Fever extend playoff series against Dream to 3rd game with home blowout victory

Kelsey Mitchell scored 19 points and made four 3-pointers while Aliyah Boston added 15 points to lead the host Indiana Fever past the third-seeded Atlanta Dream 77-60 on Tuesday night in Indianapolis to extend their best-of-three playoff series.

Natasha Howard added 12 points and five rebounds. Mitchell also had four assists and Boston finished with five rebounds and three assists.

Te-Hina Paopao scored 11 points off the bench to lead the Dream, and Rhyne Howard added 10. The Dream fell 25 points short of their regular-season per game average.

The Fever hosted their first playoff game since 2016 and fed off the energy of the rowdy crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse to earn their first postseason win since Oct. 11, 2015, when they beat the Minnesota Lynx 75-69.

Game 3 will be Thursday in Atlanta, which hasn’t won a playoff series since 2016.

The Fever, which led the league in total attendance during the regular season, reported a crowd of 16,682 for Tuesday’s game, near capacity of 17,274.

Several Fever players who suffered season-ending injuries during the season, including Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, were on the bench but active in getting the crowd involved.

It was a stark turnaround from Game 1.

Atlanta’s Allisha Gray added nine points and seven rebounds despite playing through foul trouble and clashing briefly with two fans in the front row midway through the fourth quarter. Both fans were escorted out of the arena by security.

As both teams battled serious foul trouble, Atlanta couldn’t get the stops it needed—and the Fever took full advantage with its first wire-to-wire playoff win since 2002.

Injury-riddled Indiana started fast, using a 10-2 spurt midway through the first half to take a 30-19 lead, only to see Atlanta cut the halftime deficit to 35-29 courtesy of Gray’s 3-pointer to close the second quarter—the Dream’s first 3 of the game.

Atlanta continued to rally early in the second half, closing to 40-37 midway through the third quarter.

But behind the tandem of Mitchell and Boston, Indiana answered with seven straight points, closed the quarter on another 7-0 run and opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 spurt to make it 67-44. The blowout allowed Mitchell and Boston to get some extra rest down the stretch.

Boxscore below photos

ATLANTA (60)

Hillmon 4-11 0-0 8, R.Howard 3-9 4-6 10, Jones 4-6 0-0 8, Canada 2-7 0-2 4, Gray 4-16 0-0 9, Coffey 0-2 0-0 0, Koné 0-0 0-0 0, Thierry 0-0 0-0 0, Griner 3-7 1-2 7, Caldwell 1-2 0-0 3, Paopao 4-6 0-0 11, Walker-Kimbrough 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-66 5-10 60.

INDIANA (77)

Hull 2-6 2-2 7, N.Howard 5-8 2-2 12, Boston 7-12 0-0 15, Mitchell 6-13 3-3 19, Sims 1-10 2-2 5, Timpson 3-3 3-3 9, Turner 1-2 2-2 4, Hall 0-0 0-0 0, Peddy 1-4 0-0 3, Powers 1-5 1-1 3. Totals 27-63 15-15 77.

3-Point Goals_Atlanta 5-19 (Paopao 3-5, Caldwell 1-1, Gray 1-4, Canada 0-1, Hillmon 0-4, R.Howard 0-4), Indiana 8-19 (Mitchell 4-8, Boston 1-2, Hull 1-2, Sims 1-2, Peddy 1-3, N.Howard 0-1, Powers 0-1). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Atlanta 27 (Gray, Hillmon 7), Indiana 37 (Powers 7). Assists_Atlanta 20 (Canada 6), Indiana 16 (Mitchell, Sims 4). Total Fouls_Atlanta 23, Indiana 16. A_16,682 (20,000)