Indiana Fever avoid playoff elimination with last-second win over Atlanta Dream

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Fever barely kept their playoff hopes alive on Sunday afternoon, taking down the Atlanta Dream, 83-80, in a photo-finish game.

The Fever have won three games in a row for the first time since July 2021.

The Fever (11-24) would have been eliminated from the playoffs with the loss. To make the playoffs, the Fever will have to win the rest of their six games and the Los Angeles Sparks will need to lose out.

"We know where the standings are, but we're living today, we've got a win," head coach Christie Sides said. "Our goal was to make a playoff push, that was our goal from day one, regardless of how many wins there were last year. That's just something that's been talked about. Keep fighting, keep doing the little things, keep growing as a team."

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Here are three observations from the Fever's victory:

Fever recover from disastrous third quarter

The Fever had a strong first half, shooting 53% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line, forcing three steals, blocking two shots, and holding the Dream to 35.1% shooting en route to a 47-37 lead. But that all fell apart in the third quarter as they went into the fourth quarter with a four-point deficit. They went 3-of-16 from the field and 0-of-5 on 3s in the third quarter, while the Dream flipped the script, going 6-of-15.

The Dream built a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Fever weren't about to go away quietly. Indiana went on a 13-2 run over a 2-minute stretch, capped by a Kristy Wallace 3-pointer to retake the lead, 79-78, with 22 seconds left. The Dream and Fever traded the lead two more times before Atlanta, while inbounding the ball, stepped out of bounds. Atlanta then fouled Kelsey Mitchell, who made a free throw to close the scoring.

"They punched us in the mouth, really aggressively," Mitchell said. "I think it shows how resilient we are as a team, but we can limit those situations. We could eliminate a lot of stuff that happened."

Kristy Wallace sets career high

Fever guard Kristy Wallace hit two 3-pointers in the final half-minute. The Australian, making her seventh start of the season, set a career high of 20 points. She went 6-of-8 from the 3-point line and 7-of-10 from the field.

While she didn't record any other offensive stats, she took on the toughest defensive assignment in Rhyne Howard, who shot just 4-of-16 from the field.

"She's just so tough," Sides said of Wallace. "I mean, her stat line was terrible. She didn't get a rebound, she didn't get an assist, she had turnovers, but she made shots for us. Period. And she guarded Rhyne Howard, so just for her to step up the way she did with all that confidence was huge for us."

Her career-high day comes three days after her strong defensive work in the final minutes of the fourth quarter on Thursday against the Storm, where she forced a pivotal offensive rebound to preserve the lead.

"Any opportunity I get to play, I'm ready to go and do the best that I can out there," Wallace said. "There have been some big plays in the fourth quarters in the last couple games, but I think I just take those opportunities like everyone else out there."

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Aliyah Boston suffers thumb injury

Fever rookie and 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick Aliyah Boston sat out most of the second half while being evaluated for a right thumb injury. Boston was extremely effective in the first quarter, scoring nine points with five rebounds and two steals.

She also eclipsed 500 career points in the first quarter, becoming the 19th league rookie to do so in the WNBA's 26 season. She is the second Fever player to score 500 points in her debut season, joining Tamika Catchings.

Boston returned to the Fever bench about halfway through the fourth quarter, but did not return to the court. Sides said postgame she wasn't sure of Boston's long-term outlook.

"It was just the next man up mentality," Wallace said. "(Victaria Saxton) stepped in, Emma (Cannon) stepped up, they were ready to go and obviously did really well."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Fever avoid playoff elimination with last-second win over Atlanta Dream