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WNBA playoffs: Shorthanded Fever wallop 3rd-seeded Dream, force winner-take-all Game 3

The Indiana Fever aren't done yet.

After blowing a 9-point lead in a Game 1 loss to the Atlanta Dream, the Fever rebounded for a dominant 77-60 win over the Dream in Game 2 Tuesday night.

With the win, the shorthanded Fever forced a winner-take-all Game 3 in Atlanta on Thursday. There, the pressure will be on the third-seeded Dream to avoid a first-round upset to a 6th-seeded Fever team that continues to compete despite a litany of injuries, including to star guard Caitlin Clark.

On Tuesday, it was Clark's fellow All-Stars Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston who led the way as the Fever overwhelmed a Dream team seeking its first postseason series win since 2018.

Indiana asserted control early with a 20-14 first-quarter lead and entered halftime with a 35-29 advantage. Atlanta cut that lead to 40-37 midway through the third before Indiana delivered the knockout blow.

The Fever closed the third quarter on a 19-7 run that it finished with a 5-0 flurry in the final 8.8 seconds. Boston exploited a mismatch in the post against All-Star guard Allisha Gray for an easy layup.

Mitchell then picked off the ensuing baseline pass, and kicked the ball out, where it eventually found a wide open Lexi Hull beyond the arc. Hull pulled up and sunk a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send Gainbridge Fieldhouse into a frenzy.

From there, the Fever closed out the wire-to-wire win to keep their season alive.