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Seriously sports
Get ready for the WNBA quarterfinals game 3 pair.
The Seattle Storm overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat the Las Vegas ace (86-83) on Tuesday, September 16th, and to force Game 3 in Las Vegas on Thursday, September 18th (9:30pm, ESPN2). Skylar Diggins led the storm with 26 points, while teammate Nneka Ogwumike added 24.
“We had a really tough August. We saw a lot of close games that aren’t going our way,” Ogwumike said. “I think we were actually training the muscles we needed in the postseason, so today was one of the days when we were spending our crunch time and we were able to turn that around.”
Meanwhile, Indiana Fever has reduced five players to season-ending injuries, including All-Star Guard Kate Linklark, but they still managed to make the playoffs.
So it’s not surprising. The fever showed a now-respected resilience by blowing up the Atlanta Dream 77-60 in a winning or home matchup at Gainbridge Field House.
“This is a group that doesn’t let your confidence go,” Fever manager Stephanie White said. “We were in every situation you could imagine and we were able to put ourselves in order to win.”
Kelsey Mitchell (19), Aliya Boston (15) and Natasha Howard (12) all scored in double numbers for the heat returning to Atlanta for the decisive game three on Thursday (7:30pm, ESPN2).
The quarter-final match will take place on Wednesday. Phoenix Mercury faces a must-see face against reigning champion New York Liberty (8pm, ESPN). The Golden State Valkyries will play host to the top-seeded Minnesota Links (10pm ET, ESPN) and advance to the semi-finals with victory.
The fever and storms highlight the winners, but Dreamguard is on the loser’s list on the second night of the 2025 WNBA playoffs.
winner
Fever G Kelsey Mitchell
When the fever season came to the line, veteran guard Kelsey Mitchell became another gem. Mitchell scored a game-high 19 points on Tuesday, shooting six-thirds from the field (4 out of 3-4). More importantly, the heat built such a big lead with a wire-to-wire victory, allowing Kelsey to sit throughout the fourth quarter.
Mitchell has started all games this season, averaging 31.4 minutes in the regular season.
“Sitting in the fourth quarter was one thing, but putting yourself in order to be able to do that is completely different. I scream at our group to stay resilient… I have a stretch big enough to sit,” Mitchell said.
Heat protection
This dream was one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league, with 31.8% being made in the regular season. The fever kept me down to one of the 10 from the field in the first half. Dream finished five out of 19 (26%) from the 3-point range. Rhyne Howard, who led the WNBA with 3 pointers during the regular season with 3.1 per game, was 4-4 from 3 to 4 on Tuesday night.
Storm C Dominique Malonga
Malonga is 19 years old, but looked like a veteran on Tuesday night. Malonga recorded two consecutive double-doubles with 11 and 10 points in Seattle’s two game wins. Malonga also had the impossible task of defending A’s Center A’ja Wilson, making three MVPs scoreless in the final seven minutes of the game. Malonga was the youngest player in the entire postseason, becoming the first teenager in league history, earning a go-ahead or game winner in the final minute of the playoff game.
Storm Veteran Skyler Diggins, Nuneka Oguumike
Skylar Diggins and Nneka Ogwumike scored 23 points in Storm’s Game 1 Blowout Loss, shooting 21-21 from the field. However, Diggins and Ogwumike combined to score 50 of Storm’s 86 points in Game 2 victory at ACES, making it one in eighth over Arc. No shots were bigger than the Diggins pull-up jumper with 4.7 seconds left to give Arashi an 86-83 lead.
Seattle Storm Fan
It appeared Seattle was on the crisis of another first-round playoff sweep after the ace led the storm 14 points. The Ace has eliminated the storm from two of the last four seasons postseasons. However, Storm ran the second-largest playoff comeback in franchise history to beat the ace and recorded the team’s first playoff victory since 2022. Skylar Diggins said, “There was a great house crowd on our backs and we fed them.”
loser
Ace’s victory consecutive
Las Vegas may not care about a franchise-best winning streak. “[Streak]celebrates this more than we do,” Aja Wilson said Sunday, but the ace was one step away from tying the longest winning streak in WNBA history set by the 2001 Los Angeles Sparks (18). That’s not the only thing that Arashi snapped at home on Tuesday with a Game 2 victory. Entering Tuesday, Las Vegas was 7-0 in the first round playoff game as they took over as coach in 2022. Wilson went scoreless in the final seven minutes of the game.
ACES 3-point shooting
The three-ball wasn’t falling for an ace, who is right out over the arc towards Tuesday. They shot 50.7% off the field and 14% out of 3-29 in Game 1 after setting a regular season record wit 22 3 pointer in the regular season finale on September 11th. “It was trash on the 3-point line,” ace coach Becky Hunmon said after the game.
Dreamguard Line Howard and Alisha Gray
The dream was one victory from punching tickets to the semi-finals for the first time since 2018. After combining 40 points in Game 1, Atlanta dynamic duo Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray scored 19 points on Tuesday, collectively shooting seven-fifths and eighths from the ARC. Dream shot 37.9% from the field as a team, five-in-one from the 3-point line (three comes from Tehina Pao Pao with garbage analysis minutes) and 50% from the free throw line. This marks consecutive playoff games shot below 40% from the field.
Two passionate fans
Gainbridge Field House was electricity during Fever’s victory, but at least two spectators went too far. A pair of Fever fans were escorted from courtside seats in the fourth quarter. The incident happened when Dream chased 71-47 with 6:10 left in the game. Gray warned the arena security about the fan’s behavior and looked visibly upset after the replacement. After the incident, Gray was comforted by his teammate Rhyne Howard on the bench. It is not clear what was said, and grey was not available for post-game interviews.
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