Becky Hammon made it clear, A’ja Wilson won’t be the same in Game 2. “I’ll tell you this, she doesn’t normally lay two stinkers in a row,” Hammon asserted. “She’s somebody who bounces back, makes the adjustments.” The only 4-time MVP shot 4-22, which marked the most missed chances Wilson has missed in her career. Wilson just couldn’t shake off Indiana Fever’s defense as Stephanie White’s plans held a tight leash on her offense. But there is a reason she was crowned 2025’s best player, and White is still wary of the Aces star going into Game 2. 

“I mean, I think the biggest thing is, she’s the best player in the world,” White said on her appearance on “In Case You Missed It with Khristina Williams,” “And you’re not going to take away what she does best.” There is not much argument against that. Wilson won the Defensive Player of the Year award along with her MVP while averaging 23.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks. Ignoring how good Wilson is just makes guarding her more difficult. So White is planning to win while keeping Wilson’s alien-like qualities and just limiting them enough to take the W as a team. 

White further said, “We can’t allow A’ja Wilson to go off and then allow them to get multiple three-point field goals for everybody else on the roster and then allow them to get to the free throw line. And they are at their best when that ball is moving, it is pinging, they are sharing the basketball. So we have to try to be disciplined enough to force them to play off the bounce, to force them to hit tough twos, to make them be individual playmakers, as opposed to consistently putting us in rotation.”

Indiana’s defense moved in sync and choked off Vegas’ rhythm in Game 1. When the Fever nails their ball-screen coverages, the entire offense grinds down. Outside of Jackie Young’s opportunism, the Aces’ stars never sparked. Chelsea Gray managed 13 on 12 shots, and Jewell Loyd hit 1-of-5 for three points. In short, everyone not named Young got bottled up. As a team, they shot 5-17 from beyond the arc, way below their season-wide 9.1 average.

Aliyah Boston and Brianna Turner managed to lock up Wilson. To complete what Boston said after the first quarter in Game 1, “Honestly, tryne kinda be annoying a little bit. Cause honestly, A’ja is a pretty great player, so I’m making sure that my presence is felt.” 

While it compromised her offense, Boston practically neutralized Wilson when she was on, limiting her to just  16.7 eFG%. They forced her into the lane and took difficult shots. Something Wilson can do, but they just didn’t go in on the day. This is more of a brute force approach to the A’ja Wilson problem, but as long as it is working, there is no reason to change it. In the case it falls apart in Game 2, White will also have some backup plans in her pocket with this revived defense.

Indiana Fever’s Defensive Leap and Lexie Hull’s Matchup Value

This is not the same Indiana Fever defense we saw in the regular season. Fever finished with a defensive rating of 101.8, which was 7th in the league. In other words, they were decent but not exceptional. In the playoffs, they have taken it to another level with a rating of 92.5. That is a -9.3 differential. 

Their turnover issues have gone from 14.5 points conceded to 12.0 in the playoffs. The Fever are rebounding better (24.6 in the regular season, 27.0 in the playoffs), and their game 1 strategy against Wilson limited the rest of the Aces squad that could have taken the attention with Wilson misfiring. However, they have had some help from their injured point guard, Sydney Colson.

When Lexie Hull was asked how much Colson’s voice has resonated with the team during this series against Colson’s former team, Hull said, “I mean, she has shared some insights into what she thinks [the Aces] will look for individually, what they will go to at the end of game, end of shot clock. And so I think it really does help us, because we kind of know what to look for, and we know a little bit about what they’re thinking. And how they’re approaching the game helps us respond to it,”

The massive improvement in defense is a team effort, which includes their “Bench Mob”. Hull herself is the best defensive weapon Stephanie White has. In the regular season, she had a defensive rating of 99.8, which is the lowest among all the players averaging above 20 minutes per game, except Caitlin Clark, who is ruled out. In the playoffs, she has been better with a rating of 91.7. She’s pivotal for the series, likely their No. 2 defender behind Aliyah Boston, who takes the Wilson assignment.