One game. Forty minutes. Whoever wins tonight in Las Vegas keeps playing. Here's where it stands. Indiana lost Game 1 of this best-of-three 102-85 in Vegas, with A'ja Wilson going for 38 and 16. Then Tuesday at Gainbridge, the Fever answered 99-89. Caitlin Clark had 27 and 15, Kelsey Mitchell 26, Aliyah Boston 22. Series tied 1-1. And now it's Game 3, in their building, for everything. This is the Indiana Fever Daily Podcast. Today, the matchups that decide it, who's actually available, and Clark versus the whistle. We're staying with this story: Fever contender consistency test. Follow the show and you won't miss what comes next.
The Fever's own Game 3 preview, via OurSports Central:
The Aces have plenty of firepower, led by four-time MVP A'ja Wilson. Indiana did a better job limiting Wilson's looks in Game 2, though she still managed 22 points thanks in part to 13 free throw attempts. But the Fever also need to look out for Las Vegas' All-Star backcourt of Chelsea Gray (who hit a buzzer beater to beat Indiana in the regular season) and Jackie Young (who scored 31 points in Game 2).
I said it before Game 2 and I'll say it again. The guards are the problem. Indiana took A'ja from 38 down to 22, and Jackie Young just walked into 31 instead. The number I keep coming back to is the paint. Indiana outscored Vegas 58-26 inside on Tuesday, and Athlon notes that 58 is a franchise playoff record. That's Boston and the drives, not just threes. And the probable starters don't change. Clark, Mitchell, Lexie Hull, Makayla Timpson, Boston. So the plan is still two bigs on a four-time MVP, and Timpson's minutes are real ones again. The road context cuts both ways. Per the AP preview on ESPN, the Aces were 15-7 at home and 8-2 over their last ten. But Yahoo points out Indiana beat Las Vegas twice in that building this season. Tip is 9 Eastern on USA, and the winner gets Golden State or Dallas in the semis.
Jake Rogers, writing for Yardbarker:
The Fever posted their injury report Wednesday. Clark is listed as probable with a back injury that has lingered through the later part of the season. Center Aliyah Boston is also probable with a right lower-leg injury.
Probable, probable. I'll take it. Boston's been playing on that leg since the Minnesota finale and she just dropped 22 on the champs. Ty Harris remains out for the playoffs with the left lower-leg injury, and Damiris Dantas is done after knee surgery. So the bench is thin at guard and thin at center. Which is why Raven Johnson matters. IndyStar's Chloe Peterson had her tying up Wilson on the floor to set up a Clark steal, then the buzzer-beater to put Indiana up five at the half. The rookie is playing like she knows the minutes are hers. And the back is the quiet question. Clark's been on these reports all season, and this is a second game in three days. Probable means expected to play. It doesn't tell you what thirty-plus minutes of chasing Gray and Young does to it.
Kristen Wong at Sports Illustrated has Clark's postgame comments after she fouled out with 2:45 left:
It's just so inconsistent. You call an offensive foul on me, and then I’m getting hit the same way on the defensive end and it’s a foul on me. Like, it doesn’t make sense. They just have to be better. It’s the playoffs. Either call it all the time or don’t. But be consistent. That’s what it is.
And she's not wrong! Per SI, Vegas shot 30-of-34 from the line, Indiana 17-of-24. She said she looked up and it was 18 to 34 at one point. Both sides deserve a hearing. Crew chief Randy Richardson said in the pool report that Wilson received the pass in the lower defensive box and wasn't allowed to land, which by rule made it Clark's sixth. And SI notes a free-throw gap happens when you're defending a player like Wilson. The fifth one bugs me more. IndyStar says Young cut across the arc, Young herself started walking like it was an offensive foul, and Clark wanted a challenge the staff didn't use. Here's the practical point. That was the first foul-out of her pro career, and Indiana was up eight when she sat. Tonight, if she picks up two early in Vegas, White's choices get much harder. So, play through contact, don't wave off anybody, and let Mitchell take the free throws. Easy.
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We're watching Game 3 tonight, Thursday, Oct. 1, at 9 p.m. ET at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas on USA, with the winner advancing to the semifinals. We'll be back tomorrow with the result and what comes next. Links to every story are in the show notes, so check out the ones you want to dig into. That's the Indiana Fever Daily Podcast for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.