The Indiana Fever’s 80-68 loss to the Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of their best-of-three first-round WNBA playoffs series means their season is officially on the brink. The circumstances are less than ideal, but under the league’s new playoff format, the Fever will be fighting to extend their season inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Now it’s just a matter of capitalizing on that homecourt advantage.
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“We have to be the ones to punch first at the point of attack,” AP All-WNBA guard Kelsey Mitchell said following Sunday’s loss. “You have to be the one to throw a couple punches first when it comes to making an impact on the game. You can’t allow them to do it for you, especially at home.”
More: Fever’s Game 1 loss featured two coach’s challenges, two technical fouls as Indiana irked by refs
The Fever did a good job of neutralizing Atlanta’s advantage through the early stages of Sunday’s game, leading by as many as nine and carrying a 21-18 advantage into the second quarter.
The defense was clicking, limiting Atlanta to 6-of-20 shooting (with a flurry of missed layups) and maintaining a 14-7 advantage on the glass. The ball was moving and the visitors were generating higher percentage looks and transition opportunities, coach Stephanie White observed.
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But then the wheels began wobbling and things went off the rails.
The Dream’s physicality forced the Fever out of their rhythm, the ball began to stick and the team endured lengthy scoring droughts, most notably between the third and fourth quarters when they went nearly five minutes without a field goal (one field goal over final 7:42 of the third quarter).
“Turnovers (the Fever had 15 for 13 Atlanta points), 50/50 balls and defensive stops — a lot of small things that impact the game hugely,” Mitchell said. “We shot ourselves in the foot and weren’t able to capitalize on the things that make us great and we hurt ourselves in a lot of different areas that impacted (our ability) to make plays and do what we wanted on the offensive end. Once we stop doing that, we give ourselves more of a chance to be who we are.”
Indiana took its largest lead at 15-6 five minutes into regulation.
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It was out-scored 74-53 over the next 35 minutes.
“It’s a lot of little things,” White said, highlighting the 18 second-chance points allowed and Atlanta’s seven 3-pointers to Indiana’s two. They’re a very good 3-point shooting team, White said, but there were multiple instances when the Fever were caught over-helping and not being aggressive in their switches.
Mitchell was excellent, netting a game-high 27 points on 9-of-18 shooting in 33:07.
But there was a dearth of production beyond her.
Odyssey Sims started strong, scoring eight points in the first half. But she was held to only two points from there. Lexie Hull (nine points) went 1-for-5 from 3, with a number of wide-open misses from behind the arc.
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The Fever are averaging around 19 points per game from their bench this season. They generated just nine Sunday.
Put simply, the Fever need to play in rhythm and play in flow, White observed.
As for Tuesday, Indiana needs to do to the Dream what they did Sunday, Mitchell said: The Fever need to punch first — and punch hard.
“We have to do the same thing in order to get our momentum and get running fast and off the ground early,” she continued. “We have to be early in our communication on defense. And we’re going to have to compete. This is going to be a gut check for us. … It sounds crazy, but it’s about who wants it more. Who’s going to dig deeper, who’ll take the extra punch, the extra step, win the extra 50/50. Everything is important.”
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: WNBA playoffs Fever vs Dream: Indiana shoots themselves in foot in Game 1 loss
