The Indiana Fever have battled through adversity all season long, and their incredible campaign will last at least one more game after they held off the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday for a 90-83 win in Game 4 of their semifinal series. With Indiana's victory, the series is now all square at 2-2 and will return to Las Vegas for a winner-take-all Game 5 on Tuesday night.
The Fever could get nothing going on the offensive end in Games 2 and 3 -- both double-digit defeats -- but immediately reversed that trend with a big first quarter to take an early lead. Their 23 points in the opening 10 minutes were more than they scored in any single quarter in Games 2 and 3.
The Aces responded to go in front in the second quarter, but that turned out to be the high point of their afternoon. After Kelsey Mitchell hit a jumper to put the Fever in front with 2:59 to play in the second, the home team never trailed again. The rest of the contest was certainly not easy for the Fever, however. They spent all but a few seconds of the second half clinging to a single-digit lead.
Mitchell, who struggled in Games 2 and 3, delivered again on Sunday with 25 points and four assists, but the star of the show for the Fever was Aliyah Boston. The third-year center delivered the finest playoff performance of her young career with 24 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks. The Fever also got 18 huge points from Odyssey Sims, who has been up-and-down throughout the postseason.
A'ja Wilson bounced back from a rough Game 3 with a stellar outing: 31 points, nine rebounds, three assists, four steals and three blocks. Jackie Young added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Aces, but the rest of the team offered little help to that dynamic duo. The six other Aces combined to shoot 13 of 33 from the field.
Boston delivers most important performance of her career
On the Fever's first possesison of the game, Aliyah Boston got Kierstan Bell on a switch, backed her into the paint and turned for a jump hook that nestled into the net. Down on the other end, she deflected a pass from A'ja Wilson, recovered the loose ball and threw a perfect outlet pass to Odyssey Sims for an easy layup.
Thus began the most important performance of Boston's career.
The third-year center finished with a playoff career-high 24 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks in a must-win situation to ensure that the Fever's season continued. The Fever won Boston's 33 minutes and 35 seconds of action by 12 points and lost the six-plus minutes she sat by five.
Boston joined Tamika Catchings as the only players in Fever franchise history to have a 20-point, 10-rebound, five-assist performance in the playoffs, and fell one rebound shy of becoming the fourth player in WNBA history with a 20/15/5 effort in the postseason.
While Boston has been excellent on the defensive end this series guarding Wilson, she had struggled to find her own offense. Over the first three games, Boston averaged 9.3 points on 38.2% shooting and barely had more made baskets (13) than turnovers (eight). That simply wasn't good enough for a Fever team down so many key players, including Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, two major parts of their offense.
On Sunday, Boston finally got it going.
"Just trying to be aggressive -- post-up, seal, focus and finish, and get to the free throw line," Boston said. She certainly accomplished the latter. Boston went 10 of 13 from the free throw line, making and taking more than the entire Aces team (8 of 11) in the process.
Boston added that the team watched "a lot of film" in between Games 3 and 4 and identified small tweaks that would allow her to be more effective. In particular, Boston wanted to improve her positioning so she could seal her defender earlier in the possession. "That was the focus for me tonight and I was able to do that," she said.
Take a look at this possession just a few minutes into the game, when Boston sealed Wilson under the rim with 19 seconds left on the shot clock. Sims actually missed her initially, and the eventual pass from Natasha Howard was a bit wayward, but Boston had such great position that it didn't matter. She was able to recover and convert a little jump hook.
All of Boston's early work paid off with less than three minutes to play. Clinging to a three-point lead, the Fever had Howard set a cross-screen for Boston on the block. Wilson tried to cheat because she was expecting Boston to post-up on the block, but instead Boston flashed to the free throw line, where she was able to play one-on-one in space. From there, she faced up, drove and hit a smooth turnaround to give the Fever a five-point lead.
In typical Boston fashion, she was humble in victory and focused on team success over individual accolades.
"We over me. That's been our identity the entire season," Boston said. "We all we got, we all we need. We've stuck with it, and I think the beauty of this squad, whether you're hurt or not, everything that you do is for the betterment of this team for every win. That's really how we approach every single day in practice, how we approach film, how we approach every game."
The Fever's togetherness has been a huge part of their surprise success this season, but camaraderie only means so much without players like Boston who have the talent to get you over the line. That's just what Boston did Sunday, and now the Fever are, remarkably, one win away from the Finals.
