Amid all the furor around Caitlin Clark's explosive and entertaining playing style, is it really another Indiana Fever player who ranks as the team's best?
As Clark continues to recover from a nagging right groin injury, her Fever teammates continue to win without her. Indiana stormed into Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday and left with a 78-74 victory over Seattle. It was the Fever's fifth consecutive win, all without Clark -- and all of a sudden, Indiana finds itself 1.5 games behind the New York Liberty for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
MORE: Fever's Aliyah Boston shuts down Caitlin Clark narrative
No one disputes what a healthy Clark is capable of achieving; she set the WNBA assists record as a rookie in 2024 and ended Indiana's eight-year playoff drought. But the fact is that this season, Clark has missed 17 of the Fever's 30 games -- and the Fever is 10-7 without her, including last month's Commissioner's Cup win over the Minnesota Lynx.
Key to the Indiana resurgence is Aliyah Boston, the #1 overall pick in the 2023 draft. Boston is enjoying her best WNBA season yet; the three-time All-Star is averaging 15.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, and on Sunday she produced a 16-point, 12-board double-double against a Storm team with serious size and length.
with her 16-point, 12-rebound double-double today, Aliyah Boston has set a new franchise record for consecutive double-doubles with six 🙌 pic.twitter.com/m1ur09Bhu5
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) August 3, 2025
It led to head coach Stephanie White doling out serious praise for Boston, who to date has played 109 out of a possible 109 regular-season games.
"She's really been the key," White told reporters on Sunday. "She came into this league predominantly playing on the low block, getting a lot of post-touches when she was in college and her rookie year. And then last year, her first year with Caitlin, playing a lot in the two-man. And then this year, we're asking her to be a facilitator as well.
"She's really the rock of our team," White continued. "She's even-keeled. She's high IQ. Everybody trusts her on both ends of the floor. And she's our backbone, and she's been tremendous for us all year long.
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