‘Taste of what’s possible:’ Indiana Fever optimistic for future after playoff elimination.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. —  Christie Sides preaches getting 1% better every day.

It’s something she hopes will motivate her players, through any adversity or tough stretches, to keep competing, no matter what. It’s something that got them to the playoffs in the second season of her tenure as Fever coach.

It’s gotten them from 1-8 to start the season to 20-20 to end it.

“From the start until now, 20-20, and sixth in the league,” Sides said following Indiana’s elimination from the playoffs Wednesday night. “I mean, we started 1-8. That’s just unprecedented. And these guys, they fought, they worked, they got 1% better every single day. I just kept telling them, ‘Nothing defines us but our effort and our heart.’ And they did that tonight.”

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Indiana, in its first playoff berth since 2016, went 0-2 in a best-of-three first-round series against the Connecticut Sun. The first game on Sunday was more easily decided with a 93-69 Sun advantage.

In Game 2 Wednesday night, the Fever fought until the final minutes — they were even leading at the 2-minute mark of the fourth quarter.

But Connecticut, with 222 games of playoff experience to the Fever’s 19 coming into the series, wasn’t going to go down. They showed that in back-to-back 3-pointers, which ultimately won them the game, 87-81.

“Obviously you never want to lose, and especially losing right now with the chance to go home and get one more game, it truly sucks,” Fever’s Aliyah Boston said. “But just being able to get a taste of this playoff feeling, I mean, they’re a veteran squad. They make the right read. They hit some tough shots and so, I mean, that’s hard, but I think just looking at this, looking how far we’ve come from the start of the season to now, I’m just super proud of our group, because I think we had such a special 12, and I just can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

Any way you look at it, this playoff berth is a sign of immense progress for the Fever franchise.

Two years ago, the Fever won five games.

Five. Out of 36 games.

It was a dejected season for the Fever, who had two different head coaches throughout that span and no hope of making the playoffs. Indiana had another coaching search following that 2022 season, hoping for a way out of what seemed like constant rebuilding.

First, they hired Sides. Then, they got the 2023 No. 1 pick in Boston.

Boston set the tone — she helped the Fever to a 13-27 season in 2023. The Fever still missed the playoffs, but they had optimism in what was coming.

“My rookie season, I think it was a rebuild year,” Boston said. “So when you’re looking at a rebuild year, I mean, everyone wants to jump to the championship and bring home the ring and everything. But I think when you look at basketball as a whole, and when you look at where you start to where you are now, it’s about stepping stones, and I think in two seasons, we’ve made the right steps to go forward, and I’m excited for what the future holds.”

Then, they had got another No. 1 pick in 2024. That pick came in two-time National Player of the Year and NCAA men’s and women’s basketball leading scorer Caitlin Clark. She, along with the core of Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, helped to rejuvenate the franchise — there were more fans, more confidence throughout the team.

Most of all, there were more wins. The Fever went 20-20 in the 2024 regular season, marking the first time since 2015 that Indiana eclipsed 20 wins in a season.

The Fever didn’t make it out of the first round of the playoffs this season, and they weren’t able to bring the series back home for a Game 3 in Gainbridge Fieldhouse. This year, no lower seed was able to do that.

But the Fever never expected to be world champions this season — with the amount of experience on other teams in the league, it wasn’t realistic. They were just looking for progress. And they had a lot of it.

“It’s a good little taste of what’s possible for this organization and for this franchise,” Clark said. “And there’s a lot for us to hold our heads high about. This team won five games two years ago. So we’re a young group, a pretty inexperienced group, but we came together and had a lot of fun playing with one another.”

Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Despite playoff elimination, Indiana Fever optimistic about future