Kelsey Mitchell’s Locker Room Mantra Put to Test as Atlanta Dream Hold Advantage in Game 3

You can plan for the Fever, but you can’t plan for Indiana. For weeks, experts and analysts have been talking about how Stephanie White’s team won’t go quietly into the night for one simple reason–the new venue format meant that their opponents would need to pass through Gainbridge Fieldhouse as well. On paper, it might not sound like much. Road games are always tricky, sure, but this is a Fever team battling through injuries. How intimidating could the Fieldhouse really be? Especially for an Atlanta side that seemed to hold every advantage.

Well, they didn’t account for 16,682 fans screaming, yelling, and supporting the Fever for 40 minutes straight. Cassandra Negley said it best a week ago, “I would not be surprised if they stole a game because the huge thing about these playoffs is it’s a 1-1-1 and they’re going to get to host and that place is going to be rocking as it has been even without Caitlin Clark playing.” As expected, the city of Indiana was loud, messy, and dominant, helping their team to a 77-60 victory.

Karl Smesko, the head coach of the Dream, was the first to admit how big a role the fans had in Indiana’s victory. “They packed the house. They were really loud. It gives them a home court advantage. But I mean, that’s going to be wherever we go. It’s the playoffs: It’s going to be packed. It’s going to be loud. We got to play through anything that happens in the game. And we’ve been great on the road all season. Today was kind of just an off day,” he said, crediting the Fever fans. However, his words did have a scary undertone to them.

Atlanta isn’t easily startled. They have an incredible wealth of experience and a super deep roster. By all means, they’re the better team on paper. However, even though the Dream has more experience, Indiana is used to being the underdog. Their theme for the season? Resilience. Or as Kelsey Mitchell put it, “When it comes to us being resilient, [we have had] to fight off a lot of ups and downs, back and forths.” But is it enough to rule out Atlanta? We don’t know.

One thing’s for certain, Smesko and his team are looking forward to playing at home in a couple of days. It’s the playoffs, and every advantage matters, every single fan matters, and the team knows it! So what do they have to say about home crowd advantages?

Indiana may have taken control in Game 2, but does that really mask where they stand in this series? The Fever have battled injuries all season and still aren’t operating at full strength. Missing key contributors, most notably Caitlin Clark, their offense isn’t as complete as it could be at this stage.

And while playing in Indiana was incredibly tough for the Dream, who’s to say it’ll be easy for the Fever in Atlanta? After all, they lost Game 1 there by a similar margin, showing just how important home games are in the playoffs. Naz Hillmon, in the post-game presser, was quite confident about her team’s odds heading into Game 3.

When a reporter asked Hillmon if it was a confidence boost playing at home, she had this to say. “I think it is a confidence boost having home fans backing you, but I just think there’s an excitement about going into an elimination game knowing how poorly we played,” Hillmon said, giving a lot of credit to Indiana and the crowd as well. But at home? The story’s gonna be different. “ I think we’re going to be able to make some adjustments and it’s nice when, you know, those threes finally do fall and we’re getting a lot of cheers from our home crowd.”

It will be a battle of attrition between both teams. Indiana has one thing in their favor–Atlanta’s stadiums aren’t as big as theirs. It’s going to be a lot easier to tune out the white noise when there are only 3000-4000 fans there. However, if Atlanta can leverage their advantage properly, it won’t even be a contest moving forward.

Naz Hillmon knows the trick already

The Atlanta Dream won’t spend much time dwelling on the disappointment of Game 2. They already know the Game 1 approach works, it just needs to be executed with a bit more precision to move them ahead. In their 80-68 victory in the opener, Naz Hillmon highlighted the advantage the Dream held, one she their fans would only continue to amplify.

“I think the biggest thing is our defense,” Hillmon said. “Our defense is what I truly feel fuels our offense. Indiana’s a great offensive team, and if you let them get hot or let them get going, it can turn into a really ugly game. You have to key on to their key players. Of course, they’re going to go to them with their backs against the wall a little bit… We have to make everything hard on the defensive end.“

And if the Fever turn sluggish again when it comes to offense as well, Atlanta won’t need to play its best brand of basketball to send them home. As of now, ESPN gives the Dream a cool 65.8% chance of winning. Who’s your pick?