Fever finish 16-game dropping streak to Aces with runaway win, Kelsey Mitchell’s surge continues

[ad_1] There was no Commissioner's Cup championship hangover for the Indiana Fever.

Thursday was the afterparty.

The Fever ended a 16-game dropping streak to the Las Vegas Aces that began again within the 2020 season and was the second-longest skid any staff has had in opposition to one other opponent in WNBA historical past. Indiana exorcised these sequence demons convincingly, staking themselves to a 22-point halftime lead earlier than rolling to an 81-54 victory.

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Indiana celebrity Caitlin Clark missed her fourth recreation in a row with a groin harm. However head coach Stephanie White's staff continued to carry its personal in Clark's newest absence.

The Fever (9-8) are actually 3-1 in these 4 video games, though their Commissioner's Cup championship victory over the Minnesota Lynx did not depend towards the league standings.

Even earlier than Clark exited the lineup once more, fellow guard Kelsey Mitchell was surging. She continued her sizzling streak in opposition to the Aces (8-9), amassing at the least 20 factors for the fifth time within the final six video games.

Out of the gates, Indiana's offense appeared like poetry in movement. Defensively, it felt just like the Fever had a sixth defender on the ground.

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The Fever placed on a ball-screen clinic within the first half whereas holding the Aces to 25.8% taking pictures on the opposite finish.

The Aces stalled right into a bunch of one-action offense, relying closely on the elite shotmaking of three-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson. She delivered 17 of Vegas' 24 first-half factors. Wilson shot 6 of 13, and the remainder of her staff shot 2 of 18 over the opening two quarters.

In the meantime, the Fever have been shifting the ball at will and getting just about every part they needed within the paint, the place they scored 28 of their 46 first-half factors.

Through the second quarter, White deployed a two-point-guard lineup that was particularly efficient. Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson greased the wheels, and Mitchell, heart Aliyah Boston and ahead Natasha Howard lit up the field rating with 12, 14 and 10 factors, respectively, earlier than intermission.

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The Aces punched again to start out the third quarter with a 6-0 run, partly due to a change in defensive technique. Head coach Becky Hammon opted for zone to fight Indiana's ball-screen offense.

Mitchell was the primary Fever participant to make a subject purpose within the second half. She dropped in a reverse layup on the 6:58 mark of the third quarter.

Wilson reduce Indiana's result in 13 earlier than Lexie Hull and Mitchell drained back-to-back 3s to present the Fever some extra respiration room once more.

Even with a big lead, Indiana did not take its foot off the fuel. Late within the third quarter, Sophie Cunningham stepped in entrance of an Aces cross within the backcourt and cashed in with a layup that precipitated a annoyed Hammon to name a timeout.

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Wilson's relentless scoring was the silver lining of an in any other case sloppy Aces recreation. She clocked out with 29 factors on 9-of-18 taking pictures.

Mitchell led the Fever with 25 factors in 29 minutes. She additionally logged six assists.

"I believe, for us, it was about ensuring we defend for the entire recreation, and I believe that is what you guys noticed to get us the factors that we acquired," Mitchell stated in a postgame interview, by way of Prime.

The Aces' 26.2% subject purpose proportion was the bottom a Fever opponent has shot in 15 years.

Indiana is now over .500 for the primary time since June 17.

Vegas, then again, is hovering under that mark. The Aces' 9 losses are 4 fewer than that they had all final season, and three greater than that they had in 2023 throughout their second-straight WNBA championship marketing campaign.

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Vegas is not taking part in to its typical customary, however that did not take away from the magnitude of the Fever's win Thursday.

"I believe there's a number of resilience, a number of perseverance inside our group," Mitchell stated. "We're all selfless. All of us need for one another, and so, for us, that is what's essential. We will not get too excessive, cannot get too low. We acquired to remain proper within the center."