WNBA semifinals 2025: How Indiana beat Las Vegas in Sport 1

Sunday began with Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson turning into the primary participant in league historical past to win 4 MVP awards. However hours later, on the Aces’ dwelling courtroom, the No. 6 seed Indiana Fever stole Sport 1 of their WNBA semifinal collection, beating the 2-seeded Aces 89-73 at Michelob Extremely Enviornment.

Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell scored 34 factors on 12-for-23 taking pictures within the win. She’s the primary Fever participant to attain 30 factors in a playoff sport since 2012.

Wilson completed with 16 factors, lacking her first six pictures from the sphere and ending 6-of-22 from the ground. After profitable 17 consecutive video games, the Aces have now misplaced two of their previous three (they misplaced Sport 2 of their first-round collection with Seattle).

This is how Indiana took a 1-0 lead within the collection, which resumes Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

How did Indiana steal Sport 1?

Indiana was the faster staff and performed with extra urgency from the opening tip. The aggressive play of the Fever backcourt, primarily Mitchell and Odyssey Sims, set a tone for which the Aces did not seem prepared. The boldness Indiana received from profitable two in a row in opposition to the Atlanta Dream within the first spherical traveled to Las Vegas.

The Aces had no reply for Mitchell, no matter who drew the defensive task. Her 34 factors have been a playoff profession excessive and got here on 12-of-23 taking pictures, producing the most effective playoff performances in Fever historical past. The Aces struggled staying in entrance of Mitchell early, which later opened loads of taking pictures house. Mitchell made 4 of 6 3-point makes an attempt. Sims offered almost as many issues for Las Vegas with 17 factors on 7-of-13 taking pictures.

With Wilson struggling from the ground and the Las Vegas guards unable to defend successfully, the Aces did not have sufficient solutions to beat Mitchell, Indiana’s offensive effectivity and 50% taking pictures. — Creme

How does Las Vegas reply in Tuesday’s Sport 2?

The Aces are going to should tighten their protection. After rating ninth within the WNBA in defensive ranking throughout a 14-14 begin, Las Vegas improved to rank second throughout its profitable streak, permitting lower than a degree per possession. The Storm simply beat that mark to snap the streak in Sport 2 of the primary spherical, and the Fever’s 1.11 factors per possession have been probably the most the Aces have allowed since their 53-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Aug. 2.

Specifically, Indiana carved up Las Vegas within the paint, scoring 50 factors. The Aces solely allowed greater than that 5 instances all season.

The opposite apparent adjustment for Las Vegas is to get Wilson going. As within the first spherical in opposition to Atlanta, Indiana did a robust job of taking away 3-point alternatives for the Aces, who tried simply 17. The trade-off is single protection in opposition to Wilson within the submit, but the Fever held the MVP to 6-of-22 taking pictures, her most missed pictures ever in a playoff sport.

We noticed the Storm have related success defending Wilson 1-on-1 late in Sport 2. She responded with 38 factors on 14-of-26 taking pictures within the collection clincher. — Pelton

Historical past for Kelsey Mitchell at present: She scored probably the most factors by a WNBA participant of their first profession semifinal sport.

through ESPN Analysis pic.twitter.com/EWvv4XUpxJ

— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) September 21, 2025

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How does this transformation the collection?

The perfect-of-five format provides Las Vegas some margin for error. The Aces misplaced Sport 1 of the 2020 semifinals earlier than coming again to beat the Connecticut Solar in 5 video games, albeit in a collection performed solely on impartial courts at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

Las Vegas stays favored within the collection, however Sport 2 is now basically a must-win for the Aces. No staff has come again from a 2-0 gap to win a WNBA playoff collection, and solely one of many 19 groups in that scenario (the 2018 Phoenix Mercury, in opposition to Seattle within the semifinals) has even compelled a Sport 5. — Pelton

Throughout their 17-game profitable streak, the Aces solely beat three playoff groups on the street — Phoenix, Atlanta, Golden State — so shedding home-court benefit may matter. That dominance at Michelob Extremely is now gone, and Las Vegas is aware of it now should get a win in Indiana. In the meantime, the Fever’s win additionally dispels any notion that their two regular-season victories over Las Vegas weren’t significant as a result of the Aces had but to hit their stride. Indiana has now received three of the 4 matchups between the 2 groups. — Creme