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After a historic 2025 regular season, setting a new franchise record with 30 wins, the Atlanta Dream secured the third seed in the playoffs to match up against the sixth-seeded Indiana Fever.
The Fever are a very competitive team, despite having five players ruled out for the season with injuries, including superstar guard Caitlin Clark. The Dream undoubtedly went into the first-round series knowing that the Fever are capable of pulling off the upset, but they made sure to make the most of Game 1 at home.
On Sunday afternoon, the Dream pulled out a huge win, beating the Fever 80-68 in Game 1 to take a commanding 1-0 series lead.
The Atlanta Dream take Game 1 80-68 vs. the Indiana Fever 😤 pic.twitter.com/dYdSyyIbz4
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) September 14, 2025
This was Atlanta’s first playoff win since 2018, but the Fever did not make it easy for them. Indiana outscored Atlanta 41-36 in the first and third quarters combined, but the Dream got the job done in the other periods. The Dream won the second and fourth quarters by a combined 17 points, as they were even able to hold the Fever’s high-level offense to just 12 points in the second period.
Offensively, the Dream were led by Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard, who dropped 20 points apiece, while Naz Hillmon came up huge with 16 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks.
Allisha Gray and Naz Hillmon in the Dream’s Game 1 win vs. the Fever 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/SNqqwKKCWp
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) September 14, 2025
The Dream held the Fever to just 2-15 shooting from three-point range, which ultimately seemed like the difference-maker in Sunday’s Game 1 victory.
After the game, Naz Hillmon was asked what the Dream need to do to make sure they can close out the best-of-three series in Game 2 on Tuesday in Indiana.
“I think the biggest thing is our defense,” Hillmon said. “Our defense is what I truly feel fuels our offense. Indiana’s a great offensive team, and if you let them get hot or let them get going, it can turn into a really ugly game. You have to key on to their key players. Of course, they’re going to go to them with their backs against the wall a little bit… We have to make everything hard on the defensive end.”
Of course, the Dream did a great job on Sunday, holding the Fever to under 70 points for just the fifth time this season. Even though Kelsey Mitchell managed to drop 27 points on 9-18 shooting from the field, the Dream were able to shut down her supporting cast to pull out a much-needed win.
