INDIANAPOLIS — “We all we got. We all we need.”
It’s the phrase Kelsey Mitchell began sharing earlier this season with her Fever teammates in practices, the locker room and team huddles as injuries mounted. It became a team motto and a rallying cry of sorts as they pushed for the playoffs late in the season.
It was even adopted into the pregame hype video before Game 2 against Atlanta on Tuesday. And once the game started, it became the perfect summary of Indiana fighting off elimination.
After dropping Game 1 on Sunday in the best-of-three series, the Fever’s backs were firmly against the wall. But back in Gainbridge Fieldhouse for a playoff game for the first time since 2015 and emboldened by a crowd ready for the moment, Indiana bounced back with a wire-to-wire win over the Dream, 77-60.
“I felt good about the fact that we responded when we were supposed to,” Kelsey Mitchell, who had a game-high 19 points, said. “We came right off the bat and took care of business as far as where we lacked from the first game to the second game. That was a really big positive for us and small victories are big for us.”
Indiana has had its back against the wall plenty throughout this year, especially as they fought for a playoff spot in the final month of the season. But Tuesday was the biggest stakes they’ve faced yet. In a win-or-go-home scenario, the Fever looked ready to do everything possible to extend their season from the opening jump.
They spent the game making life miserable for the Dream offense, one of the best in the league in the regular season, holding them to 37.9% shooting overall and just 5-19 (26.3%) shooting from range with most of those makes coming in garbage time.
They also closed the gap in a number of smaller areas, too, like winning the points in the paint battle after losing it on Sunday, outscoring the Dream on second-chance points and narrowly outscoring Atlanta in fast break points after narrowly being outscored in Game 1.
Add all that up and it came out to Indiana flipping the script and picking up a memorable win.
“We were getting the hustle plays, getting on the floor after loose balls,” head coach Stephanie White said. “It was finishing defensive plays, making sure that we boxed out and then we got the ball. It’s setting screens, using screens to give us opportunities on the offensive end. Communicating and our point of screen defense on the defensive end.
“We took care of those things. You’re going to have your moments in games, but when you continue to have more moments where you are executing and have more moments where you are playing with multiple levels of effort, good things usually happen and our group was able to do that.”
As much as the Fever did those little things in order to try to create an advantage, a slow start to the third quarter saw them lead by just three while going scoreless for over three minutes. But in the defining stretch of the game, Indiana went on a 19-7 run to end the quarter and blow the game open, capped off with one of the highlights of the season.
After an Aliyah Boston layup late in the frame, Mitchell stole the ensuing inbound pass after Shey Peddy tipped the ball loose. The Fever would quickly swing the ball around the perimeter to an open Lexie Hull, who drilled the 3-pointer just before the buzzer, giving Indiana a 59-44 lead heading into the fourth.
“That was great for us. That seriously was,” Boston said of the sequence. “Scoring the ball and then getting that tip and then Lexi hitting that three, I mean the energy, everyone felt it. The crowd was going crazy and we just used that momentum into the fourth.”
Indiana ensured there would be no fourth quarter comeback as Makayla Timpson opened the period with a three-point play before Boston made another layup, making it a 20-point lead to force a Dream timeout, effectively ending any doubt in the final result.
It was a victory that the Fever achieved through the same type of fighting and clawing that got them to this point. Emblematic of that was Aerial Powers, who was signed late in the regular season.
The forward played 17 minutes and scored just three points, but made a number of hustle plays that ignited the crowd throughout. Her one made field goal was a three-point play in the first half that was met with the roar of the fans, apropos for the impact she had on the night.
“She [gives] off so much energy and she always has a lot of energy,” Boston said of Powers. “I love when I see her hype up the crowd. Everyone gets involved. But I think [Powers], just what she brings to us, that aggression, just getting after loose balls, it’s great.”
It’s the identity the Fever have adopted this season. New players stepping in and showing out throughout the year. Seemingly no matter who’s been asked to step up, they’ve answered the bell. It’s all they’ve had and it’s all they’ve needed.
Brianna Turner, who was out of the rotation for much of the season before entering it late in the year, played 20 minutes off the bench and grabbed six rebounds with two steals. Peddy, who was did not join the team until Aug. 22, was a +16 in 23 minutes as a reserve. In the last regular meeting between the Fever and Dream, none of Timpson, Powers, Turner or Peddy played and two of those players weren’t even signed to the team.
On Tuesday, those four — paired with strong performances from the mainstay starters in Hull, Mitchell, Boston and Natasha Howard — played roles in the Fever winning their first home playoff game since the 2015 WNBA Finals. And it’s how they’re now on the brink of an improbable playoff series win as they had back to Atlanta for Game 3 on Thursday.
“This was super big for us,” Boston said. “Our backs were definitely against the wall in this and we know that we’ve just been through so much this season that coming out with this win and then giving ourselves another chance in Game 3, emotions are high.”
