The WNBA playoffs begin on Sunday at 1 p.m. EST when the No. 1 New York Liberty host the No. 8 Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of their three-game series. Later that afternoon, when the Indiana Fever plays the Connecticut Sun at 3 p.m. EST, many players on the Fever will be experiencing their first playoff game. In fact, the Fever are playing at a significant disadvantage regarding playoff experience, as highlighted by a graphic posted to the WNBA's X account.

The No. 6 seed Fever has only a combined 19 games of playoff experience. It is preceded by the No. 8 seed Atlanta Dream (85), No. 5 Seattle Storm (128), No. 2 Minnesota Lynx (130), No. 1 New York Liberty (168), No. 7 Phoenix Mercury (203), No. 3 Connecticut Sun (222) and No. 4 Las Vegas Aces (273).

The Aces are the current defending back-to-back WNBA World Champions so it should come as no surprise they lead the WNBA in playoff experience.

How Caitlin Clark, Fever can continue to surprise the WNBA

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) rushes up the court Friday, July 12, 2024, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Indiana Fever defeated the Phoenix Mercury, 95-86.
© Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Even if the Fever don't have home-court advantage in their first-round series, Caitlin Clark's superstar status nationwide can flip any away arena in her favor. The total attendance for the Fever's home and away games was 643,343, a WNBA record. The next best team, the New York Liberty, was 434,993, two-thirds of the Fever's number.

Now in the postseason, those numbers could skew even more with the playoff spotlight on the entire league.

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What Clark does to attendance numbers she also does for her fellow teammates. Kelsey Mitchell, tied for Clark with the team-lead in  scoring (19.2 ppg) has been cleared to play in the team's playoff opener vs. the Sun. Mitchell and Clark pair to form one of the best backcourts in the WNBA.

Fever head coach Christy Sides shared what she believes to be special about her team.

“We’ve got 12 players who are all real competitors,” Sides said postgame. “That is one thing that we do in our practices: we try to make just about every drill as competitive as we can. Those guys compete every day with the blue team. If we’re doing a shooting drill, it gets real serious. And if you don’t have the score right, it can ugly… they haven’t gotten the minutes, but they don’t miss a workout. They’re willing to go get those workouts in for these moments.”

This playoff series for the Fever is their first since 2015. Of course it is Clark's postseason debut, but also the first playoff series for Aaliyah Boston, the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year.