This Friday night, Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty pulled off a win over the Indiana Fever of Caitlin Clark, 83-75. They did so on the back of a commanding performance by Breanna Steward, who was the most productive player on the court with 30-points.
For comparison, the top scorer for Indiana was Kelsey Mitchell, with 21 points.
The win was also due, partially, to the Fever’s lack of discipline in defense, says analyst Rachel DeMita, regarding the guarding of Breanna Stewart. Stewart has a reputation for being favored by officials, which allows her to rack up points from the foul line. 18 of her 30 points came via free throws, as she was fouled nine times.
The fouls did play a role in New York’s win, as it gave their scorer more than half their points.
However, analyst Rachel DeMita believes this isn’t a criticism that can be held up against her. DeMita sees the ability of Stewart to rack up fouls as a legitimate tool. According to her, the Fever knew they were playing in New York against one of the top players in the nation, who has an uncanny ability to get the officials to award her throws.
They should have been more disciplined when guarding one of the top players in the league, she said:
“You’re in New York, playing against Brianne Stewart, one of the best players in the league, she has a great whistle and she knows how to manipulate body, she knows how to get to the bucket, she knows how to draw fouls,”
“I’m not even going to say ‘foul bait’ or ‘flop’, because Stewie doesn’t even do that. She really doesn’t. She has a good whistle, you have to be disciplined on defense,” said DeMita this weekend (1:00)
DeMita continued saying that the Fever were particularly sloppy against the power forward on defense, throwing themselves repeatedly at the Liberty star, who had an easy time collecting fouls.
Breanna Stewart on how the New York Liberty took advantage of the Indiana Fever’s ‘Aggression.’
According to Stewart herself, the New York Liberty took advantage of the Fever’s desire to get physical during the game. She wasn’t afraid to say that, basically, she was looking for contact playing against Indiana:
“I think we definitely exploited [the Fever’s physicality and aggression],” Stewart said the Ballers Magazine. “You know, we wanted to really kind of put that pressure on them, too. They want to get into the paint. They want to attack us that way. We want to also attack their hips, and put the right people in the actions.”
It’s to be expected that a veteran lineup like the Liberty’s, led by Brianne Stewart, would take advantage of this type of gameplay by the Indiana Fever.
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