Indiana Fever
The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Fever compete in the Women's National Basketball Association as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded for the 2000 WNBA season. The team is owned by Herb Simon, the founder of Simon Property Group.
The Fever have qualified for the WNBA Playoffs in 14 of its 25 seasons in Indiana. In 2009, the Fever reached the WNBA Finals but fell short to the Phoenix Mercury in game 5. In 2012, the Fever won the WNBA Finals with a 3–1 series victory over the Minnesota Lynx. Tamika Catchings was named the 2012 Finals MVP. In 2015, the Fever again reached the WNBA Finals but fell short to Minnesota in game 5.
Some of the players who have helped define the history of the Fever include Tamika Catchings, Katie Douglas, Briann January, Natalie Williams, Yolanda Griffith, Shavonte Zellous, Tully Bevilaqua, Tammy Sutton-Brown, Natasha Howard, Candice Dupree, Cappie Pondexter, Erica Wheeler, Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull, Aliyah Boston, and Caitlin Clark.
History
2000–2004
The Indiana Fever team was founded in 2000 following the WNBA's announcement on June 7, 1999, of four locations, including Indiana, having been granted an expansion franchise to coincide with the opening of Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Notably, the Fever's launch campaign was accompanied with the slogan "In 49 states it's just basketball, but this is Indiana," which has become a popular catchphrase regarding the sport's popularity in the state. The league held an expansion draft for the Fever, Miami Sol, Portland Fire, and Seattle Storm on December 15, 1999.In their first two seasons, they were coached by women's basketball legends Anne Donovan and Nell Fortner. Led by center Kara Wolters, in their inaugural campaign the team posted a record of 9–23.
The Fever drafted University of Tennessee star Tamika Catchings in the 2001 WNBA Draft. The Fever went into the year with high expectations of a playoff berth, but Catchings tore her ACL during a college game and missed the entire WNBA season. The Fever posted a 10–22 record in 2001.
After missing the entire 2001 season, the 2002 season proved to be the breakout season for Tamika Catchings and the Fever. Catchings came out strong and became one of the most versatile players in the WNBA, easily winning Rookie of the Year honors as well as making the WNBA All-Star team. Her team competed well all year and posted a respectable 16–16 record, tying for the final playoff spot with the Orlando Miracle. Indiana won the tiebreaker and earned their first playoff appearance in franchise history. They drew the #1 seed in the playoffs, the Liberty; with the Fever losing two games to one.
The 2002–2003 offseason brought a lot of change for the Fever. The team added Olympian Natalie Williams and Charlotte Sting star Kelly Miller before the 2003 season. During the offseason the original coach and GM Nell Fortner resigned. Kelly Krauskopf replaced Fortner as GM and immediately hired Brian Winters to be the head coach. On May 29, 2003, the Fever registered their first sellout of 18,345 and defeated the Washington Mystics on national television. The team did better under the new coaching, but missed the playoffs, posting a 16–18 record.
The 2004 campaign was very similar to 2003's. The Fever finished with a 15–19 record. They missed the playoffs by one game in the Eastern Conference.
2005–2007
In 2005, the Fever had their best season since joining the league, posting a 21–13 record, and making the playoffs for just the second time. In the first round, the Fever swept the New York Liberty two games to none, earning their first playoff series victory in franchise history. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Fever faced the heavily favored Connecticut Sun. Game 1 came down to the final seconds when Katie Douglas hit a crucial three to win the game for the Sun. Game 2 went into overtime, with the Sun winning, thus sweeping the Fever two games to none.In the 2005–2006 offseason, the Fever acquired All-Star Anna DeForge from the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for Kelly Miller. Later that offseason the Fever made another All-Star addition by signing free agent Tamika Whitmore from the Los Angeles Sparks. In the 2006 WNBA draft they selected athletic swing-forward La'Tangela Atkinson from the North Carolina Tar Heels along with Kasha Terry from the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
The Fever started the 2006 season off at 4–0 and jumped out to an early lead in the Eastern Conference standings. Teammates Tamika Catchings and Tully Bevilaqua led the league in steals, first and second respectively, the first time teammates led the league in one statistical category. The Fever posted a 21–13 record, making the playoffs for the second year in a row. In the first round, the Fever faced archrival Detroit. Detroit won Game 1 in Indianapolis and held a one-game to nothing lead in the series. Game 2 in Detroit was a high-scoring affair with Tamika Whitmore scoring a WNBA Playoff record 41 points. Detroit won in the end, 98–83 and won the series two games to none.
