Mystics at Fever preview: Washington tries to get out of funk Friday night

The Washington Mystics (10-8) take on the Indiana Fever (7-10) Friday evening, and both teams will try to snap a three game losing streak.

Where and When Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana. 7:00 P.M. ET.

Streaming WNBA League Pass, Monumental Network.

Coach Thibault spoke with Dan Nolan about the Mystics defense, below.

What to look out for.

Well, it has been a race to the bottom of the association for both teams regarding scoring points in the paint, the Fever and Mystics are eleventh and twelfth against all other opponents.

They are also neck-and-neck in bench scoring, where the Fever have a slight edge, out scoring the Mystics 27.6 to 25.5 for second and third in the association.

Defensively, the Fever are the worst rated team, sitting twelfth to the Mystics sixth in opponents’ points per possession.

Candice Dupree is leading Indiana in both points and rebounds, with Briann January leading in assists.

Growing Pains

The Mystics have just integrated Emma Meesseman back into the starting lineup, and we have seen some real ‘clicking’ from the team.

They have had leads in all three of their losses, by as much as 22 points against the Sun, and managed to lose focus just long enough to gift their opponents enough room to blow by them, literally and figuratively.

In their last game, the Sun picked up their pace in the second half and the Mystics transition defense could not get itself organized.

I would like to think that as the team gets to know each other, that hiccups like the ones we have recently witnessed, will be ameliorated by great communication, footwork, scouting and execution.

Clearly, that still needs development, however that cannot be surprising since this team is still a tossed salad at this point of the season.

It will take time for it to become a well-oiled machine, but there are some encouraging signs.