The Indiana Fever pulled off a big upset on Tuesday to defeat the Minnesota Lynx in the 2025 Commissioner’s Cup championship, 74-59. The Fever were playing without star guard Caitlin Clark (groin) but put together a brilliant defensive effort to win the WNBA’s in-season competition for the first time in franchise history.
Natasha Howard was named MVP after finishing with 16 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals. This was a true team effort for the Fever, who had five players score in double figures, including Aliyah Boston, who added 12 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
The Lynx are a league-leading 14-2 this season and a perfect 8-0 at home. They were going to be favored in this game no matter what, but once Clark was ruled out, they jumped to 8.5-point favorites.
Early on, it seemed that number wasn’t big enough as the Lynx went ahead early and pushed their advantage to 13 early in the second quarter. That turned out to be the high point of their evening.
Caitlin Clark injury update: Fever star (groin) out for WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship vs. Lynx
Jack Maloney
The Fever locked in defensively and held the Lynx scoreless over the final 8:13 of the first half to surge ahead at the break. Everyone expected the Lynx — the best offensive team in the league this season — to return to form in the second half, but it never happened. The Fever didn’t exactly light it up themselves, but they did enough to hold the Lynx at an arm’s length all second half.
Minnesota’s 59 points were the fewest they’ve scored all season, and their 34.9% mark from the field was also a season-worst. They turned the ball over 16 times and MVP frontrunner Napheesa Collier had five of those turnovers in her worst outing of the season.
Indiana’s win ensured that no team has ever gone back-to-back in the Commissioner’s Cup. Here’s a look at the previous winners:
Only one team, the 2022 Aces, has won the Commissioner’s Cup and WNBA championship in the same season.
How the Fever pulled off the upset
One of the Fever’s primary goals this offseason was to improve defensively. While they got off to a strong start on that side of the ball, they’ve slipped in recent weeks — in part due to DeWanna Bonner’s departure — and are currently eighth in defensive rating at 100.2.
They do have some defensive talent, though, especially after Aari McDonald’s return, and are capable of dialing things up on that side of the ball. That’s exactly what they did on Tuesday. With Clark, their offensive engine, sidelined again, they leaned on their defense to secure the upset and a nice paycheck.
As the Fever decide how to spend their share of the $500,000 prize pool — $30,000 each, plus an extra $5,000 to Howard for winning MVP — here’s a closer look at how their defense shut down the Lynx.
Shutting down Collier
Collier has been the best player in the WNBA this season and is the favorite to win MVP. She’s leading the league in scoring average, a career-high 24.4 points, and has a real chance to join Elena Delle Donne as the only WNBA players in the vaunted 50/40/90 club.
On Tuesday, the Fever held her to 12 points — her fewest in a full game this season — on 6 of 18 from the field with five turnovers.
Howard had the primary defensive assignment on Collier and did an excellent job throughout the game. Howard is one of the few players in the league who has the length and athleticism to match up with Collier all over the floor. All night long, Howard kept Collier away from the rim and forced her into tough turnaround jumpers.
Here’s a look at Collier’s shot chart.
Napheesa Collier’s shot chart against the Fever.
WNBA.com/Stats
While Collier is capable of making these shots, they aren’t easy looks. Against a player of Collier’s caliber, all you can do is make things as difficult as possible and Howard did just that.
Limiting 3-pointers
The Lynx are the best 3-point shooting team in the league this season at 36.3%. The Fever are the best 3-point defense, with opponents making just 27.5% of their attempts. Three-point shooting is always a key category these days, but especially in one-game scenarios like this.
The Fever won out on Tuesday, which was a big reason for their victory. They held the Lynx to 4 of 16 (25%) from 3-point range. This was one of the Lynx’s worst outside shooting performances of the season. Their four makes were their second fewest in a game, their 16 attempts were a season low and their 25% mark was their third-least efficient showing.
The Lynx misssed their fair share of open looks, which is going to be the case any time a team shoots this poorly in a game. However, the Fever’s physicality and heavy pressure at the point of attack prevented the Lynx from getting comfortable and limited some of their usual ball movement.
Forcing turnovers
The Lynx are extremely willing to share the ball. They have four players averaging at least three assists and their 77.3% assist rate leads the league. They take care of it well despite not playing with a traditional point guard and are tied for fifth in the league in turnover rate at 18.0%.
Against the Fever, though, the Lynx were unable to get into their usual rhythm. Their 13 assists were a season low, and they turned the ball over 16 times, which led to 13 points for the Fever.
“We were a little bit more disruptive, we were in passing lanes, we didn’t allow them to just pass the ball one pass away, we made their movement a little bit more difficult because of our positioning, our point of attack on ball screen defense was better,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “I would prefer to say our intensity was a little bit better, our attention to detail was better. It’s what we’re capable of doing.”