Fever on pace to set WNBA record for 3-pointers
By CLIFF BRUNT
ISL Editor
What I’m going to share in this article will probably shock you if you haven’t watched the Indiana Fever lately.
It might surprise you, even if you are an avid follower.
The Fever are on pace to make more 3-pointers than any team in WNBA history.
That’s right. The franchise that earned its stripes with a grind-it-out approach flings threes like no one else. Remember, the league debuted in 1997, so league records mean something now.
The Fever have made 8.5 3-pointers per game this season, on pace to surpass the record of 8.34 set by the Phoenix Mercury in 2007. Indiana is closing in on the team record of 226, set in 2008, with 14 games remaining and would need to make just four per game the rest of the season to
equal their current mark.
It’s part of a change in identity for the Fever. Indiana averages nearly 80 points per game, fifth-best in the 12-team league and ahead of the team record of 78.3 points per game set in 2010.
Katie Douglas is leading the perimeter charge. As of Wednesday, through 20 games, she was second in the league with 49 threes. She is on pace to break Tamika Catchings’ franchise record of 76 3-pointers set in 2002.
Catchings and Briann January were tied for 12th with 31 threes through Wednesday.
January is perhaps most responsible for the improvement. She already has a career high in 3-point goals and shooting 41 percent from beyond the arc, also on pace for a career-best mark.
Jeanette Pohlen, who set the team record for 3-point shooting last season by shooting 46.8 percent, is up to 46.9 percent with 23 threes this season. Erin Phillips has 15.
Not only do the Fever relentlessly fire threes, they shoot them well. Indiana made nearly 41 percent of its shots from beyond the arc through 20 games, trailing only Minnesota. It’s a pace far ahead of the team record of 37.9 percent set last year.
The Fever also defend the three well, too. Opponents are shooting just 32.8 percent from beyond the arc this season, second-worst in the league, and the Fever have made 75 more threes than their opponents this year.
Indiana has maintained its edge defensively. The Fever rank first in the Eastern Conference and fourth overall in scoring defense, surrendering just 75.5 points per game.
The 3-pointer is the wild card that makes this Fever team perhaps the most dangerous one of all, perhaps even more so than the team that reached the Finals in 2009 before losing to Phoenix. This team is rarely out of a game, and often times, can blow an opponent away. If the team gains the focus on rebounding that Catchings often says is lacking, Indiana might win that first title.
