Fever step up in clutch time to take down Mercury for road win: Likes and Dislikes
The Fever battled back from two big deficits to win.
A LAS VEGAS HOTEL ROOM – The Indiana Fever and Phoenix Mercury met on Thursday night, their first battle since the June 24 outing in which Caitlin Clark took a fist to the throat from Alyssa Thomas.
Clark has since addressed the moment, as did Fever head coach Stephanie White. And Clark was out for this game. But it was still a notable meeting after what happened just over two weeks ago.
It was also the first back-to-back for the Fever this season – they lost in Los Angeles on Wednesday night. Likes and Dislikes from Fever vs Mercury.
Tony East
LIKE: Early three-point shooting
Turns out, things look good when shots go in. And that was the case for the Fever early.
On one end, the Mercury kept tossing passes out of bounds. On the other, the Fever were drilling threes. Ty Harris hit two – she's been warm for a few weeks now. Kelsey Mitchell hit one, as did Lexie Hull.
Just over four minutes into the game, the Fever were 4/7 from deep and moving the ball well to generate those shots. It was a nice stretch from the starters, and Harris alone (six) had more points than the Mercury (five) at the game's first stoppage... and after said stoppage, Aliyah Boston drilled an outside shot.
LIKE: The stars, as usual, to start things off
Mitchell did Mitchell things in the first quarter, including missing a wide-open layup before drilling multiple challenging jumpers in a row.
That's what Mitchell does. Her confidence is never shaken, and she can knock down difficult shots. In the first quarter, she was a tough cover for the Mercury.
So was Boston, who was back from injury. She hit two outside shots and was critical to the Fever's defensive success. The Fever won her first quarter minutes, then lost the short stretch during which she sat on the bench.
After 10 minutes, the Fever were ahead 28-24. Mitchell and Boston had 19 of those points.
LIKE: Offensive execution against different schemes
Three likes in a row is too many in a two-possession game, but the Fever deserved it for their start to the second quarter. Even with Mitchell on the bench, they were finding offensive success thanks to strong execution.
And they were doing it against different looks. Phoenix started the quarter in a zone – the Fever attacked the middle. Phoenix went back to man and tried doubling Boston – the Fever spaced out and moved the ball.
Indiana was responding well to their opponent's changes and went small around Boston. It was a smart tactical stretch.
DISLIKE: Containing Alyssa Thomas
Listen, the next team that figures out how to limit Thomas will be the first. She can do so many things on the court. But the Fever were doing themselves no favors.
They fell for Thomas' classic fake handoff,-then-drive sequence. They stood around while AT grabbed a rebound in the middle of four Fever jerseys, then put back a layup.
More force, and focus, was needed in that matchup. Thomas had six points, four assists, and three rebounds after 14 minutes of action.
DISLIKE: Defense to close the half
The Mercury scored 29 points in the second quarter. 12 of them came in the final 2:48 of the half. The Fever's defense was never excellent in the first half, but it was at its worst in the final minutes before the break.
And at said break, Phoenix was shooting 55.3% from the field and 57.1% from deep. Those are unusually hot numbers, but they were generating easy shots for much of the first two quarters. And at halftime, the Fever trailed 53-47 despite leading by 12 in the first quarter.
DISLIKE: Fouling
The Fever committed four fouls in two minutes to start the second half, which included multiple possessions during which they fouled twice on the same trip.
That put Phoenix in the bonus for eight-straight third quarter minutes. It was a particularly rough stretch of defense for the Fever in a game that featured a lot of bad defense.
LIKE: Big runs
The Fever were down 59-49 with 6:31 on the game clock in the third quarter. With 3:58 left in that same period, they were ahead by three.
It was a quick 13-0 run from the Fever, who did several things well. The Boston plus Makayla Timpson frontcourt was working well, and they were anchoring a zone defense on a few possessions. Raven Johnson and Sophie Cunningham were providing a spark on both ends.
On offense, Boston was controlling things in the paint. She attacked quickly in one-on-one matchups and passed instantly when a second defender came.
Connected play on both ends got the Fever back into the game. They needed it to sustain. And they held the lead for the rest of the quarter, but barely. It was 69-68 Fever heading into the fourth.
DISLIKE: Offensive woes to open the fourth quarter
The Fever made nine of their 14 shots in the third quarter as they climbed back into the lead. Their offense was imperfect, but better, during their comeback.
Then, the start of the fourth quarter arrived. In the first 2.5 minutes of the frame, the Fever went 0/3 from the field and had two turnovers. They didn't score as the Mercury re-claimed the lead.
Phoenix was up four when Indiana took a timeout with 7:21 left in the game. They needed an offensive spark. It didn't come. The Fever still couldn't score for the next 2.5 minutes.
Finally, with 4:53 on the clock in the final quarter, Cunningham hit a triple. It was the team's first points of the period, and Kelsey Mitchell followed it up with another three. Finally, some life, but they were down four with 4:22 to go.
LIKE: A confident response
The Fever couldn't hit a thing... until they could. After falling behind by 10 and not scoring for over five minutes, the Fever found a groove.
They scored 11 points in about 100 seconds, capped off by a deep three from Harris to give the Fever an 80-79 lead. That was with about three minutes to go, setting up an epic finish, made even more epic thanks to a tied scoreboard with 60 seconds to go.
LIKE: Ty Harris, in the clutch
The aforementioned three from Harris was a huge, huge shot. And she outdid herself twice in the ensuing minutes.
With the Fever down two inside the final 90 seconds, Harris attacked the cup and bounced in a tough layup. On the Fever's next possession, she patiently dribbled around multiple Timpson screens until she opened up just enough space for a mid-range shot.
Harris canned it. That put the Fever up 86-84 with less than one minute to go. Harris was huge late.
LIKE: Massive plays late
The Fever were down one inside the final 20 seconds and drew up a classic action – the Mitchell-Boston two-player game.
It generated a tough layup, but one that Mitchell can make. She did, and it gave the Fever the lead.
They never gave it back. The Fever held on defense on the other end, then Cunningham iced the game with two free throws. The Fever fell behind by 10+ multiple times but came back twice to get the win.
The final score was 92-89. The Fever have reached the halfway point of the season at 13-9.
Thank you for reading. I'm already in Las Vegas and will be at Fever vs Aces on Sunday, so sign up to have a story from that game sent directly to you.
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