Aliya Boston leads Indiana Fever past Atlanta Dream | Sports

INDIANAPOLIS — In a game featuring the last three No. 1 picks in the WNBA draft, Aliyah Boston and the Indiana Fever had the last laugh.

Boston scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and Indiana rallied after blowing a big lead down the stretch to defeat the Atlanta Dream 91-84 on Thursday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Boston got an offensive rebound and scored with 2:07 left to put the Fever (4-10) in front to stay.

That followed a 22-8 run that saw Atlanta (5-6) take an 82-81 lead on a pair of Haley Jones free throws with 3:11 left.

After an 89-72 road loss to the Connecticut Sun that caused head coach Christie Sides to question the team’s efforts, Indiana had its most dominant first half of the season against the Dream.

The Fever scored 33 points in the first quarter and led 59-44 at intermission. When the lead peaked at 18 points on a NaLyssa Smith basket with 7:42 left in the third quarter, it looked like Indiana might notch its second straight home victory.

Instead, Dream guard Rhyne Howard, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft, caught fire and led the visitors’ comeback.

Atlanta cut its deficit to 11 points early in the fourth quarter, and an 11-0 run that began with 53 seconds left in the third period cut the Fever advantage to 73-71 with 5:32 to go. play.

Kelsey Mitchell temporarily stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws, but Allisha Gray hit a pair of free throws and Howard – who finished with 26 points – tied the game at 77-77 on a 3-pointer with 4: 13 to play.

Boston — the 2023 No. 1 pick — responded with the Fever’s first basket of the fourth quarter off an assist from 2024 No. 1 pick Caitlin Clark, but Howard drained a 24-foot 3-pointer to give the Dream an 80-79. leads with 3:37 to play.

Boston responded again on an assist from Clark before the Dream took the final lead on Jones’ free throws.

Then an unlikely hero emerged: Indiana’s much-maligned defense.

Fever forced back-to-back shot clock violations on either side of Boston’s layup, and Mitchell added a pair of free throws to put the home team ahead 85-82 with 1:26 left.

Howard missed a 26-foot 3-pointer and Mitchell scored on a steal following an errant pass from Clark with 47 seconds left to make it 87-82.

There was never a one-possession game again.

Atlanta was held without a field goal after Howard’s go-ahead 3-pointer.

Mitchell finished with 24 points for the Fever, and Katie Lou Samuelson was 3 of 4 on 3-pointers and scored 11 points on her birthday.

Smith had 10 points and five rebounds for Indiana, and Clark finished with seven points, six assists, four rebounds and two blocks. But she was just 3 of 11 from the field and committed seven turnovers.

Cheyenne Parker-Tyus had 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals off the bench for the Dream – who were coming off an 87-68 loss to the previously winless Washington Mystics on Tuesday.

Gray (12) and Jones (10) also finished in double figures for Atlanta.

With the win, Indiana finished 3-2 in the WNBA Commissioners Cup – the third-best record in the Eastern Conference, after a rough 1-8 start.

The Fever’s next two games will also be played at home, starting with a highly anticipated rematch on Sunday against the Chicago Sky.

Indiana earned a 71-70 victory over the Sky on June 1 in a game best remembered for Chicago guard Chennedy Carter’s controversial foul on Clark.