The Indiana Fever were not supposed to go this far in the 2025 WNBA Playoffs. They are missing Caitlin Clark, who’s done for the rest of the season. So does Sophie Cunningham. That’s not to mention Sydney Colson, Chloe Bibby and Aari McDonald, who are also all done for the remainder of the campaign. The injury issues don’t stop there for Indiana, with Damiris Dantas still not out of the concussion protocol.

But not even such a banged-up roster prevented the Fever from passing their test in the first round in a best-of-three series against the higher-seeded Atlanta Dream.

Indiana knew following the Atlanta series that it was not about to get much easier for it, as they had to deal with next with A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces in a best-of-five set. 

On Monday, though, the Fever somehow found a way to pull off an 89-73 win in the series opener against the Aces at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. 

The Aces were surprisingly tested by the Seattle Storm in the first round, as Las Vegas needed three games to dispose of Nneka Ogwumike and company, but with Wilson and a much healthier cast, many believe that it would take care of business in Game 1 of the Fever series. 

Wilson is to be feared by any Aces opponent, and Indiana definitely was wary of her, especially since she just bagged her fourth WNBA Most Valuable Player Award before the playoff series against Indiana. But the Fever played great basketball on both ends of the court to negate Wilson’s impact. In fact, Wilson botched all her first six shots from the field and finished Game 1 with only 16 points on a non-MVP-esque 6-for-22 shooting from the floor. She grabbed 13 boards and had four blocks, but those numbers fell short of covering for her struggles on offense. 

Indiana guard Kelsey Mitchell played like the real MVP on Sunday. The Aces had no answer for the veteran guard, as Mitchell dropped 35 points on a 12-for-23 shooting, including four 3-pointers.

Fever head coach wanted his team to come out of the gate like a house on fire and play like it the rest of the way. Her players surely responded to that, as Indiana outscored the Aces in enemy territory in all quarters. 

“We wanted to come in and be the aggressor right away to make sure that we were dictating on the defensive end, and we were dictating from a pace standpoint,”  White said after the game. “We knew that they were going to make runs. They made a big one in the third and we responded with a big one. It’s one game, it’s a long series. … But to come in here and to be able to steal this one was big for us.”

With their Game 1 win, Indiana ensured that the Fever will play two games at home in the series, including Game 2 this coming Friday.