The Indiana Fever pulled off the unthinkable on Thursday when they defeated the Atlanta Dream, 87-85, in Game 3 of their opening round series of the WNBA Playoffs. While the Fever were without several key players due to injury, the Dream were 100 percent healthy. That’s probably why all nine of ESPN’s experts picked the Dream to win the series, something that did not go unnoticed by the admin of the Fever’s social media account.
Following the Fever’s Game 3 win, the team’s social media reposted ESPN’s predictions for the series which showed that eight of the nine experts thought the Dream would sweep the Fever. The lone ESPN pundit who had the series going the full distance was Michael Voepel who had the Dream in three games.
Along with reposting the predictions, the Fever’s account wrote, “Now You Know.”
But before the series began, it was not at all far-fetched to envision the Dream winning the series. They very easily could have been the No. 2 seed if not for the Las Vegas Aces’ win against the Los Angeles Sparks on the final day of the regular season. They had a clean slate of health while the Fever were without five players including star guard Caitlin Clark.
But that’s why the games are not played on paper. The Fever have been a resilient and formidable bunch all season. In Game 3, it was star center Aliyah Boston who had the go-ahead bucket late in the fourth quarter off a pass from Odyssey Sims. Following a turnover by the Dream, it was Sims who dropped in a clutch free-throw. Brionna Jones’ final look for the Dream did not drop.
Kelsey Mitchell led the Fever in Game 3 with 24 points. Sims added 16, Boston had 14 and Natasha Howard scored 12 points. The Fever will now await their opponent in the WNBA Semifinals, the winner of the series between the Aces and Seattle Storm.
