July 2 (UPI) -- The Indiana Fever overcame the absence of injured star guard Caitlin Clark, using disruptive defense to upset the first-place Minnesota Lynx en route to the Commissioner's Cup title in Minneapolis.
Natasha Howard totaled 16 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in the 74-59 victory Tuesday at Target Center. She also played key defense on NBA MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier, who made just 6 of 18 shots for 12 points, less than half of her season average.
"I knew I had a handful with Collier," Howard, who earned Commissioner's Cup MVP honors, told reporters. "She's a great player. But my thing was just limit her to hard shots.
"That's what I did. ... But I couldn't do it by myself."
The Fever outshot the Lynx 42.9% to 34.9%, including a 42.1% to 25% advantage in 3-point shooting. They also held a 40-30 edge in rebounding.
"I think we were just a little bit more disruptive," Fever coach Stephanie White said. "We were in passing lanes. We didn't allow him to just pass the ball one pass away. We made their movement a little more difficult because of our positioning ... I would prefer to say our intensity was a little bit better.
"Our intention to detail was a little bit better."
Sophie Cunningham chipped in 13 points and made three 3-pointers off the Fever bench. Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and Aari McDonald scored a dozen points apiece in the win.
"I think you've seen this group grow," White said. "Caitlin is a player who has a high usage rate, has the ball in her hands a lot. Learning to play without her, learning to make big plays in tough moments on both ends of the floor is important because that's going to pay dividends down the stretch of the season for us."
The Lynx made 9 of 15 shots through the first 10 minutes, used a 12-0 run to take control in the first quarter and carried a 20-12 advantage into the second.
But they fell apart over the next 10 minutes, lost their lead and never recovered.
The Fever outscored the Lynx 20-7 in the second quarter and went on an 18-0 run to end the half. The Lynx made just 3 of 14 shots in the frame, which included a run of 10-consecutive missed attempts. They failed to score for the final eight minutes of the first half.
That trend continued in the third quarter, as Howard helped the Fever pour it on. The Fever outscored their foes 20-15 in the frame and also held a 22-17 scoring advantage over the final 10 minutes.
The Fever, who made 11 of 36 attempts (30.5%) in the first half, were 16 of 27 (59.2%) in the second. The Lynx made just 13 of their final 48 shots (27%).
Collier, who made 3 of 4 shots in the first quarter, was 0 for 5 in the second. She was 3 for 9 in the second half. Alanna Smith led the Lynx with 15 points in the loss.
"We have a tendency sometimes to get impatient," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "I didn't think that our commitment to moving the basketball and creating advantages, we had a hard time getting that done. We had some easy shots that didn't fall, as did they, particularly early in the game.
"They kinda got their rhythm going, but we sort of lost ours. ... Give them credit. I could watch the video back, but I would imagine that they just sort of beat us to spots."
Fever players earned a $500,000 prize pool, in addition to $120,000 in cryptocurrency, for the victory.
The Fever, who played without Clark for the third-consecutive game as she recovers from a groin injury, went 2-1 during that stretch. They are 4-4 overall this season without Clark, who also missed five games earlier this year due to a quad issue.
White said the Fever have "no sense in rushing anything," when talking about Clark before Tuesday's game. The All-Star guard remains day-to-day.
The Fever (8-8) sit in 8th place in the WNBA standings. They will host the 7th-place Las Vegas Aces (8-8) at 7 p.m. EDT Thursday in Indianapolis. The first-place Lynx will (14-2) will host the 9th-place Washington Mystics (8-9) at 8 p.m. Thursday in Minneapolis.
