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The No. 6-seed Indiana Fever will host the No. 3-seed Atlanta Dream this Tuesday, Sept. 16, in the second game of their first-round WNBA playoff series. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.
The Fever find themselves with their backs against the wall after a disappointing showing on Sunday. They jumped out to an early lead in Atlanta but were unable to maintain it, shooting just 34.9 percent from the field in an 80-68 loss.
Indiana head coach Stephanie White pointed to her team’s inability to push through foul trouble and meet Atlanta’s level of physicality as reasons for the loss, and though the Fever committed five fewer fouls than the Dream and shot eight more free throws, their offense as a whole looked stagnant. Kelsey Mitchell led all scorers with 27 points, but she didn’t get much help; Odyssey Sims was the only other Fever player to reach double-figure scoring (10 points), and they made just two 3-pointers (2-for-15) as a team.
The Dream didn’t play their best basketball, either, but it was more than enough to overcome the sluggish Fever. Led by its wing tandem of Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard (20 points apiece), Atlanta narrowly won the battle on the boards and in the paint, and despite not shooting particularly well from the floor, the Dream’s 3-point output (7-for-22) was acceptable compared to their opponent’s.
The series now shifts to Indianapolis, where the Fever will have to defend their home court if they’re going to force a third game. During the regular season, they played significantly better at home, scoring nearly 10 points per possession more (111.1) than they did on the road (101.4); immediately after Game 1, White stressed the importance of being aggressive on offense, which has been one of the Fever’s trademarks in 2025.
“We’ve got to really hone in consistently for 40 minutes and get that ball moving side to side,” White said. “Then we’ve got to take our open shots. Whether we’re making shots or missing shots, we’ve got to take them. We can’t get hesitant.”
The Dream, too, will be looking to build upon their effort in Game 1. Atlanta head coach Karl Smesko discussed the importance of not getting complacent, explaining:
This is a nice win, but you go into the next game and the only thing that carries over is the win. That’s good, but you got to go do it all again and win another one just to advance. So the big thing for us is understanding that the job is not done in this series, and there are things that we can do better.
As the series leaders, the Dream have the luxury of keeping their gameplan consistent. The Fever, on the other hand, might need to make some adjustments, starting with the offensive involvement of their starting frontcourt. Aliyah Boston and Natasha Howard combined to average 26.4 points per game during the regular season, but scored 13 in Game 1, making just five shots between them. The pair will also be responsible for setting the tone physically and backing up White’s comments about needing to be tougher.
The Fever may be down, but they’re not out—yet. We’ll see if they can bring the intensity and offensive execution necessary to even the series and send it back to Atlanta.
