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Alexa Philippou, ESPN
UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Indiana Fever enter the WNBA playoffs with a lot of firsts on tap.
Sunday’s first-round opener against the Connecticut Sun will mark the franchise’s first postseason appearance since 2016, as well as the first playoff game for each member of Indiana’s starting five, including star rookie Caitlin Clark.
But the No. 6-seed Fever are channeling the levity and youth that have helped them emerge as one of the best teams in the WNBA after the Olympic break in hopes it will help them pull off the upset of the No. 3 Sun.
“You can’t get too tight; that’s not going to let you play good basketball,” Clark said Saturday. “I think that’s what’s brought us a lot of success here in the second half of the season, is the fun and energy that we play with and a light mood. So I think it’s good that you see everybody with that. But at the same time, I feel like everybody’s approaching this as this is the playoffs. This is very important to every single person on this team.”
Teammate and fellow former No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston added: “I think the moment you tense up is when things could go south. For us, it’s just about continuing to be who we are, having fun. That’s one of the biggest things we tell each other, especially before every game, is let’s have fun, let’s make sure we continue to play together. And so even now, we’ve scouted, we know exactly what our game plan is, and it’s just making sure that we continue to stay loose in the moment.”
Of the eight teams in the playoffs, Indiana sports the least amount of collective postseason experience — 19 contests among four players — and faces a Sun squad with 222 games of playoff play under its belt. That’s the fifth-largest disparity between opponents in WNBA postseason history.
While the Fever’s playoff drought lasted seven years, tied for the longest in league history, Connecticut has been in the postseason eight straight seasons, making at least the semifinals each of the past five years.
But Indiana, also the third-youngest team in the league, is trying not to look at that inexperience as a detriment.
“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” Fever coach Christie Sides said. “They don’t know. So what they don’t know, they’re just going to come out, they play hard, right? They play hard from the time that we jump ball, so what they don’t know, they’re just going to keep doing. I hope they just keep doing what we’ve been doing all season.”
Clark added: “Maybe that’s a good thing. You don’t get overwhelmed by the moment, and you just approach it as it’s another game, and you prepare the exact same way and go out there and compete.”
The Sun won the regular-season series against the Fever, 3-1. The first three meetings came in Indiana’s opening 13 games, and Connecticut routed them by an average margin of 19 points when at home. But the last time these teams met, on Aug. 28 in Indianapolis, the Fever won 84-80, their first victory over the Sun since 2021.
“I think we knew that they were going to continue to get better,” Connecticut coach Stephanie White said on Indiana’s developing chemistry since May. “We knew that they were going to get better in their reads. We knew that they had all the pieces. Their reads have been cleaner, their shots have been open, and since the break, they’ve been tough shotmakers … not only have their core group and their superstars risen to the occasion and gotten better, but everybody else has, too. It’s like they’ve settled into their roles, they understand what to expect and they’re elite in those roles.”
Star Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell will be a full go Sunday after an injury scare in the first quarter of Indiana’s regular-season finale versus the Washington Mystics. Mitchell told reporters Saturday that she feels great and that her exit Thursday was precautionary.
The best-of-three first round guarantees two games in Connecticut (Game 2 is Wednesday). In the event of a split, a winner-take-all Game 3 would be Friday in Indianapolis.
“I feel excited,” Clark said. “I think you can tell by just our vibe that everybody’s really fired up and just ready to start play.”
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