LAS VEGAS — To begin the 2026 playoffs, the Indiana Fever will be returning to the site where their 2025 postseason run came to an end, in overtime.
Back at Michelob Ultra Arena on Sunday afternoon, the Fever face the Las Vegas Aces in a best-of-three series. The Aces are the No. 3 seed behind Minnesota and Golden State, while the Fever dropped several spots over the final week and enter as the No. 6 seed.
You may think the Fever are thinking about unfinished business. That they’re thinking about a handful of players missing last postseason with injuries, or Aliyah Boston fouling out before overtime in Game 5, or Kelsey Mitchell missing overtime because her body literally gave out on her.
But no, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
It’s a new season.
It’s different teams.
And these are entirely different circumstances.
“That series means nothing,” coach Stephanie White told reporters on Saturday.
“Pretty useless,” added Boston.
After limping into the playoffs, losing two of their final three regular-season games, the Fever flew straight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas on Friday.
That gave them additional time to adapt to the time change and get hydrated. Mitchell has learned from the past and said she always gets IVs when playing there, where it’s easy to become dehydrated.
All four WNBA first-round playoff series tip off on Sunday, with Fever-Aces set for 4 p.m. ET on ABC. It’s unfortunate scheduling for such a compelling matchup to go head-to-head with what is routinely a dominant NFL Sunday audience.
Despite their showings out of the World Cup break, when the entire league jammed four games into seven days, there is reason for optimism for the Fever.
