Aces lack ‘pep’ in loss to Fever to open 2nd-round WNBA playoffs series

Reverberant cheering erupted as the final minute evaporated from the clock at Michelob Ultra Arena on Sunday. It’s a normal and expected occurrence for Aces’ home wins — but a rarity in their losses.

The loud ovation was a credit to the fervor of a rising team’s traveling fans, who were rewarded for their trip as they watched the No. 2 seeded Aces lose 89-73 in Game 1 of their best-of-five WNBA playoffs semifinals matchup against the No. 6 Indiana Fever despite their home court advantage.

Game 2 is Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Michelob Ultra Arena.

For Aces guard Jackie Young, the team’s postgame debrief was still top of mind as she took to the podium to address reporters about what went wrong.

“We were in the huddle talking about how we didn’t really have a pep to us,” Young said. “You saw the pace that they were playing with and the pep that they had in their step. And we just didn’t have that today. It’s on us to change that next game … (to) match their intensity and their physicality.”

Young led the Aces with 19 points, while Dana Evans added 14 points off the bench and point guard Chelsea Gray scored 13.

The frustration was evident on Evans’ face, and she asserted that she needs to be better.

“I feel like I took a few plays off, and I think it came to bite us in the butt,” Evans said.

Aces center A’ja Wilson scored 16 points in the defeat, which came hours after she accepted an unprecedented fourth WNBA MVP award.

Kelsey Mitchell, a fellow MVP finalist, had a game-high 34 points for the Fever as star guard Caitlin Clark watched from the bench after being ruled out for the season with a groin injury earlier this month.

Aces coach Becky Hammon, descending from incensed to calm throughout her postgame media conference, simply described her team’s overall effort as “really poor.”

“They played with a greater sense of urgency. We couldn’t catch up,” Hammon said. “You can start on the defensive end. I mean, clearly we had no answer for Mitchell. Couldn’t even attempt to slow her down a little bit.”

It was an early 3-pointer by Mitchell that capped a 13-7 Fever run to start the game and forced Hammon to call the first timeout. But Mitchell kept scoring as the Fever’s advantage reached nine points before Evans created back-to-back buckets and helped the Aces cut their deficit to 19-18 at the end of the first quarter.

The Aces fell behind by 16 points in the second quarter, their largest deficit since their 53-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Aug. 2 that sparked their historic 16-game win streak to close the regular season.

Although the Aces went on a 12-3 run in the third quarter and cut their deficit to four points with 3:37 remaining in the frame, the Fever regained control for their first-ever win in Las Vegas.

Before Sunday’s outcome, Indiana had not secured a road win over the Aces since the franchise moved in the 2018 season.

“They’ve been champions for a reason,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “We had to expect that they were going to make a run. They’re a great team, and they’ve been playing some of the best basketball we’ve seen in our league. So, we just had to regroup. We had to get back to basics.”

White said the Fever knew how to adjust because of the resilience that was required of them as they lost Clark and three other players to season-ending injuries before the playoffs began.

To that effect, Odyssey Sims had 17 points. She joined the Fever on a hardship contract last month. Center Natasha Howard finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds to supplement Aliyah Boston, the Fever’s second-leading scorer, being limited to six points.

Indiana connected for 50 percent (34 of 68) of their shots from the floor, while the Aces shot just 29 of 71 (40.8 percent).

Hammon said she was less concerned about shooting percentage and more focused on the missed layups and again, their defense.

“It was … well, we’ll have a talk about it,” she said.

However the Aces adapt, they can expect the Fever to have a counter for Game 2.

“Our group has seen it all,” White said. “It’s one game. It’s a long series. So we’ve got to keep the main thing, the main thing. But to come in here and to be able to to steal this one was big for us.”

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.