Just over a month ago, the Fever and Mystics faced off in Indy with the Fever dominating Washington, never trailing during an 88-81 win. Wednesday afternoon, the Mystics traveled back to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, looking for a receipt from their last matchup and got off to a fiery start.
After one quarter of play, the Mystics led 26-17 with the Fever only leading the game one time and the Mystics defending the ball well- just one turnover compared to the Fevers’ eight turnovers. The pressure caused a few mistakes on the Fevers’ end, but Indy made enough three-pointers to keep it close.
At halftime, the game was even and close in shooting percent, blocks and steals but the Mystics dominated in turnovers (13-5), assists and points off of turnovers and the Fever trailed by 14.
However, the Fever came out hot in the second half, with a 7-2 run and really cashing in on the home court advantage. Every avenue Washington took, the Fever shut them down. Once trailing by 20 points, the Fever were down by 15 with just 4 minutes left but were able to cut the lead down to three points with just seconds left.
The Mystics proved to be too much down the stretch, with the Fever lacking consistency and dragging along at times. The Mystics were able to pull out the close victory and you can’t put the Fever loss on Coach Sides or anyone else except the players on the court.
Multiple missed layups, unneeded missed three-pointers and a lack of ballhandling were the nails in the coffin for the Fever, who return home on Friday night to take on the Mercury, who they just defeated in Phoenix last week.
-Reggie Edwards
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