Playoff Fever
The WNBA playoffs are one of the most overlooked events of the sports-watching season, often deserving more attention from sports fans.
With MVP and award races over, the quest for a champion is in full swing, and the Indiana Fever are looking to spoil the party of playoff favorites.
The basketball world has kept its attention on the Fever throughout the season, yet much of the coverage has focused on topics beyond their on-court performance.
The constant thinkpieces about teams being overly physical with star guard Catilin Clark and her personal issues with referees often overshadowed the team's play on the court.
Despite a myriad of injuries, including key pieces of the rotation, the limited fever took down the Atlanta Dream in round one, and shocked the Aces and 2025 WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson in the first game of the semi-finals.
Leading the charge on the scoring front is Kelsey Mitchell, the lethal lefty with one of the deepest scoring bags in the W.
Kelsey Mitchell goes for a Layup - Photo Creds: ESPN
Mitchell averaged 20.2 points per game in the regular season, but has raised her game in the playoffs. Averaging 23.4 points on 45.5 percent from the field, 43.3 percent from three-point land, and 96.6 percent from the free throw line.
This team goes as Kelsey goes, and when she’s aggressive, the rest of the team follows. In game one against the Aces, Mitchell scored 34 points, and in game two, we saw Mitchell score 13 points on 14 shots.
The drop in efficiency and lack of scoring for Mitchell contributed to a convincing Aces 90-68 win.
To match up with the Aces outside of Kelsey, the Fever are relying heavily on Odyssey Sims and Natasha Howard for scoring, the only uninjured “Tres Leches” member Lexi Hull as a true glue player, and Aliyah Boston, the post player with the toughest assignment in the series—slow down A’ja Wilson.
Despite the competitive Game One, it looks like the Aces have the depleted fever figured out, and I’d expect the play down the stretch of the series to emulate what we saw in Game 2.
While the Fever are overmatched, I still implore anyone still reading at this point to check out their next game Friday night to see a great example of a team that’s bought in and truly gives their all on the court.
