History says the Indiana Fever will win the 2025 title! “This is the Fever’s fourth win as an underdog this postseason, the most by any team since the 2021 Chicago Sky (who won the championship that year),” wrote Alexa Phillippou. They have stunned the Las Vegas Aces 90-83 after back-to-back setbacks that had them counted out, and now the series heads to Vegas for a winner-takes-all Game 5. Becky Hammon left the game red-faced, not only because of the loss but also because of an embarrassing incident in the final seconds.

To set the scene, the Las Vegas Aces and Becky Hammon were out of timeouts after they used their last at 2:54 in the game. However, Hammon thought there was another one. While referring to their second-to-last timeout, “We heard Becky Hammon and in that timeout say they had two left, where they indeed had one.” An ESPN commentator said on air. However, no one corrected Hammon after that.

With 30.1 seconds on the clock, Hammon called for another timeout when she had none. Initially, the referees called it, but realized later that Hammon had none left and charged Hammon with a technical. Kelsey Mitchell received a free throw. “That is- A mistake from the Aces coaching staff and not being on top of exactly how many timeouts they had,” said the ESPN commentator. 

As things stand, despite A’ja Wilson’s record seventh 30+ points in the playoffs (behind only Breanna Stewart and Diana Taurasi), it didn’t help the Aces. The trio of Nalyssa Smith (8!), A’ja (31), and Jackie Young (18) failed to match the Fever’s offense. Combined, the three scored 57 as against 67 by Fever’s Aliyah Boston (24), Kelsey Mitchell (25), and Odyssey Sims (18). On top of this, HC Hammon had her Chris Webber moment.

Webber, a Michigan University star in 1993, also called a timeout that did not exist in a crunch moment at the NCAA title game against the Tar Heels. And ever since, Webber is blamed for essentially handing North Carolina its third-ever national championship. Coming back to Hammon, this incident was the nail in their Game 4 coffin. The game seemed already over with the Fever leading by 7 at that point, but this play mentally crushed Becky Hammon and the Aces after a tumultuous game.  

Becky Hammon was surprised by one thing about the Indiana Fever

We are deep into the postseason, and both teams are stretched by this time of the season, but it affects the Indiana Fever even more. They have suffered 5 major injuries, which include Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham, Sydney Colson, and Aari McDonald. That is most of their starters. We, and probably Becky Hammon, expected the Fever to be tired in Game 4, but they had other ideas. 

The Aces couldn’t shake off the Indiana Fever and had major lapses throughout the game, conceding 25 points off turnovers and some outright interceptions. They gave away 34 free throws (some of them strategic in the dying seconds). So when most would have loved another coach-official drag, Becky simply said, “They shot 34 free throws, and we shot 11. Next question:”

After Cheryl Reeve’s outburst, you would expect another one from Hammon. Yes, refereeing remains a contentious topic, but the fact remains that the Aces were still left wanting in other aspects. They were outscored 42-38 in the paint despite A’ja Wilson scoring 31 points on the day. They couldn’t improve their rebounding, losing 34-22 in that aspect, with Wilson getting almost half of that (9). Hammon’s side conceded 15 fastbreak points as the Aces just couldn’t handle the Fever’s pace.

The Wilson-Boston battle was once again won by the Fever forward, as she scored 24 points, 5 assists, 14 rebounds, and 2 steals. While Wilson had 31 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, and 3 blocks, Boston had the win. “We over Me. That’s been our identity the entire season. We’ve all we got. We all we need. And we’ve stuck with it.” Boston said after the game, and Game 5 is set up to be a tasty matchup back in Vegas.