Big week, tough opponents

After a mixed-bag start that has produced a 6-4 record, the Indiana Fever's players realize they have an opportunity this week to create some ripples in the WNBA.

On Thursday, the Fever host the Seattle Storm, a runaway leader in the Western Conference. On Saturday, the Atlanta Dream, a leader in the competitive Eastern Conference, will arrive in Conseco Fieldhouse. The Indiana team knows that a couple of splashy victories against top-flight opponents will be a big boost in its quest to repeat as Eastern Conference champion and get another shot at the WNBA title.

“I think for us,” forward Tamika Catchings said, “it's going to be a huge week.”

Indiana's personnel don't underestimate the significance of winning home games in a 34-game WNBA regular season. The Fever has won four straight at home this season and 94 of 136 at the Fieldhouse since 2002.

“It's tremendously important to take care of your home court, especially this year with everybody so good. Talk about parity,” said coach Lin Dunn, whose team will play four straight on the road after this week.

Wherever the site, Indiana knows it has some problems to correct. On the agenda this week: eliminate unforced turnovers, cut out mental lapses that lead to big opponent runs and get back to playing with intensity for 40 minutes.

“Turnovers,” Dunn said. “Of all the things right now, that's bothering me the most. It's not the turnover where it's a tenacious defensive situation. I'm talking about the ones that are just bad decisions or out of control. Of the 23 turnovers we had Sunday (in a 77-67 win over Connecticut), I'd say six or seven were unforced, lackadaisical, sloppy, bad decisions. We have to clean that up.”

The victory over Connecticut served as a microcosm of another Indiana bugaboo. The Fever built a 20-point lead in the third quarter. Then the Indiana players seemed to relax, or they got too chatty with the refs and forgot to play defense when they didn't like a call. Connecticut hit them with a 26-6 run and tied the game with 7 minutes left.

“We learned a lesson against Connecticut,” point guard Tully Bevilaqua said. “Just because you're 20 points up, you can't take your foot off the pedal. We had a huge lapse of concentration. We were able to come back and pull it out in the end, but it's not going to happen all the time. We learned a big lesson about mental focus.”

Indiana beat the Sun in large part because of a 39-24 edge in rebounding. Tammy Sutton-Brown played some lockdown defense against the Sun's Tina Charles, holding the league's top rebounder to two points and four boards. Indiana had a 28-14 lead in points in the paint, connecting on 14 of its 19 shots in the lane.

For Fever opponents, the parade of big, strong rebounders and scorers continues this week with Seattle's Lauren Jackson and Atlanta's Erika de Souza and Sancho Lyttle. Still, Indiana hopes to extend a five-game streak that has generated an overall 144-94 scoring advantage in the paint.

“We really are working hard to get the ball inside by a pass to one of our posts, or posting up our big wings, or driving it in there,” Dunn said. “We're getting high percentage shots or we're getting fouled when we get it in the paint. That's been a real focus for us, trying to get the ball to the rim.”

And when Indiana opts to score from the perimeter, it has often been Katie Douglas, who overcame a slow start this season and has recorded double-figure points in six consecutive games. She has hit 19-of-38 3-pointers (50 percent) in her last five games.

Defensively, Indiana continues to thrive as the best in the WNBA, holding opponents to 39.9 percent shooting and 69.8 points a game. That defense will get tested against Seattle, averaging 84.4 points, and Atlanta, at 83.4.

“I look at this week as character-building, to see where we stand,” Catchings said. “I feel like, one through 11, any of my teammates could go to another team and start. And I think there's a confidence, a togetherness, that we're starting to feel. Now it's about getting better and taking care of the other things – the turnovers, keeping them off the boards, keeping people in front of you. It's going to be a big challenge this week.”