INDIANAPOLIS — Glance at a calendar and it will tell you that the Indiana Fever beat the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday, evening their first-round series at 1-1. But the Fever’s Game 2 victory, and a core part of their success, started the day prior as a former champion brought her team together for an important meeting.
Myisha Hines-Allen, who helped the Washington Mystics win the 2019 title, knew something was off after the Fever’s flimsy defense cost them in Game 1. They were too soft, per their own admission. More force was needed.
“That’s what we talked about as a team. Don’t be soft,” Fever star guard Caitlin Clark said after Game 2, a 99-89 victory for Indiana. “Myisha was a leader of that. She kinda gathered the group yesterday and was like ‘you have to have a different mentality about yourself,’… I think everybody really bought into that.”
A pep talk is one thing, and Hines-Allen’s words clearly resonated. It was her actions that hammered her points home. The veteran forward checked into the game with 4:37 to go in the first quarter and found herself with the A’ja Wilson assignment. She’s the MVP favorite — that matchup demands courage. It requires toughness.
The clock read 2:56 in the first quarter when Hines-Allen and Wilson were battling on the left wing. Wilson went to set a screen but was fouled by the Fever forward. A bit over the top, Hines-Allen shoved Wilson after committing the foul. The two players exchanged words before other players stepped in.
Hines-Allen’s arms rose to pump up the crowd. Clark walked by the interaction clapping. Hines-Allen, Clark, and Sophie Cunningham walked to the corner of the court and exchanged high fives. There it was, the physicality that Hines-Allen demanded. She inserted it into the game.
“Just that we have to hit first. We have to set the tone defensively. We have to get into them,” Hines-Allen recalled of her message to her team on Monday. “I think in Game 1, watching it back, we were just allowing them to catch the ball wherever they wanted, run any set that they wanted to run. And that’s the type of basketball that they want to play. So I [said] just set the tone early, and everyone just followed that.”
This is who Hines-Allen is. Growing up undersized, she had to be an aggressive, physical defender to provide the maximum impact. She got used to knocking opponents off of their spot to score. Toughness defined her back then, and it still does.
That’s why she was ready for a battle with Wilson. “From the beginning, I was telling everyone, ‘Hey, we’ve got to set the tone. We have to hit first, we have to show that we’re not just going to allow [the Aces] to run any play, get into any sets easy’,” Hines-Allen said. “So I think when I checked in, I was just trying to set the tone, making sure that they know that I’m a woman of my word… I’m here for my teammates and I’m going to back my teammates up. It was just mainly that. Just showing if I say something, I’m going to lead by example.”
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The Fever were trailing when Hines-Allen and Wilson jostled for position. They still trailed early in the second quarter as Clark picked up a technical foul. But that play ignited Clark, just like Hines-Allen’s moment did for the rest of the team.
After Clark’s tech, the Fever closed the half on a 28-14 run. The star guard was terrific in that quarter with seven points in eight assists, playing every second of the period.
The Fever never trailed again. Clearly, Clark’s fire ignited the group. So did Hines-Allen, who saw her leadership impact on the possession immediate after her scuffle with Wilson.
“That following play, I noticed how (Cunningham) got into [her defender]… trying to come up. She got into her. She didn’t let her catch the ball easy. Seeing that, I’m like ‘Ok, I have to continue this aggression, this playing with physicality’,” Hines-Allen said. “Because I’m leading by example right here, and my teammates are going to follow. And I knew coming into this game we needed it.”
The Fever did need it. And it paid off. After Wilson recorded 38 points and 16 rebounds in Game 1, she was held to 22 and nine, respectively, in Game 2. It’s not just physicality that helped Indiana slow the star. They crowded the paint and rotated well behind plays to limit Wilson’s space. Head coach Stephanie White said pregame it was important for the Fever to give Wilson different defensive looks and they did exactly that.
“You’ve got to try to keep her off balance as much as possible,” White said. “We’ll make some adjustments, and we’ll go out and play our butts off.”
“We didn’t match their physicality,” Clark added of Game 1. That needed to change and did in Game 2.
This victory doesn’t happen without Hines-Allen. It’s what veterans can do. With the 2019 Mystics, she saw it up close. She felt how connected that team was and feels as if the Fever have a similar vibe now. Tuesday night, they showed their connection by following the advice of a leader and battling back after a rough Game 1 loss.
“It was huge,” White said of how physicality changed this game for the Fever. “Physicality in terms of just meeting them earlier, of putting more pressure on them in the backcourt before they got into scoring positions, of rotating with urgency, activity level. Intensity. I thought we played with a back-against-the-wall desperation that you need to play with in playoff time.”
It wasn’t just force that guided the Fever. Star guard Kelsey Mitchell responded after an off game in Game 1 and scored 26 points. Aliyah Boston added 22, leading the team with 10 made field goals and making several important shots late after Clark fouled out. Raven Johnson was great again, a needed punch after Ty Harris suffered a season-ending injury.
And Clark, of course, was fantastic. She finished with 27 points and 15 assists, logging a double-double in just the first half. After drinking too much water, the star guard threw up at halftime, then bounced into the second half and kept performing.
“She was huge,” White said of Clark. “I thought her energy from start to finish [was] pretty incredible.”
That’s the Fever at their best — all of their stars clicking while role players fill in the gaps. That formula was present in Game 2 and needs to be in Game 3.
Their physicality needs to stick, too. It changed the game after the Aces took an early lead, and it was the most visible change in the team’s disposition from one game to the next.
It’s not easy to beat the reigning champs twice in a row. That’s the task for the Fever now. But they gave themselves a chance after a strong pep talk and performance from Hines-Allen.
“She’s a coach on the floor when she’s out there, and we needed that from her tonight,” White said of the veteran. “I thought she was outstanding.” They’ll try to repeat that success during Game 3 in Las Vegas on Thursday.
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