Every game played in the WNBA matters, but there's something about the All-Star break that seems to spur teams into getting really serious about what's happening on the court. That doesn't mean that they aren't playing seriously each and every game, because they certainly are—but All-Star serves as a reminder that the season is more than halfway finished. If a team is going to start making a push toward the playoffs, it's got to start happening soon.
That kind of thinking is part of what's shaping the narrative around the Indiana Fever and the Atlanta Dream right now. The two teams are deadlocked in an explosive race. The Dream are ranked fifth in the league with 16 wins and 10 losses, and the Fever are ranked sixth in the league... with 16 wins and 10 losses. If the playoffs were decided today, both teams would be in—but right now, the two teams are in a close race to be named winners of the Eastern Conference.
Despite a rocky start this season (a rocky start that got a lot of attention, for better or for worse), the Fever is on a bit of a hot streak right now. And though the Dream won't have any more games before All-Star, the Fever will host the Connecticut Sun tomorrow, which gives them one more chance to pull ahead of Atlanta in the standings. Both Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark are playing well at the moment, and have propelled their team to some pretty big wins lately (Mitchell has scored 20 or more points in 10 consecutive games, becoming the seventh player in league history to do so, and Clark recently had a monster of a 45-point game).
But the Dream is tough and determined, and appears to have bounced back from a bit of a slump. Atlanta has recently welcomed back Brionna Jones, who tore her meniscus in January while playing overseas, and it's clear that her presence has been a boon to the entire squad. The Dream will send three All-Stars to the game this year (Allisha Gray, Angel Reese, and Rhyne Howard), and will undoubtedly come back to the floor ready to keep winning.
Both teams have a lot of tough games coming up. The Fever will meet the Seattle Storm and Portland Fire (the latter of whom beat them when they last met in May), and the Dream will play the Dallas Wings next.
Add us as a preferred source on Google