. We’ve gotta figure out how to find that win.”
Sides is also focused on changing the culture for the young Fever team, and that comes with some growing pains.
About half of the 2022 team remained on the roster to witness the culture change in 2023, including Mitchell, second-years Lexie Hull and Queen Egbo and fifth-year guards Emma Cannon and Victoria Vivians.
“I think culture has been big for our program, for our organization,” Mitchell said. “In an internal standpoint, we’ve changed so much in such a positive way … once we get a couple games under our belt as a group, based on what has shifted, I think you guys are going to see that we’re going in the right direction.”
Second-year guards Kristy…
Read More: Indiana Fever not thinking about setting WNBA losing streak record 2023-05-28 11:24:50