{"id":235237,"date":"2025-09-18T01:50:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T01:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/235237\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T01:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T01:50:10","slug":"indiana-fever-notch-first-playoff-win-in-nearly-10-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/235237\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Fever notch first playoff win in nearly 10 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fever were heavy favorites to win at that point, and their lead climbed over 20 in the final frame. It was a dominant response to a Game 1 loss<\/a>. The crowd kept the energy throughout the fourth quarter, celebrating a victory for the home team. And while wins against great teams aren\u2019t new for the 2025 Indiana Fever, a playoff win certainly was. It had been a while.<\/p>\n

Almost 10 years, in fact. October 11, 2015 was the last Fever playoff win \u2014 back then, it was Game 4 of the WNBA Finals. This time, it was a first-round game, and Tuesday night was the first time Indianapolis saw WNBA postseason action since 2016. It would have been a big day regardless of the result, but the hosts seized an opportunity in front of their loud fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt really good to see ourselves on top and do something great for a change,\u201d Kelsey Mitchell<\/a>, who has been with Indiana since 2018, said after the game.<\/p>\n

2018 was Mitchell\u2019s rookie season. She wasn\u2019t even in the league the last time the Fever won, or hosted, a playoff game. Only four active Fever players were in the league at all the last time Indiana emerged victorious on the postseason stage \u2014 Natasha Howard<\/a> (who was on the Fever), Damiris Dantas<\/a>, Sydney Colson<\/a>, and Odyssey Sims<\/a> were all early in their careers at the time. Stephanie White<\/a>, the current Indiana Fever head coach, was guiding the franchise during her first stint at the helm of the franchise at the time.<\/p>\n

It really had been a while, which made Tuesday night that much more exciting for the Fever. And it wasn\u2019t just some run-of-the-mill victory; rather, Indiana dominated, taking the game with a final score of 77-60. Including the regular season, 60 is the fourth-fewest points the Fever have allowed in a game this season. It\u2019s only the fifth time they\u2019ve given up fewer than 70.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was finishing defensive plays, making sure that we boxed out and then went and got the ball,\u201d White said of the little things that were successful on the defensive end. Little things were problematic for Indiana<\/a> in Game 1.<\/p>\n

Yet in this game, they nailed the details on the defensive end, and it led to a key win. It\u2019s rare that the less glamorous end of the floor guides the Indiana Fever \u2014 it did on opening night<\/a>, then not much after that. Tuesday night\u2019s win was just the second time in 10 occurrences, including the regular season, that the Fever won a game with 77 or fewer points this year.<\/p>\n

The Dream only knocked down 37.9% of their shots. They have yet to hit 40% from the field during a game in this series, and they\u2019ve had 13 turnovers in both outings. They struggled from the charity stripe in Game 2 as well \u2014 that was good fortune for the Fever.<\/p>\n

Want even more women\u2019s sports in your inbox?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Subscribe now to The IX Sports<\/a> and receive our daily women\u2019s sports newsletter covering soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers. That includes Basketball Wednesday from founder and editor Howard Megdal.<\/p>\n

Readers of The IX Basketball now save 50% on their subscription to The IX.<\/p>\n

But in many ways, you make your own fortune. The crowd certainly helped, too. But the Fever were flying around and making life hard for the Dream, and it led to frequent stops. Atlanta never led.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were aggressive defensively. They were super physical,\u201d Karl Smesko, Atlanta\u2019s head coach, said postgame. \u201cWhen a team\u2019s playing that physical, sometimes you have a tendency to kind of slow down, and I think that plays into their physicality.\u201d<\/p>\n

All-WNBA candidate Allisha Gray<\/a> shot 4\/16 from the field. Rhyne Howard<\/a> went 3\/9 while Jordin Canada<\/a> went 2\/7. Mitchell stressed the need for the Fever to improve their point-of-attack defense after Game 1, and they did exactly that in limiting the Dream\u2019s top perimeter threats. Brittney Griner<\/a> had an off night, too, making just three of her seven attempts. Brianna Turner<\/a> and Hull had terrific defensive nights against star players.<\/p>\n

Forcing misses is one thing, but finishing possessions with rebounds is another. Atlanta shot under 40% in Game 1, for example, but pulled in 12 offensive rebounds and gave themselves more chances. In the regular season, they were first in total rebound percentage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Game 2, the Dream had just five offensive rebounds. The Fever used their strong night on the glass to turn defense into offense, and that\u2019s when they are at their best. Their dominance without the ball led to success when they had it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur aggressiveness, our attention to detail, our ability to contest without fouling, to be disciplined in that area I thought was huge,\u201d White said. \u201cWe played good enough defense down [in Atlanta], and our offense just couldn\u2019t get going. And we were able to get it going on both sides tonight. I continue to just be so proud of this group and their resilience, their toughness, and their ability to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell was terrific again with 19 points, and both Aliyah Boston<\/a> and Natasha Howard<\/a> joined her as double digit scorers. Indiana\u2019s bench was much better than they were in Game 1 \u2014 Makayla Timpson<\/a> alone made more shots in Game 2 than the Fever\u2019s entire second unit during the series opener. Aerial Powers<\/a>\u2018 passion was contagious in Indy. Shey Peddy<\/a> was a needed connector.<\/p>\n

Altogether, it led to a Fever victory, and one that was a long time coming. It extended the series and pushed the two teams back to Atlanta, where they will play a deciding Game 3 on Thursday.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be easy. The Dream are a solid team, but haven\u2019t shot well yet in the series. The Fever found another gear on defense in Game 2 and have given themselves a chance to advance beyond the first round for the first time since 2015. Their defense will be important once again. Their focus must be high. They know what\u2019s at stake.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it will be a really good challenge for us\u2026 Somebody has to lose and somebody has to win, obviously,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cIt [was] a big opportunity tonight, but you\u2019ve gotta let it be the moment and kind of fuel you for Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBecoming Caitlin Clark\u201d<\/strong> is out now!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Howard Megdal\u2019s newest book is here! \u201cBecoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar\u201d captures both the historic nature of Clark\u2019s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fever were heavy favorites to win at that point, and their lead climbed over 20 in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":235238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[121849,112568,1491,1522,1503,80082,1512,15977,2600,1495,126298,234,2601,51598,1493,1492,126299,19150,10584,1521,10588,62,1490,78627,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-235237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-2025-wnba-playoffs","9":"tag-aerial-powers","10":"tag-aliyah-boston","11":"tag-allisha-gray","12":"tag-atlanta-dream","13":"tag-brianna-turner","14":"tag-brittney-griner","15":"tag-damiris-dantas","16":"tag-dream","17":"tag-fever","18":"tag-gainbridge-fieldhouse","19":"tag-indiana-fever","20":"tag-jordin-canada","21":"tag-karl-smesko","22":"tag-kelsey-mitchell","23":"tag-lexie-hull","24":"tag-makayla-timpson","25":"tag-natasha-howard","26":"tag-odyssey-sims","27":"tag-rhyne-howard","28":"tag-shey-peddy","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-stephanie-white","31":"tag-sydney-colson","32":"tag-united-states","33":"tag-unitedstates","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115222795175210158","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}