Indiana Fever shock Atlanta Dream to advance to WNBA semifinals: Game 3 highlights<\/a><\/p>\nHere are the winners and losers from Thursday’s first-round games:<\/p>\n
WinnersDown but never out Indiana Fever<\/p>\n
The Indiana Fever are a gritty, resilient group of players who do not quit. They walked into Atlanta with everything on the line and walked out with a stunning two-point win, 87-85. They did not lead until the final seven seconds of the game. Aliyah Boston made the go-ahead basket and Lexie Hull slammed the door shut with a back-breaking steal in the closing seconds. They move on to the semifinals after winning their first playoff series in a decade.<\/p>\n
Las Vegas Aces MVP candidate A\u2019ja Wilson<\/p>\n
A\u2019ja Wilson is the best player on the planet.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t a commentary on the MVP race. Whether Wilson wins her fourth MVP award or not, there\u2019s still no one better. Just look at the game she had against the Seattle Storm to lift the Las Vegas Aces to the WNBA semifinals for a seventh consecutive season.<\/p>\n
Wilson matched her career playoff high with 38 points. She had 11 in the fourth quarter alone as the Aces survived a furious rally from the Storm.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonight it didn\u2019t matter who guarded her. She was on a heater,\u201d Aces coach Becky Hammon said.<\/p>\n
But what sets Wilson apart is that she doesn\u2019t need to be shooting to hurt you. She had five rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks while committing one turnover.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point, A\u2019ja just took over the game,\u201d Hammon said.<\/p>\n
Caitlin Clark’s black Air Force 1s<\/p>\n
Caitlin Clark may not have been able to play in Game 2, but she clearly tried to influence her teammates with her shoe game. Clark, who is out with a right groin injury, wore black Nike Air Force 1 sneakers. The shoes exude toughness.<\/p>\n
“I fear you mean business,” Aliyah Boston joked before Game 2. “Black Forces?! Them (refs) better watch out.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ever a superstitious type, after the Fever won Game 2, Clark wore same outfit and Air Force 1s for Game 3. After the Fever upset the Dream, they celebrated the shoes on the court.<\/p>\n
Stephanie White’s chess move<\/p>\n
Down five, White subbed in veteran Shey Peddy around the six-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Peddy immediately came in and sank a massive 3-point shot to pull the Fever within two. Peddy immediately changed the energy in the game, and moments later, she caused a deflection. It was a small moment, but huge in the grand scheme of the Fever’s comeback that helped extend their season.<\/p>\n
Pace, pace, pace<\/p>\n
It would be amazing if we knew just how much ground (in feet) players at this game covered. Everyone was flying up and down the court at Gateway Center Arena from opening tip to the end. There were five lead changes in the first quarter alone. It was a very visible difference in the first two games. Atlanta dictated the pace early, but Indiana answered right back, and the teams just traded basket after basket. It was gorgeous basketball.<\/p>\n
Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young<\/p>\n
Jackie Young made A\u2019ja Wilson look good.<\/p>\n
A few days ago, Wilson was talking Young up, saying the Aces don\u2019t win without her. Now Las Vegas is moving on to the WNBA semifinals because of Young.<\/p>\n
Young saw that Wilson\u2019s layup attempt with just under 25 seconds left was a little off target. She knew the ball was either going to bounce in or fall to the right, and she positioned herself perfectly to snatch the ball when it came off the rim.<\/p>\n
Young caught and shot in one motion, and the bucket put Las Vegas up 74-73 with 12 seconds left.<\/p>\n
Young finished with 14 points, second to Wilson, two rebounds, one assist and four steals.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer work ethic, the way she approaches the game — you want someone like that in the locker room,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cLet\u2019s not forget who Jackie Young is and why we drafted her and how she\u2019s evolved into this perfect two-way player.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t do anything without Jackie Young, and it\u2019s going to continue to be that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
WNBA fans<\/p>\n
The rest of the WNBA playoffs has a lot to live up to.<\/p>\n
The first round of any playoffs can be a crapshoot, the gaps between seeds creating the potential for blowouts. But with few exceptions, the first round this year has been tremendous.<\/p>\n
Consider that:<\/p>\n
Three of the four series went all three games, and the Minnesota Lynx had to dig themselves out of a hole to beat the Golden State Valkyries in two.The three deciding games so far \u2013 the New York Liberty are at the Phoenix Mercury on Friday night to close out the first round \u2013 were won by a combined four points.The Indiana Fever stunned the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night to advance to the semifinals.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been wild, it\u2019s been chaotic, it\u2019s been stressful. Most of all, it\u2019s been a whole lot of fun.<\/p>\n
