But the Fever won their first-round series on the road, and have pushed four-time MVP A'ja Wilson and the Aces to a Game 5 tonight. The obvious question is how, and while part of that answer can be credited to Kelsey Mitchell becoming James Harden, the Fever's successful run has as much to do with their physical brand of hoops.
Alyssa Thomas had the first 20-point triple-double in WNBA postseason history, and the Phoenix Mercury advanced to the second round of the WNBA playoffs by eliminating the defending champion New York Liberty 79-73 in Game 3 on Friday night. Satou Sabally added 23 points and 12 rebounds for the fourth-seeded Mercury, who play at top-seeded Minnesota on Sunday to start the best-of-five semifinal round. Thomas, who had 11 rebounds and 11 assists, has five of the seven WNBA playoff triple-doubles.
Kelsey Mitchell was drafted to the Indiana Fever in 2018. She left Ohio State as the Big Ten conference's all-time leading scorer and the NCAA leader in career made threes, records that stood until a certain future teammate showed up. In the WNBA, Mitchell's scoring numbers hovered in the same place year after year, to little attention, the points usually in vain. The Fever's longest-tenured player might be a veteran, but the wisdom doesn't come from lots of big-game experience.
It clanged off the back of the rim. A few minutes later, she let her second shot, another 3-pointer, fly. Miss. In a span of 1 minute and 50 seconds to close the first half, Sabally had a 3-pointer blocked, missed a layup, had a layup blocked and missed a 3-pointer. Halftime didn't help. Sabally missed all nine of her shots across the second half and overtime.
The longest regular season in WNBA history has finally arrived at its last day, and there's plenty at stake heading into Thursday's finales. Eight teams -- the Atlanta Dream, Golden State Valkyries, Indiana Fever, Las Vegas Aces, Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury and Seattle Storm -- open the 2025 WNBA playoffs Sunday, but through Wednesday's games, the seeds are set for fewer than half of the teams and only one of four first-round series matchups is determined.
