INDIANAPOLIS — When Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides turned off the lights to go to sleep at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night she hoped for sweet dreams. Then, second-guessing her early bed-time, she set the alarm for midnight.

By then the results of other WNBA games involving the Chicago Sky and the Atlanta Dream would be known and if they both lost, the Fever would be in the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

The alarm buzzed on time, but Sides rolled over, clicked it off, and basically said she could wait till morning to find out any fate of her team. That’s willpower, especially since many of her players were out there in the darkness tuned in to the TV games.

Freedman

The Sky and Dream both lost and the Fever made its way into the post-season without playing, fulfilling a pre-season goal for the young team that has been scorching hot since the Paris Summer Olympics break.

This is no small thing for a club that has been downtrodden in the standings since before months prior to Donald Trump being elected president.

Capping one of the team’s best 24 hours in years, Wednesday afternoon, guard Caitlin Clark was chosen both WNBA Eastern Conference player-of-the-month and WNBA rookie-of-the-month and Sides was named league coach-of-the-month. She called that “a surprise.” But it had to be a satisfying one.

A few hours later, the Fever downed the visiting Los Angeles Sparks, 93-86, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse to raise its record to 18-16 after a 1-8 start. These days, the Ws in the W for the Fever are no surprise.

“Today was an unbelievable day,” said Sides, who early this season was being constantly vilified on social media and now is mentioned as a candidate for season coach-of-the-year honors by prominent broadcast commentators.

A friend of mine who is a fan, thinks the belittling of Sides, as he put it, stems from trolls with too much time on their hands living in their mothers’ basements. If approval is measured in wins, they haven’t had too much to talk about lately.

Both Hall of Famer Rebecca Lobo and Debbie Antonelli have recently posited that Sides must be in the conversation for coach-of-the-year. And they are right, even if that gives critics heartburn. The Fever has come a long way, maturing and improving.

There was much to-do about how the Fever wasn’t going to be any good and that Sides was not a good coach, she noted. Block out the noise was her policy.

“We just kept pushing forward,” she said. “We’re not satisfied.”

The Fever is in the second year of a three-year rebuilding plan annunciated by general manager Lin Dunn. When Sides was hired, she told team officials she thought it would take four years to make the playoffs. Beat that.

Instead, taking center Aliyah Boston first overall in the WNBA draft last season and following up by grabbing Clark as a point guard this year, has accelerated the success.

While there have been growing pains, Clark said she is not surprised the Fever made the hurry-up step into the playoffs with several regular-season games remaining.

“Obviously, this is a big moment for this organization,” Clark said. “But I came in with the expectation this is what would happen. I think we have the kind of team that can win and advance.”

After going 7-1 since the break heading into a Friday night home game versus the Minnesota Lynx, the Fever might be a scary draw for any of the highly ranked teams in the league.

As Indiana demonstrated Wednesday, even not at its crispest, it can pull out wins by deflecting fourth-quarter challenges. The Fever needed clutch plays by forward NaLyssa Smith (blocked shot) and Lexie Hull (key rebound and two foul shots) to supplement the star turns of others.

Clark notched her second triple-double of the season with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and the 6-foot-5 Boston went for 24 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists. For the first time in weeks, guard Kelsey Mitchell (18) points, did not crack the 20-point mark.

Mitchell has been such a brilliant shooter lately (36 points against Dallas Sunday), Clark said Mitchell, not her, should have received league recognition.

“Kelsey should have been player-of-the-month. I’m not trying to be corny,” Clark said. “I really think she deserved it.”

That is something a gracious teammate would say, but I think Clark is right. Mitchell’s shooting and scoring have been major highlights of this run. Still, Clark is the glue.

It’s not as if this later-season Fever bunch is blowing everyone away. It seems every game is a heart-thumper into the final minute. For the first time in months, the game was not a sell-out, though close with 16,645 paid, about 600 shy of a full house. But those people were loud, and on their feet, cheering.

Now that post-season qualification is real, checking one box, when that competition begins the third week in September, the Fever wants to stick around a while.

“I think we have the kind of team that can win and advance,” Clark said.

Not a statement that could be made in May. But as anyone who has watched playoffs in any sport is aware, anything can happen in a short series.