Indiana Fever stave off the Las Vegas Aces to force Game 5, as Phoenix Mercury defy odds to clinch WNBA Finals berth
By Frank Nunns O’Connell, CNN
(CNN) — Behind the imperious trio of Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and Odyssey Sims, the Indiana Fever fought off the Las Vegas Aces 90-83 to force their WNBA semifinal series to a win-or-go-home Game 5 in Sin City on Tuesday night.
The number six seed Fever – who are playing without superstar point guard Caitlin Clark due to injury – tied up the best-of-five semifinal series after losing back-to-back in Games 2 and 3 versus the two-time WNBA champion Aces.
Indiana had a slim lead late in the game when Mitchell – who finished with 25 points on the night – hit a pull-up floater that put the Fever up 82-75 with 1:01 remaining. WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson responded with a strong layup to cut the lead back to five but crucially missed the and-1 free throw.
The Aces were given a lifeline when Fever guard Lexie Hull caught the rebound and was fouled, but missed both free throws. However, Las Vegas guard Jewell Loyd missed a triple with 39 seconds left that would have brought the visitors to within two.
Hull didn’t squander the next opportunity at the line when she was fouled after grabbing the rebound off Loyd’s shot, however, sinking two free throws to put the Fever up 84-77 with 36.6 remaining.
Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon then nailed her own team’s coffin after she called for a timeout that the Aces didn’t have with 30.1 left, resulting in a technical foul and loss of possession. Mitchell knocked down the resulting free throw to extend Indiana’s lead to eight.
The Fever closed out the game from the line with Sims – who had 18 points – and Mitchell combining to hit five of six in the final seconds to neutralize Aces star Chelsea Gray’s back-to-back three pointers.
Indiana’s All-Star center Boston poured in a career playoff-high 24 points – 17 coming in the second half. The 23-year-old stuffed the stat sheet, also racking up 14 rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks.
“‘We over me,’” she told reporters post-game. “That has been our identity the entire season. We all we got, we all we need. And we’ve stuck with it. I think the beauty of this squad, whether you’re hurt or whether you’re not, everything you do is for the betterment of this team, for every win.”
The team-first mentality has been evident in the playoffs, with role players having to step up in the wake of injuries to key players. In addition to Clark, Sophie Cunningham, Sydney Colson, Chloe Bibby and Aari McDonald have all been unavailable.
After the game, the Aces squad protested the foul situation.
“I was just looking at the fouls,” Wilson said, when asked what she was studying in the box score post-game. “(NaLyssa Smith) had five, Jackie (Young) had five, Chelsea (Gray) had five. That’s very interesting to me because, I’m not saying we don’t foul – yeah, we foul here and there – but that’s very interesting. We’ll do better, we gotta play better defense.”
Head coach Hammon interjected to say, “By interesting, you mean, ‘That’s sh*t.’” When Wilson said she wouldn’t say that because she has a brand to protect, Hammon doubled down: “I’ll say it, I have no brand.”
According to CBS Sports, across the first four games of the Las Vegas-Indiana series, the Aces have been called for 80 fouls and shot 61 free throws, while the Fever have been called for 69 fouls and shot 87 free throws.
The majority of the difference came from Game 4, however, as the Fever shot 34 free throws – compared to the Aces’ 11. The series in general, however, has been relatively even in foul calls and free throws apart from Sunday’s contest.
Mercury clinch Finals berth
The winner of Tuesday’s hotly anticipated Game 5 will face the Phoenix Mercury, who clinched a surprise WNBA Finals berth in an 86-81 win over the Minnesota Lynx Sunday night.
38-year-old Mercury guard DeWanna Bonner came up clutch, scoring 11 of her 13 points in the fourth – including three from deep – to overcome a 68-55 deficit at the beginning of the final quarter. The comeback gave the three-time WNBA champion Mercury their first Finals berth since 2021, when Phoenix fell to the Chicago Sky.
The Mercury opened the fourth quarter on a 19-2 run, with Bonner’s second three-pointer giving them a 72-70 lead with 3:39 remaining.
Minnesota’s Kayla McBride traded threes with Bonner late in the game as the Mercury maintained a 77-73 lead. With 1:04 remaining, McBride drained her sixth from beyond the arc to make it 77-76 to Phoenix, but Bonner responded with two three throws to extend the lead to three with 42 seconds remaining.
The Mercury then held off the Lynx from the line despite a three-pointer with 5.2 seconds remaining from Natasha Hiedeman, booking their ticket to the Finals.
Satou Sabally pitched in 21 points to help Phoenix – who become the first team in WNBA history to make two Finals in a five-year span without any of the same players on the two squads – on the night, but it was Thomas who led the way for the Mercury with 23 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds as she came close to her second playoff triple-double.
“We knew they were going to challenge us today and I’m just proud of how we responded,” Thomas said, according to the Associated Press. “We could have easily given up and be headed to Minnesota right now. But we stuck together and dug deep on defense.”
“Got to give Phoenix credit for the way they defended in the fourth quarters,” Lynx associate head coach Eric Thibault said. “They switched and made it hard on us. We didn’t get enough quality shots down the stretch.”
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