In between the third and fourth quarters of the Indiana Fever’s season-saving 77-60 win over the Atlanta Dream in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series on Tuesday — the Fever’s first postseason win since 2015 — Kelsey Mitchell stopped for an interview with ESPN’s Angel Gray.
“The playoffs are all about not giving up. If I’ve learned anything about our group and our resiliency, we won’t give up,” said Mitchell, who finished with a game-high 19 points. “Right now it’s just about that — not giving up and going the extra mile.”
Nothing has gone right for the Fever this season. Caitlin Clark only played 13 games, DeWanna Bonner quit on the team in June and five players, including Clark, went down with season-ending injuries. Instead of competing for a title, they had to claw their way into the playoffs as the No. 6 seed.
But they never gave up, and now they’re one win away from advancing to the semifinals for the first time since 2015.
“It took a collective group effort to be able to be here,” Mitchell said after the game. “I think our first win here was big for us because we’ve been resilient throughout the course of the year and it felt really good to see ourselves on top and do something great for a change.”
Tuesday’s matchup was certainly not a classic. Neither team shot better than 42.9% from the field, there were a combined 34 turnovers and 39 fouls, and play stopped for numerous reviews, both due to challenges and possible upgrades. But in a win befitting the team they’ve had to become over the last few weeks, the Fever dug deep and did all the dirty work while feeding off their electric crowd.
The Fever’s defense was incredible all night long, and it was no surprise that the sequence that effectively ended the game started on that end of the floor.
With just over 30 seconds to play in the third quarter, Aerial Powers — a late-season acquisition due to their injury trouble — fought over a screen and forced a backcourt violation on Rhyne Howard. Down on the other end, Aliyah Boston worked her way into position for a tough bucket under the basket. The Dream’s ensuing inbounds pass was then tipped by Shey Peddy and picked off by Mitchell. Boston eventually found Lexie Hull for a wide-open 3-pointer just before the buzzer, which sent Gainbridge Fieldhouse into hysterics.
In the span of a few seconds, the Fever’s lead jumped from 10 points to 15 points and the Dream never recovered. “The energy, everyone felt it, the crowd was going crazy and we just used that momentum into the fourth,” Boston said.
For the game, the Fever held the Dream, who had the second-best offensive rating in the league during the regular season (108.2), to just 60 points on 37.9% shooting. That was their second-lowest scoring output and fifth-worst field goal percentage in a game this season, including the regular season and playoffs. Furthermore, the Fever forced 16 turnovers, which they turned into 19 points on the other end, and limited the Dream to 10 free throws, their second-fewest in a game this season.
“Our aggressiveness, our attention to detail, our ability to contest without fouling, to be disciplined in that area I thought was huge,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “I continue to just be so proud of this group and their resilience and their toughness and their ability to respond.”
The series will now shift back to Atlanta for a winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday. The winner will play either the Las Vegas Aces or Seattle Storm in the semifinals.