Going into the 2006–2007 off-season, the Fever looked to improve their post play. In the Dispersal Draft, the Fever added veteran forward Sheri Sam from the Charlotte Sting. Kelly Krauskopf and the front office then set their eyes on key Free Agent Center Tammy Sutton-Brown, signing her on March 22, 2007. The Fever also selected 6–7 center Alison Bales from Duke University in the 2007 WNBA draft to go along with Sutton-Brown.
Going into the 2007 season, the Fever had their eyes set on the WNBA Finals. They started off the season strong, winning 16 out of their first 20 games, which was the best 20 game start in history of the Eastern Conference. Then on July 20, key player Tamika Catchings injured her foot causing her to miss the rest of the regular season. The injury was later revealed as a partial tear of her plantar fascia. The Fever finished 5–9 without Catchings. They won the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, beating out the Connecticut Sun. They played the same Sun team in first round of the playoffs. Game 1 in Connecticut was an epic battle, going three overtimes with the Sun hanging on to win Game 1, 93–88. The Fever won Game 2 at home by double digits forcing a decisive Game 3. In game 3, the Fever found themselves down by 22 points late halfway through the 3rd quarter. The Fever battled back to win Game 3 in overtime by the same score as Game 1 93–88. The 22-point comeback was the largest comeback in WNBA Playoff history. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Fever played their other hated rival, the Detroit Shock. The Fever grabbed an early lead in the series, winning Game 1 at Conseco Fieldhouse. With the team just 1 game away from the WNBA Finals the Fever traveled to Detroit. In Game 2, the game was close until the 2nd quarter, when the Shock blew the game wide open with a 14–0 run, easily winning the game. With a spot in the Finals up for grabs in Game 3, the Fever started off the game with an early 17–3 lead. Then late in the first half Catchings went down with another injury; she had completely torn her Achilles tendon. The Shock ended up winning Game 3, 85–61.
2008
On October 26, 2007, the Fever announced that they declined the option for head coach Brian Winters, ending his four-year tenure in charge. He compiled a 78–58 regular season record with a 5–7 playoff record. On December 12, 2007, assistant coach Lin Dunn was named his successor to the job as head coach.In one of the biggest trades in WNBA history, the Fever traded Tamika Whitmore and their first-round pick in the 2008 WNBA draft for Indianapolis native, Katie Douglas on February 19, 2008.
The Fever were part of the Liberty Outdoor Classic, which was the first regular-season professional basketball game played outdoors. It was played between the Fever and New York Liberty at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York on July 19, 2008, with the Fever winning the game, 71–55.
During the 2008 season, the Fever struggled in comparison to the three previous seasons. They finished with a 17–17 record, good for fourth place in the playoffs. Meeting the Detroit Shock in the first round, the Fever lost in three games.
2009–2012
After a disappointing 2008 season, the Fever were looking to improve in 2009. Indiana Pacers owners had said the Fever have been losing money. The only thing to save the Fever from folding in the near future, the owners inferred, was for the Fever to be successful on the court and at the box office. The Fever took the owners' ultimatum to heart and reached the playoffs as the first seed overall in the Eastern Conference with a franchise best record of 22–12. In the first round, the Fever ousted the Washington Mystics in a sweep, marking their return to the conference finals. In the East finals, again facing their rival Detroit Shock, they reached their first ever WNBA Finals by defeating the Shock in three games. The Fever then lost in 5 games to the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA Finals.Because of the success in 2009, the Fever announced they would remain in Indianapolis for 2010. Their 2011 season in Indianapolis was also confirmed as well.
In 2012, the Fever advanced to the 2012 WNBA Finals. Indiana then defeated the Minnesota Lynx, 3 games to 1. It was the Fever's first WNBA title.