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The almost complete Indiana is looking to confirm the 3rd place

Indiana and Washington are going into the last round with the same win-loss ratio. In order to keep the 3rd place and to avoid the excellent Chicago team in the first round of play-offs, Indiana has to defeat the injury laden Connecticut

After they placed first in the Eastern conference last season, the Connecticut Sun players were ravaged by injuries so much that they are now the worst team in the league. The only bright side in the situation is that they have higher chances for the first pick in the draft. If they get lucky and grab Chimey Ogwumike, and if Tina Charles, Ashja Jones and Kara Lawson return, they will quickly transform to favorites again.

But before that, they still have a game against Indiana to go through, a game which to them means absolutely nothing. They lost against Washington on Friday, since the coach Anne Donovan only had seven healthy players available. They were completely inferior in every aspect of the game and offered almost no resistance. Their best player was Mistie Bass (13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals). With the regularly absent Charles, Jones, Lawson, Hightower, McCray, and Faris,  Tan White is also doubtful for tonights game. It would be a miracle if they defeated the reigning champions Indiana.


And while the home team has no incentives to play for, same cannot be said for the guests. Indiana has to win tonight if they want to stay third and avoid Chicago in the play-offs. Instead, they would face Atlanta. Indiana won against New York on friday, but the win was tougher then expected. They were even down by 5 points seven minutes before the end, but came back with a 9-0 series. However, even without their best player Cappie Pondextrer, the guests didn't give up and we were in for a suspenseful finish. Indiana managed to defend while being up by 1 point. After that Tamika Catchings scores two from the free throw line and raises the lead to +3. The guest team fails to score a three pointer before the buzzer and Indiana wins.


They had a catastrophic day with only 33% of 2 pts realized and with 4/22 three pointers. However, their defense saved the day again by forcing the guests to lose 19 balls. The legendary Tamika Catchings was the best again (23 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals). Briann January added 13 points and 4 assists and rebounds, while Katie Douglas who is back after a 30 game injury, scored 11 points. It is possible that her comeback was responsible for the bad start, since it will take time for her to reach peak form again.


- I will obviously need some time to find my rhythm again. I am just happy to be back again and I am able to compete - said Katie Douglas.


With her return the Fever team is now almost complete. Only the reserve center Jessica Davenport is still absent, but the framework of the team that won the title last year is present. They are an experienced team who knows how to win games in play-offs, so they will be a tough opponent for anyone. The way things are now, it would be a big surprise if anyone but Atlanta was their first round play-off match up.

Indiana has to win this game if they are to keep the third spot in the East division. They will be highly motivated and Katie Douglas has returned to action, so they are in a great position before the play-offs. I am sure that they will steamroll Connecticut, who is missing six or seven key players today. In this situation a trashing would be realistic, but I opted for a more cautious bet: Indiana will win with a margin of more than 6 points.