Odyssey Sims

By Madie Chandler | FeverBasketball.com

The Indiana Fever’s Game 2 loss to the Las Vegas Aces sets up a knotted series that shifts to Indianapolis on Friday. Despite the defeat, Indiana had several small victories – little pockets of positivity that Stephanie White and her crew can carry into Friday’s game plan as the Fever return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse with home court advantage.

“We’re excited,” Lexie Hull said of returning to Indianapolis for Game 3. “I know the last time it was the first playoff game in a really long time, so just to be able to have two more for our fans that have been there with us all season, [we’re] really excited for that, and we definitely do feed off of their energy.”

Hull gave the Fever 29 minutes of grit in Game 2. After carrying a questionable status into gametime, Hull played through a back injury on Tuesday evening. It wasn’t obvious that she was grinding through discomfort, however, as Hull connected on five 3-pointers – that ties a Fever franchise playoff record from 2015.

The Fever had a cold night in the Vegas desert as they shot just 41 percent from the field, including 35 percent from 3-point range. The Las Vegas defense stifled any offensive juice left over from Indiana’s rout of the Aces on Sunday.

“We were passive,” White said after the loss. “I thought we didn’t do a good job of attacking the rim. We were on our heels. We were settling for jumpers. We were holding the ball. We didn’t have clock awareness. I mean, a lot of things that are a little bit uncharacteristic of us, but you got to give them credit. They came out and they put us on our heels.”

Indiana’s defensive performance didn’t carry over either – the Fever allowed the Aces to shoot 53.8 percent from the floor on Tuesday after holding them to just 40.8 percent shooting in Game 1.

The Fever knew what the Aces were capable of on the court – Las Vegas won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023. Sustaining a punch like the one thrown on Tuesday was always a risk, but Indiana’s own miscues created opportunities for a championship team to show just that.

A smattering of turnovers by the Fever was the key shift from Sunday to Tuesday. They committed 22 turnovers in Game 2, awarding the Aces 28 points off those turnovers. Las Vegas scored 20 or more points in all four quarters while the Fever’s highest scoring period reached just 18. The fight was there, but there were too many mistakes to overcome down the stretch.

The Fever squad will look to adjust from a tough Game 2 loss, flush the result, and regroup in Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday. The next two games in the semifinals series will be played in Indiana, and with a 1-1 series score, the Fever are in great position to siphon energy from a rowdy home crowd.

“You have to approach every game like a one game series,” White said ahead of Game 2. “…We have been very good about not looking behind us to anything that’s already happened, and not looking too far in front of us, and just being where our feet are standing in the moment.”

Indiana is set to return home, and after splitting the initial two contests in Las Vegas, the Fever find themselves at the starting line of a brand new series – this time with home court advantage.

The first team to two wins advances to the WNBA Finals, and the ball is in Indiana’s court.

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