More of this, please.<\/p>\n
LosersAlso WNBA fans<\/p>\n
The only complaint with this fantastic first round is that it isn\u2019t long enough.<\/p>\n
The WNBA has outgrown the best-of-three format for the quarterfinals. The closely contested games and impressive individual performances (we see you, Napheesa Collier and A\u2019ja Wilson) are all the argument you need for the league going to a best-of-five format.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you go best-of-five if you\u2019re not going back to the old format,\u201d Aces coach Becky Hammon said, referring to the lower seed hosting the first two games in previous years. \u201cThis setup, I prefer a five-game series.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wouldn\u2019t we all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nneka Ogwumike’s cold shooting<\/p>\n
This was a most inopportune time for Nneka Ogwumike to have a poor shooting night.<\/p>\n
The Seattle Storm veteran matched Erica Wheeler with a team-high 16 points. But Ogwumike was just 4 of 13 from the floor against the Aces. She missed her first six shots and didn\u2019t have her first field goal until midway through the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Even with Ogwumike\u2019s cold hands, Seattle was in it until the very end. The Storm had the lead twice in the last 93 seconds, and Erica Wheeler\u2019s last-second shot bounced off the rim.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But imagine if Ogwumike had made even half the shots she missed. It would be Seattle moving on, not Las Vegas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Atlanta Dream’s foul trouble<\/p>\n
Because of their aggression on both sides of the ball, Atlanta found itself in foul trouble quickly. Three players in the starting lineup — guard Allisha Gray and forwards Naz Hillmon and Bri Jones — had two fouls each before the end of the first quarter. Gray had three just before the half. What’s more, there were six players with at least one foul by halftime for a total of 11 personal fouls, and Indiana had 16 attempts at the line as they headed to the locker room. The Fever finished with 24 free throw attempts to the Dream’s 11.<\/p>\n
Atlanta’s offense in the second half<\/p>\n
After scoring 56 in the first half, the Dream only scored 29 points in the second half, including just 12 in the fourth quarter. The ball movement got very stagnant. Atlanta also had 14 turnovers (which produced 15 Indiana points) due to the Fever’s defensive pressure and shot an ugly 33 percent in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Two double-doubles aren’t enough<\/p>\n
Atlanta’s backcourt was fantastic but it wasn’t enough to get the Dream to the next round. Allisha Gray put up 19 points and 12 rebounds. Jordin Canada added her own double-double with 18 points and 10 assists. That’s one of the best performances the Dream’s backcourt has put together all season, and if not for the two of them, the Dream’s night might have been much harder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WNBA award voting ballot USA TODAY’s Meghan Hall shares who she voted for in the 2025 WNBA awards…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[8446,4662,10228,26679,4655,75997,4643,505,732,461,3333,49,7075,735,48,7076,8522,6003,6279,63448,5904,2803,79200,24809,26677,4650,1458,3460,7079,8521,8456,2598,736,26678,5268,3457,44,1333,1345,29169,8455,3461,36547,1334,29172,7675,1611,29168,82,865,1440,1459,8447,630,26214,4134,4143,5841],"class_list":["post-157556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-aja","tag-aja-wilson","tag-aces","tag-aliyah","tag-aliyah-boston","tag-allisha","tag-allisha-gray","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-dream","tag-basketball","tag-boston","tag-ca","tag-caitlin","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-canada","tag-clark","tag-dream","tag-fever","tag-ga","tag-gray","tag-indiana","tag-indiana-fever","tag-jordin","tag-jordin-canada","tag-kelsey","tag-kelsey-mitchell","tag-las","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-liberty","tag-lynx","tag-mercury","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-lynx","tag-mitchell","tag-new","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-news","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-override","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-playoffs","tag-positive","tag-positive-sentiment-override","tag-seattle","tag-seattle-storm","tag-sentiment","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-storm","tag-vegas","tag-wilson","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-playoffs","tag-womens","tag-womens-sports","tag-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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