Indiana Fever and Las Vegas Aces are one win away from advancing to the WNBA Playoff Finals after Stephanie White’s team took Game 4 by a score of 90-83 on Sunday.
Riding the momentum and support of their home crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indiana refused to be beaten and forced a fifth game. However, the coach was not convinced.
Stephanie White’s harsh words
The Fever knew that a loss meant saying goodbye to their dream of continuing to fight for the championship, so they took the court thinking it was an all-or-nothing game. They withstood 31 points from MVP A’ja Wilson and 18 from Jackie Young thanks to three key players.
Aliyah Boston, meanwhile, played 34 minutes and added 24 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 assists, becoming the youngest player to score at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists in a playoff game at 23 years and 291 days. Kelsey Mitchell led the team with 25 points, the Fever’s high, and Odyssey Sims also shone, contributing 18.
Highlighting the team’s resilience in the face of injuries and the work its players did to adjust to the absences, White also admitted that they will continue to work to improve their performance and have a chance to advance to the Finals. Despite Indiana’s performance, their coach is not satisfied with this result ahead of a fifth game:
“What we did today is not going to be enough for Tuesday,” White told reporters after the victory.
Aliyah agreed with her coach in a subsequent interview with ESPN, stating that near the end of the game, the Fever’s execution was sloppy: “We can’t really have that, especially against a team that has experience winning championships,” Boston said.
However, White also highlighted the aggressiveness and the way they were able to anticipate and react in the best way to the Aces’ play. Now, they must prepare to return to Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas on Tuesday, the 30th, for a decisive game.
The winner of Game 5 will advance to the Finals to face the Phoenix Mercury, who defeated the Minnesota Lynx 86-81 on Sunday without Napheesa Collier or their coach, Cheryl Reeve.
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