WNBA playoffs winners and losers: Fever slow A’ja Wilson, stun Aces; Courtney Williams leads Lynx past Mercury

The 2025 WNBA playoffs resumed Sunday with the start of the semifinals. In the first game of the afternoon, the Indiana Fever continued their surprise run with an 89-73 win over the Las Vegas Aces, who had won 18 of their last 19 games. Later on, the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx used a dominant fourth quarter to defeat the Phoenix Mercury, 82-69. 

The Fever and Lynx are now ahead 1-0 in their respective five-game sets and need just two more wins to avance to the Finals. There’s still a long way to go in these seres, though, and it’s not time to start thinking about Finals matchups just yet. 

For now, let’s take a look at the best, and worst, from Sunday with Game 1 winners and losers. 

Mitchell has long flown under the radar, but has finally gotten the national recognition she deserves this season. Hours after she finished fifth in MVP voting, which likely foretells the first All-WNBA First Team appearance of her career, Mitchell once again put the Fever on her back to deliver yet another upset win in this postseason. 

It took Mitchell a few minutes to get going on Sunday, but in the middle of the first quarter she went on a quick five-point burst and never looked back. The Aces, who looked a step slow on defense all day long, could not cope with Mitchell’s quickness and shot-making. 

Mitchell finished with 34 points to set a new playoff career-high and register the second-highest individual scoring game in Fever postseason history. The last time that a Fever player scored 30 points in the playoffs was Shavonte Zellous in the 2012 Finals. 

Highest-scoring games in Fever postseason history

Shavonte Zellous

2012

41

Kelsey Mitchell

2025

34

Anna DeForge

2007

31

Tamika Catchings

2007

30

Katie Douglas

2009

30

Shavontte Zellous

2012

30

Mitchell is now averaging 26 points per game in the playoffs — tied with A’ja Wilson for the most by any player this postseason — on absurd 48.6/50.0/96.0 shooting splits. No one expected the Fever to still be playing, but if Mitchell keeps performing like this, they won’t be going home any time soon.  

Winner and Loser: A’ja Wilson

Early on Sunday, Wilson added a record fourth MVP award to her ever-growing trophy cabinet and joined Cynthia Cooper-Dyke as the only players in league history to win back-to-back MVPs. Wilson, who was officially presented the trophy at mid-court prior to the game, now has four MVPs, three Defensive Player of the Year awards, a Rookie of the Year trophy, two titles, a Finals MVP, seven All-Star appearances, five All-WNBA honors (soon to be six) and four All-Defensive honors (soon to be five). 

In Game 1 against the Fever, Wilson looked nothing like arguably the best player in WNBA history. 

She missed her first six shots and never got it going offensively against Aliyah Boston and a determined Fever defense. Wilson finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds, but shot 6 of 22 (27.3%) from the field. Boston and company did a great job keeping Wilson away from the rim — just eight of her 22 attempts were in the restricted area — and forcing her into awkward, off-balance looks. 

Wilson’s 16 missed shots were the most she’s ever had in a playoff game. Furthermore, this was just the third time in Wilson’s career — regular season or postseason — that she took at least 20 attempts in a game and shot worse than 30%. 

The Aces simply cannot afford a game like that from Wilson, who accounted for 25.5% of their total points during the regular season and 34% of their points in the first round against the Seattle Storm. In order for the Aces to get back in this series in Game 2, they’ll need Wilson to play at an MVP level.  

Williams, one-half of the StudBudz, has become a sensation this season, and everyone tuning in to the Lynx’s Game 1 against the Mercury got to see why she is not only a beloved personality, but one of the most dynamic guards in the league. 

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Lynx and Mercury were all square at 59-59. It seemed as though we were in for another fantastic finish in these 2025 playoffs, but Williams had other ideas. She was electric in the final frame to help the Lynx outscore the Mercury 23-10 en route a series-opening win. 

Williams had a couple of huge buckets in the middle of the frame to create some separation, then scored or assisted on the Lynx’s final nine points as they pulled away. She had six points, four rebounds and four assists in the fourth quarter alone. 

For the game, Williams put up 23 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals to become the fifth player in WNBA postseason history with a 20-point, five-rebound, five-assist, five-steal effort. 

20/5/5/5 games in WNBA postseason history

Loser: The Mercury’s second-half offense

The Mercury largely controlled the first half of Game 1 against the Lynx thanks to a brilliant offensive display. They got inside at will — they had more points in the paint (42) than the Lynx had in total (40) — shot 56.4% from the field and assisted on 13 of their 22 baskets. Six different players scored as they went up by as many as nine. 

When the Mercury are operating like they were in the first half, they look borderline unstoppable. All season long, however, they’ve struggled to maintain the right approach. Too often, they go into lulls where their shot selection deteriorates and the offense falls apart. While the Mercury were able to get away with those stretches against the New York Liberty in the first round, it’s clear from Game 1 that they will not be able to against the Lynx. 

In the second half, the Mercury stopped insisting their way to the basket and began settling for pull-up jumpers and step-back 3-pointers. The Lynx deserve a ton of credit for raising their intensity on the defensive end, but the Mercury were far too willing to play into their hands. 

Compare the Mercury’s first-half shot chart (top) to their second-half shot chart (bottom). 

Notably, the Mercury had more makes in the paint in the first half (21) than attempts in paint in the second half (14). 

In the second half, the Mercury managed only 22 points — fewer than they had in either quarter in the first half — and shot 9 of 36 (25%) from the field, including 2 of 15 (13.3%) from 3-point range. Kahleah Copper and Sami Whitcomb were the only players on the team to score more than two points after the break, and Copper needed 16 shots to do so. 

Long-time WNBA fans may remember Maria Kliundikova (née Vadeeva) as a promising young big for the Los Angeles Sparks from 2018-19. The former first-round pick returned to Russia after the 2019 season, however, and did not return to the WNBA until this year. 

Kliundikova joined the Sparks for training camp, but was a surprise cut and did not make their final roster. That was a blessing for the Lynx, who signed her a few weeks later to boost their frontcourt depth. While Kliundikova didn’t play heavy minutes during the regular season, she almost always delivered when called upon. The Lynx had a plus-9.1 net rating when she was on the floor. 

During the first round of the playoffs, Kliundikova played just four minutes of the Lynx’s two-game sweep of the Golden State Valkyries. It looked like she would receive another “DNP — Coach’s Decision” on Sunday until Cheryl Reeve decided to give her a chance in the final minute in the third quarter. 

Kliundikova was ready and helped change the game. She played nearly the entire fourth quarter and was vital on both ends as the Lynx outscored the Mercury by 13 points in the final frame. In her eight minutes of action, Kliundikova had four points, four rebounds and two steals. In fitting fashion, the Lynx were plus-14 when she was on the court. 

After her strong showing in the fourth quarter, don’t be surprised if Reeve goes to Kliundikova earlier in Game 2 to help combat the Mercury’s physicality in the paint.