Fever in the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and ready for the challenge from Sun
WASHINGTON, DC — Starting Friday, the Indiana Fever will take over a Connecticut casino for nearly a week.
The Sun officially clinched third place with a win over the Chicago Sky on Thursday, and the Fever were ready to travel, traveling directly from Washington, D.C., the site of their final regular season game against the Mystics, to Uncasville, Connecticut, the home of the Sun.
It had been planned for almost a week that Fever and Sun would face each other in the first round, but it only became official at almost the last second on Thursday evening.
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Now things have come full circle: The Fever will play away at Mohegan Sun Arena against the Sun in a best-of-three series. Indiana also started its season in Connecticut, in the first game of the Caitlin Clark era for the Fever.
Connecticut will host the first two games — and if they win both games, they’ll have a chance to pull out the win at home. If Indiana manages to win either game in Connecticut, the series will return to Indianapolis for a series-deciding third game.
The first game starts on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. (ABC), the second on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN).
“It’s going to be tough,” Fever defenseman Kelsey Mitchell told IndyStar. “Their experienced leadership, they’re All-Stars, Olympians, it’s a really great group to go up against. And I think we’ve got to do our best. Hopefully we’re prepared for it, but we’re going to be battle-tested.”
This Connecticut Sun team, which consists largely of the same core, was in the WNBA Finals two years ago. In the same 2022 season, the Fever won five games.
Now the Fever have improved significantly, receiving two number one picks in a row and have improved a lot, but they still lack playoff experience.
“I don’t have a single starter that’s ever played in a playoff game,” coach Christie Sides said. “I’ve got four in the locker room that have played some minutes and been in the playoffs, but we’re trying to figure out what (the starters) need. We’re just trying to figure out what they need so they can be ready on Sunday.”
Mitchell is the most experienced starter, but this is the seven-year veteran’s first time in the playoffs. Both NaLyssa Smith and Lexie Hull are in their third year with the team (they joined during the five-win season), Aliyah Boston is in her second year and Clark is the record-breaking rookie.
On the other hand, Connecticut has Alyssa Thomas, the 2023 MVP runner-up who led the Sun to the finals in 2022. Thomas also won a gold medal with Team USA at the Paris Olympics. The Sun also have DeWanna Bonner, who won a championship in Phoenix in 2014 and was with Connecticut in 2022. Brionna Jones and DiJonai Carrington both came off the bench during that run and have now made it into the starting lineup as defensive powerhouses.
Indiana is 1-3 against the Sun this season, with two of those losses coming by double digits at Mohegan Sun Arena. Their last meeting, however, was a Fever win in August following the Olympic break. It was a sign of a growing Fever team that worked well together after a lot of collaboration during the four-week break.
Still, the Sun are a formidable opponent, but no matter who the Fever faced in the first round of the playoffs, they knew it would be a challenge.
And they are prepared for it.
“I think it’s going to be good for us,” Smith said. “Obviously it’s going to be a challenge, but it’s not a challenge we haven’t experienced before. And I think we’re ready.”
Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67.
